want to pull up my carpets and paint floors,advice please.

shelovestobuystuff

I have(or had) a lovely and very expensive pale cream wool carpet in my lounge.We have had it down for 7 years now.Big room, and I paid a fortune for an extra wide carpet so we didnt get any joins once it was fitted.
It has been really nice room to have christmas in and always looks immaculate once its done up.
Problem is this year we have 2 big black labradors, and although we try to keep them out of that room they manage to get in there and like to roll about on the nice clean carpet.I have one of those special pet hair hoovers but it doesnt seem to work very well for the amount of hair these dogs shed.
This morning I am trying to get the big room ready for the tree going up and the main thing I had to do was hoover that carpet,AGAIN!and shampoo it so the rooms perfect.
I have been hoovering for almost 4 hours(I can think of better ways to spend a morning) and still cannot get the coarser black hair out of the carpet.It just looks awful and I am dying to just pull up the carpet and be rid of it.I am a bit hesitant as it was so expensive but its definately past its best.
So if I do pull it up,and I think I will have to as I just cannot get the carpet looking nice again,what will I do with the floor.
The floor is original victorian wide floor boards which were painted a sort of toffee colour previously and that paint is a bit chipped and rough looking just at the doorway and where furniture was sitting if I remember rightly.I wont be able to sand it and varnish it before christmas now so would it be okay just to paint over the entire floor with a really dark brown floor paint?I am hoping it looks like a dark wood floor.
I have never painted a floor before,this one was painted at one point by previous owners.How do I do it and will it look okay just painted over the top of old paint without sanding it first?
I also fancy the idea of stencilling a border around the floor to mirror the original coving above.Would I need a special paint for that or would anything do as long as I varnish over it to protect it?

hartcjhart

I would leave it till after Xmas,If you take the carpet up and paint the boards you will when you want to do the job properly have a load more paint to sand off,for now use sellotape to get the bigger patches of hair out

edgex

have you thought about getting someone in to give the carpet a proper clean?
the chem-dry lot are quite good, theyll be able to tell you what they can & cant deal with.

andrew-b

Shave the dogs?!

Dog hair gets everywhere! Our whippet has a thick coat of fairly short hairs and sheds them all over the place - though fawn on beige isn't so visible! I always seem to have a few dog hairs on my clothes somewhere - fleece tops are a nightmare!

A daily groom of the dog outside helps (or vacuum the dogs! I ain't kidding either - but use suitable attachment!).

We use just a standard bagless vacuum cleaner (empty into the compost heap). Does get clogged up pretty quick which then reduces the suction so needs a regular clean out every couple of months. Regular vacuuming is better than leaving it until the carpet disappears under a sea of hair!

Now and again i clean the carpets with a Bissell deep clean carpet cleaner (reconditioned one bough from Bissell Direct)..we bought it after puppy house training had finished rather than replace all the carpets! If you buy or hire a carpet cleaner make sure you do vacuum first else the dog hair clogs up the carpet cleaner and takes forever cleaning up!

The lounge carpet does get muddy pawprints on occassionally from the dog coming in from the garden ..we've got a couple of doormats outside as well as inside which helps remove most of the mud. Decent matts at all entry points is a must.

hartcjhart

more help for the hairs here

http://www.tellmehowto.net/cleaning/carpet_cleaning_18

shelovestobuystuff

edgex wrote: »

have you thought about getting someone in to give the carpet a proper clean?
the chem-dry lot are quite good, theyll be able to tell you what they can & cant deal with.

Yes we do that at least every 12 months anyway and inbetween times I have one I use myself too.It is the local chem dry people we use and they are really good.It is a very pale carpet though and last time it was done professionally,about 7 months ago, it didnt quite bring it back to looking new again as it usually does.
I will try again to get it free of dog hair before I give in,especially as hubby is not keen on pulling up the carpet.He said the carpet should last longer,25 years at least he thinks as its wool with hessian backing,and I just have to try again to clean it properly before christmas.
The main thing is the stuck dog hairs so I will try the rubber gloves and the sellotape tonight.Fingers crossed.

shelovestobuystuff

andrew-b wrote: »

Shave the dogs?!

