Why do I see carpet in most houses in west valley (Phoenix: wood floors, for sale)

[Carlanavarrete1]

Hi everyone, curious about why I see carpet in most houses that I’ve looked at for sale in the west valley? It seems like having carpet would be so hot??? Especially in AZ. I’m having a house built in verrado and was thinking about putting in wood floors. Is that a no no? Is there a reason why so many houses are mainly carpeted? Is that because of termites? It seems like people would have either wood or tile. If the house doesn’t have carpet what is first choice ? Wood floors or tile? I’m moving there from Charlotte NC. Just want to be sure I’m picking the right type of flooring. I like tile but hate trying to keep the grout clean..

[DetroitN8V]

Plenty of houses here have real wood floors. Wood-look tile is a popular alternative, but I wonder if that’s going out of favor. Carpet is cheap so you’ll see it in many standard grade tract houses, especially in areas whose value proposition is cheap housing.

[CAHLUV]

Originally Posted by Carlanavarrete1

Hi everyone, curious about why I see carpet in most houses that I’ve looked at for sale in the west valley? It seems like having carpet would be so hot??? Especially in AZ. I’m having a house built in verrado and was thinking about putting in wood floors. Is that a no no? Is there a reason why so many houses are mainly carpeted? Is that because of termites? It seems like people would have either wood or tile. If the house doesn’t have carpet what is first choice ? Wood floors or tile? I’m moving there from Charlotte NC. Just want to be sure I’m picking the right type of flooring. I like tile but hate trying to keep the grout clean..

Cant stand carpet unless its for a rental investment! Mine got all tile. NO carpet for me on the west side of the valley!

[fluffythewondercat]

Originally Posted by Carlanavarrete1

If the house doesn’t have carpet what is first choice ? Wood floors or tile?

Tile is really common in Phoenix. I dislike it intensely, particularly Saltillo tiles which can be irregular enough to make an elderly person stumble. I've never liked the feel of tile on my feet.

I prefer wood floors and absolutely no carpet anywhere in the house, including bedrooms. DH disagrees but he's going to lose this one, since you can never get carpet truly clean. I can't have carpet trapping dust, dirt and pet dander. I'll just buy some washable throw rugs.

[phx1205]

Why would carpeting be “hot”?

[Burning Madolf]

Originally Posted by Carlanavarrete1

Hi everyone, curious about why I see carpet in most houses that I’ve looked at for sale in the west valley?

What is your price range?

[Burning Madolf]

Originally Posted by phx1205

Why would carpeting be “hot”?

It's warm!

[Bondurant]

Because many homes have carpet. Just like everywhere else. I've resided in 3 places since moving to Phoenix. Two of them had carpet.

[49erfan916]

Originally Posted by phx1205

Why would carpeting be “hot”?

It traps the heat in your house and does a "better job" insulating the heat than tile/wood

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by Carlanavarrete1

Hi everyone, curious about why I see carpet in most houses that I’ve looked at for sale in the west valley? It seems like having carpet would be so hot??? Especially in AZ. I’m having a house built in verrado and was thinking about putting in wood floors. Is that a no no? Is there a reason why so many houses are mainly carpeted? Is that because of termites? It seems like people would have either wood or tile. If the house doesn’t have carpet what is first choice ? Wood floors or tile? I’m moving there from Charlotte NC. Just want to be sure I’m picking the right type of flooring. I like tile but hate trying to keep the grout clean..

As Detroit mentioned, carpet costs less. And plenty of the folks on the West Valley are fiscally conservative (a.k.a cheapskates), including me.

I've resisted ANY urge to put that wood ceramic in either one of our houses. I'm a fortune teller.... It's going to go out of style and that will immediately date your home. My goal is to always pick the most timeless materials and colors possible. So while the glass back-splash is currently all of the rage as well, it's days are numbered too.

When you build, you might notice an attractive base price on the home.Then you get a little better this-or-that and all of a sudden, the price is $30+ a square foot much higher. Work the numbers. Builders have the tendency to nail you on upgrades. It might be more cost effective to put in carpet in several rooms and later, chose different flooring. Or put in better counter tops (and fixtures) later too.

Again, I LOVE deals and my prices are a little dated from back in 2013. I found some quality looking engineered hand scraped hickory wood flooring for $3 a square foot. I think it looks fabulous. Installation was $2 on slab. So if it costs $5 more per square foot for the bedrooms or even a little more, by all means, go for it. But I suspect it will be double, based off of other typical builder gouging. In other words, the base price of the home is a lost leader. In fact, if you work the numbers, buying a preexisting home that someone went overboard on normally will be a much better value. So often times there is a price to pay to buy "new" unless you are savvy and don't mind taking on some hassles.

That base builder grade tile is under a buck a foot everywhere. To my eye that looks a lot cheaper than carpet. So in fact, o.k. caliber carpet and installed builder grade tile are close in price. My wife loves the "warmth" (to the eye and on her feet) of carpet. My beef with tall ceilings and hardwood flooring is the reverb or echo. So now you are have to add all kinds of huge through rugs around get get rid f the reverb and to add "warm" to the eye. Those too get dirty. Quality rugs add up to plenty of $$$'s.

So for us, the Wify isn't going to allow all hardwoods. I'm pushing for more conversions to hardwood around the home. One room by one room. Without question, carpet doesn't help resale value here in PHX.

Re: the "heat", that shouldn't even be a consideration.

Re: cleanliness. If you don't like taking off your shoes, AZ has to be one of the worst locations to own carpet. Walk outside and then whip your feet on a white towel. Quickly, it will become dark from all the dust. In fact, we spray down our pavers in the back yard when we are having a lot of guests over because of that (our living room has carpet).

Lastly, for everyone who assumes their ceramic floor is "easily" clean, not in our experience. Here is my point.... Go ahead and wash your floor with a professional mop and bucket. I have one of those roll industrial rolling yellow pales. Dump it out and do it again. It will now be lighter brown water. Now wash it again, it will be lighter yet. In other words, our cleaners are told to go over our floor three times (and we pay accordingly). No one wants to do that because it is a lot of work. If you don't, the grout will become heavily stained require steam treatments OR acid etching on your hands and knees (2-3 times to get it perfect). If your ceramic has texture, it also needs t be acid etch and scrubbed. You don't believe me? Pull out your Fridge or range. That's what it use to look like. In 2018, there are grouts that don't absorb as much dirt. But I bet that won't be offered in a track build in Verrado. My point was to all of those who think their ceramic floor is "clean", it's really much more dirty that most think. AND, it takes a darn long time to clean it right (3x). But yea, carpet holds the dirt even more...