I vote for : Always ewww.

If you want something warm underfoot, then get a few bathmats. You can wash those frequently and change them for other colors if you're redoing the bathroom.

But if you have boys in the house, the carpet around the toilet will be "splashed." And not with water. For that reason alone, I would have to say no.

Every time I see carpeted bathrooms and they pull back the carpet near the shower/bathtub, there is ALWAYS mold growing. You can't avoid it without having tile.

I empathize with wanting your kids to be safe, but get a large, plush bath rug instead.

I think that's what rugs are for, and they can be thrown in the washing machine. Now that's ahhh.

Ewww - no question.

No brainer. A definite Ewww!

Gross.

As much as I hate Bed, Bath & Beyond, I realize they are practically everywhere and have decided to give them a plug:

I got a bathroom rug there 3 years ago, and it is still going strong. Its a high-pile rug with a no-slip bottom, and its about 6 feet long so it reaches from the tub to the sink. I wash it about once every 3 months and it holds up fine in the washer. I also vacuum it once a week so that helps keep it fresh as well. If you're looking for a good rug that can withstand kids and will last a while, BB&B has some great looong rugs in nice colors.

Ditch the carpet! I live with an adult male and even he can't keep his piss in the toilet. Gross.

Ewwwww. And you only have it cleaned once a year?

bathrooms should be thoroughly disinfected at least once a week. vacuuming does not = disinfecting. this is really gross.

Moisture and carpet are a terrible combination. You are just asking for mold to grow.

But hey, if you like it keep it.

I rented a house with carpeted bathrooms for a while and hated it. Every time I stepped off of the bathmat and onto the carpet, I immediately felt dirty already. For me, it's akin to only washing your bath towels once every couple of weeks. Try bamboo flooring or heating the tile from underneath if it's about the chill factor.

Ewwwww, for sure.
A nice bath rug is an ahhhhhhhh.

Yuck, yuck, yuck!
My husband and son always miss the toilet. It drives me nuts even with tile. I can't imagine the smell that wall-to-wall carpet would have in our bathroom. And how in the world can you really clean the carpet behind the toilet? I can't see a steamer attachment fitting back there. I hate those u-shaped toilet rugs and toilet seat covers because they are full of grossness and yuck too.

We always use cotton bathmats because I'm fussy and hate the way synthetics feel on my wet feet. Ew. If the bathmat is in the wash, I always use a cotton towel on the floor to step on when I get out of the shower.

Kids might slip on tile and not carpet, but they'll have explosive diarrhea on both.

@Sarahj
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!

Oh Catrin.... dear, dear, dear Catrin... NO!
And I hate to tell you this, but it doesn't look luxurious, it looks tacky and disgusting.

I'm obviously in the minority here, which is why I wanted to speak up...but I like it!

I LOVE carpet in the bathroom. The way to do it, first, get an 80 ounce NYLON carpet. It is thick thick thick so no carpet pad is needed. Second, after it is cut to fit the floor, secure it with double sided tape. The carpet will be so heavy, after a while, you won't even need tape to keep it flat. Third, when you want to clean it, pull it up and take it outside. A little dish soap, a water hose, sun dried, and it's ready to come in and go back down on the floor. (I have moved to a high rise, so I pay the porter to do it for me now.)

A nylon rug on tile won't rot or mildew. I've done this in my bathrooms for years. BUT I don't have males spraying around in my bathroom either. I wouldn't do it if that was the case. You'd have to wash the carpet every day!

Absolutely Eww... imagine the guys missing the target and you have pee residue that you won't be able to clean... EeWWWWWww...

I moved into a home built in the early 1970s and carpet was everywhere, including the bathrooms.

I have successfully tiled one of the bathrooms and it now looks bigger and feels more open. This makes tile a real plus.

When the carpet came up the water-damaged sub floor was revealed. I shudder to think what I'll find under the carpet in the other bath.

Oh! Always ewwwwwwwww! Having raised two boys, it is definately no carpet in the bathroom. Our bathrooms had wall to wall carpet in three bathrooms when we bought the house. I immediately had it removed.

My sister and I both had machine washable bath carpets for a number of years. They washed in the machine really well and fluffed up beautifully in the dryer. Maybe there is still something like that out there but otherwise, I'd just get big fluffy bath rugs and wash them frequently. I have really thick cotton bath rugs in my bathroom.