Dog hair gets everywhere! Our whippet has a thick coat of fairly short hairs and sheds them all over the place - though fawn on beige isn't so visible! I always seem to have a few dog hairs on my clothes somewhere - fleece tops are a nightmare!

A daily groom of the dog outside helps (or vacuum the dogs! I ain't kidding either - but use suitable attachment!).

We use just a standard bagless vacuum cleaner (empty into the compost heap). Does get clogged up pretty quick which then reduces the suction so needs a regular clean out every couple of months. Regular vacuuming is better than leaving it until the carpet disappears under a sea of hair!

Now and again I clean the carpets with a Bissell deep clean carpet cleaner (reconditioned one bough from Bissell Direct)..we bought it after puppy house training had finished rather than replace all the carpets! If you buy or hire a carpet cleaner make sure you do vacuum first else the dog hair clogs up the carpet cleaner and takes forever cleaning up!

The lounge carpet does get muddy pawprints on occassionally from the dog coming in from the garden ..we've got a couple of doormats outside as well as inside which helps remove most of the mud. Decent matts at all entry points is a must.

I hoover my dogs too and they love it:D ,I use the little upholstery nozzle.
We have one of those special pet hair hoovers with the washable filters so it is easy to clean when it gets all blocked.
They are really shedding heavily at the moment so its difficult to keep on top if it even with hoovering the floors and brushing and hoovering the dogs daily.
Hairs on clothes dont bother me as I usually wear black anyway:rolleyes:

Swipe

I'd wait until Spring. You don't really want draughty bare floors in Winter

abtmay

shelovestobuystuff wrote: »

I have(or had) a lovely and very expensive pale cream wool carpet in my lounge.We have had it down for 7 years now.Big room, and I paid a fortune for an extra wide carpet so we didnt get any joins once it was fitted.
It has been really nice room to have christmas in and always looks immaculate once its done up.
Problem is this year we have 2 big black labradors, and although we try to keep them out of that room they manage to get in there and like to roll about on the nice clean carpet.I have one of those special pet hair hoovers but it doesnt seem to work very well for the amount of hair these dogs shed.
This morning I am trying to get the big room ready for the tree going up and the main thing I had to do was hoover that carpet,AGAIN!and shampoo it so the rooms perfect.
I have been hoovering for almost 4 hours(I can think of better ways to spend a morning) and still cannot get the coarser black hair out of the carpet.It just looks awful and I am dying to just pull up the carpet and be rid of it.I am a bit hesitant as it was so expensive but its definately past its best.
So if I do pull it up,and I think I will have to as I just cannot get the carpet looking nice again,what will I do with the floor.
The floor is original victorian wide floor boards which were painted a sort of toffee colour previously and that paint is a bit chipped and rough looking just at the doorway and where furniture was sitting if I remember rightly.I wont be able to sand it and varnish it before christmas now so would it be okay just to paint over the entire floor with a really dark brown floor paint?I am hoping it looks like a dark wood floor.
I have never painted a floor before,this one was painted at one point by previous owners.How do I do it and will it look okay just painted over the top of old paint without sanding it first?
I also fancy the idea of stencilling a border around the floor to mirror the original coving above.Would I need a special paint for that or would anything do as long as I varnish over it to protect it?

You can try the Furminator

http://www.furminator.com/

It looks like it is able to remove a lot of hair. If you do it once a week, I presume you'll get less dog hair in the house.:D

fay66

I have a large black lab and two cats, I own a bissell carpet cleaner only cost me £60 via the site and its brilliant washable filters etc
it really does the job, ive replaced countless hoovers and this is perfect

shelovestobuystuff

Thanks everyone.I will get a new hoover soon but for now I have to say thanks for the rubber glove suggestion.A pair of marigolds saved my carpet.Hard work on the old hands but they really get all the dog hair out.
So keeping the carpet.Thanks.