@Sarahj, LOL you got that right!

No way, carpet in the bathroom is nasty, nasty, nasty!!!

Catrin here. Wow! This is hilarious!!!! I am laughing my head off at these responses! I guess I may have to rethink the carpet, huh. Good news for me cuz I love a home improvement project...Thanks for your, um, honesty!!!!

Ahahahaha, EWWWWWW. No. ALWAYS NO!

Glad to hear you're rethinking this, Catrin! ^_^

OK I just have to chime in with what a carpeted bathroom represented when I was growing up in the 1970's, so much so that I assumed it was true for most (but not being mentioned here!). My uncle had a carpeted bathroom in his suave bachelor pad. It was always equated with his supposedly risque, girlfriend-filled lifestyle, if you get my drift! I never thought of the more prosaic "kids missing the toilet" problem!

With a cat's litter box sharing my bathroom, the hairy dust that gathers in every crevice, and after seeing how filthy my new white bathroom rug gets after only a few days, I'm also one for Ewww.

Honestly, I could vomit. But I won't even shop in a carpeted grocery store! So........ if food and carpet don't mix, I can't even stand to think about the urine/carpet combo!!!!! Ugh, Catrin. Get rid of it! I'd rather have old tiles than pee-soaked carpeting any day. And, FYI, William Morris is not only rolling over in his grave, he's on his way to your house to rip out that carpet himself.

There are three things in the world that are just plain wrong,... and wall-to-wall carpeting the bathroom floors is one of them... :)

Everyone's freaking out over it, but honestly, it's not that gross. I've lived in a house that had it for awhile, and it's really, honestly not that gross. Assuming you don't have boys that are splashing while peeing, what else is going to get dripped on there? Water. That's it.

And to think people don't get grossed out when they put/wear shoes on their bed or couch. Your shoes have been in grosser places than a little carpet in your own bathroom.

I wish I had the photo of the mold my Dad found under the bathroom carpet after just one year of three kids splashing about. No way would I have wall to wall in the bathroom.

Listen, I am a wall to wall carpeting advocate, for bedrooms, living rooms and dens. Not for bathrooms though. Not sanitary. Please pull it up re tile and buy a really plush rug that you can throw into the washer every week or so.

And think about possible toilet overflows! Gross. Just too many possibilities for gross.

ALWAYS Ewwww. ALWAYS.

I turned down an apartment once for this very reason. yuck.

My first house had wall to wall carpeting in both bathrooms and the kitchen. It was really disgusting. Underneath the kitchen carpet was another layer of carpet. Underneath that was the ugliest vinyl tile in the world. I bought a carpet cleaner and used it regularly, but it was no match for a few puppies, a dog with "digestive issues," and a man. I replaced all the carpet as soon as I could afford to. My house smelled much better after. I hardly used the tub (it had no shower) in the main bath, and there was still funky stuff underneath.

I am gagging just thinking about this. Why would anyone even thinking of doing this?!

Urine is sterile. Stop freaking out, people. Sterility doesn't equal pleasant odor, though, so I have to award that point to the no-carpet side. I like soft and warm underfoot as well; I side with those who prefer heavy cotton rugs. I can use bleach when I wash those in hot water and dryer sheets to make them smell great. It just feels great to have freshly laundered bath rugs.

Any room that has water outlets and drains (laundry, kitchen, bathroom) should have a non-porous floor. It's just logical.

In fact I'm not even sure if you'd be allowed to have a carpeted bathroom in Australia. I've certainly never seen one here, and there are regulations requiring at least one floor drain in every bathroom.

I. I just.. ewww.

I am very much not a stickler for cleanliness.. I am not a germophobe at all, I can happily pee in the woods and camp without showering for a week, I have dogs at home and don't mind kids mushing half eaten food at my face. Whatever.

But... ew. no. no no no. *laughing* horrible. eww. never.

I currently rent an apartment with wall to wall in one of the bathrooms. It's kind of ugly, but I've never considered unsanitary, just annoying. My roommate and I are both girls, so we don't worry about splatter of that sort. Hair does get everywhere due to brushing, styling, etc. Vacuuming it clogs the floor brush with hair, but I have a neat trick. I wear a rubber glove and rub in in circles on the floor. This picks up all the hair and I flush it before vacuuming.

Of more serious concern, the drywall nearest the floor by the tub is slowly eroding. I've pointed this out to the landlord a number of times, but he does nothing. It doesn't smell of mold or mildew, so I'm not inclined to make an issue of it, but I wouldn't recommended it to anyone who was concerned about property damage.

I am peeing in my pants just reading this. Too funny. Not peeing on the carpet, mind you. Just pants.

You mentioned wrangling your kids out of the bathtub. What age are your children? Are they potty trained yet? If not, then the carpet will get pretty gross. Especially if one or more of them is a boy (as everyone else mentioned!)
I do wonder if you noses are immune to any pee smell, just like people with cats and litter boxes can no longer smell the inevitable foul stench in their homes.

I'm against carpet everywhere. Bathrooms, bedrooms... Get rid of it all. It all gets gross and all ends up in the landfill.

ditto cvjn.

I was in a house once that had BLACK SHAG CARPET in the kitchen! Lord only knows how long it was there or what kinds of pestilence it harbored. If it can be picked up and washed frequently, maybe it'd be okay, but really. Hard floors FTW.

definitely ewwww.

i lived in a damp basement flat in the UK for a time, and it had a dreadful green carpet glued to the floor. One day after weeks of rainy weather, i walked in to the bathroom to find a whole CROP of willowy, long-stalked mushrooms growing out of the carpet!! yuck!

Luckily I was able to move to a second-floor flat shortly afterwards.

That is one hideous photo.

Go for a RUBER floor! Hygiene, cheap, not slippery, warm, ... MUCH BETTER!!!!!

@ ashasekh - We also once had mushrooms growing on our bathroom carpet. Huge ewwww.

We now live in a house with zero carpet. Bliss!

my grandparents immigrated from England to Canada- they put carpet in their bathroom and in their kitchen- I get the reasons, however- the ick factor far outways any comfort factor.
another thing- what if a toilet overflowed or a sink spilled or bathrtub overflowed- it happens.

I vote gross. If you want a warm floor I second bathmats or tile with radiant heating.

We have it currently (ex-rental in the UK, due for renovation as soon as we get planning permission) and I really don't like it but it's far more common over here than in the US I think. We'll be putting in stone or tile when we redo the house, but it has to stay for now.

out of the question. buy a quality rug to put down, if you must. bathrooms have trace amounts of bacteria from the toilet as a matter of course. hard surfaces can be regularly disinfected, but a carpet cannot.

Catrin here. Now that I have stopped laughing and nodding at all of your cruel but genius comments I will say this: My kids don't LICK the floor. Nor do I. I keep a very very clean home but I am all for regular levels of bacteria. I think door handles and countertops and kitchen floors are far more likely to spread germs than bathroom floors. We don't eat in the bathroom. We don't lick our feet after walking in the bathroom. While I have resigned myself to the need to retile (yes, it is just pretty GROSS to simply THINK about the pee on the carpet, isn't it?) I do think the hysteria regarding germs is overblown!

When my grandparents built their house the master bath had carpet in the area with the double sink, but the toilet/shower was in a separate area that had tile floors. It worked!

If you're hell-bent on carpet, I would at least go with a commercial-grade with a rubber backing. They're designed to handle a little more "yuck" than the standard residential carpet.

Catrin,

It's not just about germs. Broadloom is a breeding ground for all kinds of infestations – molds, insects, allergens, odors – even without being in a water-centric location. Add moisture into the mix and you've got a recipe for reactions or a rather repulsive nature.

Even a towel used to dry clean hands after washing them, after a week it needs washing. If you could just take off and wash the carpet with water, and look at what the water looks like AFTER, you wouldn't ask this question. Use rugs or runners to keep your feet warm and wash them regurarly in the washing machine!

These comments are just what I needed to get out of my post-election funk. Thank you, AT readers!

geez louise people. catrin, if you like your carpeted bathroom, it's fine. ignore the germaphobes. my FIL has carpet in his bathroom, and so does my aunt. shockingly, they're still alive and rarely get sick. your response @ 9:20 is right on.

Gross. There are some simple to install click-lock bamboo floors that will take you a few hours to install and stay much warmer than tile. Carpet should never be installed in a bathroom! Washable area rugs are okay though. Check out click-lock floors here. http://ambientbamboo.com/101click.php

We moved into a house that had bathroom carpet and I immediately bought cotton throw rugs to cover nearly the whole thing. It made me feel better while we waited for the tile installation.

It's not just bacteria or the smell (have you had any little boys over for parties and playdates?!?), it's the mold.

Perhaps if you really want carpet in the bathroom, you should look into FLOR tiles.

The obvious answer here is heated tile. I never knew how much I hated carpet and linoleum in bathrooms until my parents had a heated floor installed in their basement. You can get out of the tub, throw down a beach towel, and just lay there and air dry. It's the best feeling in the world.

It's amazing to me how many people are spewing the ewwwwww factor. Yes, bathrooms with wall-to-wall carpeting are probably more prone to germs but IT IS A BATHROOM! Just wash your hands when you leave and you will be ok. It's not like your eating your dinner on the toilet seat cover or off the carpet! Get a grip people. If you keep a clean house, carpeting on the bathroom floor will not start an epidemic.

You may not get sick on a bathroom carpet, but you will spend a fair amount of time standing in urine.
Enjoy.

eww for sure.. it's not just about keeping a clean house. in a situation where there is a bathroom mishap, not only is it easier to find on a tiled floor it is also esier to clean. Steam cleaning the carpet is much harder than scrubbing clean a tiled floor

I have carpet in my master and I DESPISE IT. It is SO DISGUSTING. I'm pretty sure there's mold growing underneath it, and the space is so small, it's almost impossible to get our vacuum inside--or for that vacuum to move around at all.

It is my fondest dream to get rid of that carpet and install tile. One of these days...one of these days...

I'm in the Eew camp as well. After growing up in a house with wall to wall carpeting and experiencing the smell of urine left behind due to laziness/or lack of target control I am definitely against carpeting. Also, in the same house I got to experience what happens when the plumber frelled up the plumbing in the bathroom so whenever you took a bath the water actually sprayed out of the pipes and wound up all in both bathrooms and partly in the master bedroom as well as the hallway.

I'm in camp cement. I'll take that and treat it and leave it be with maybe rugs here and there. Now that we have dogs, it is especially important in case there is an accident.

Ewww everywhere not just the bathroom

Reading all these posts is going to give me nightmares.

I've remodeled MANY houses that have had this & the carpet we pull out of there is the grossest thing ever. Almost always there's mold, woodrot on the subfloor & hidden urine stains & weird spots on the carpet pad. Not to mention the amount of funky dust & dirt that gets trapped. SO GROSS.
Bathrooms are high traffic moist areas, carpet is not a good mix

After using my grandparents' bathroom many times and noticing that the carpet is black and slightly sticky/tacky from 35+ years of wet feet..NEVER. :l

Also - anyone talking about the "comfort" factor - what about wearing houseshoes? Obviously you'd have to dry your feet first if you're stepping out of the shower, but houseshoes or even flip-flops seem more sensible to me than carpet in a bathroom.

boys are gross, and they all need to work on their aim. This, plus years of moisture, kids throwing up, and even worse...poo particles...I SAID IT...totally sceeves me.

I cant imagine all of that being trapped in the carpet. I say get a nice, fluffy bath mat, and get a spaceheater to warm the tile floors in the winter.

p.s. I do however, love the wallpaper.

I think the hysteria factor here is amazing. I hate carpeting in any rooms with water (kitchens, baths, laundries, etc.) but that's a pragmatic maintenance issue -- much easier to mop hard floors than to shampoo carpeting. I also have had toilets overflow, washing machines leak, pet accidents, and food spills in kitchens, so damage caused these ways is far far less with hard flooring. But nobody I ever heard about died or got sick simply from carpeting in wet rooms. Chill a bit, people.

And William Morris wallpaper is lovely. Of a particular time, but beautiful in the right setting.

Ewww. I admit to having a bathmat or two, but at least they can be ran through the wash occasionally. From experience I've only found bad effects to having carpet in bathrooms since the floor will get wet - and the worst of it is the mold!

You're just lucky it's low pile. When I was in college we had SHAG in the bathroom. I can't remember, it was either green or pink. Or pink that had begun to turn green.

This is just gross. All of the mold from water damage can grow into bacteria.... which is not good for anyone.

In the areas around the tub or sink, I would recommend some small rugs so you are not getting the carpet wet and possibly molding. Carpet Expert

Now I now how mushrooms came to be a popular design motif in the 1970's; they sprung up out of the carpeted bathroom floors!

I have visited relatives who had carpeted bathrooms, and all I can say is nasty nasty nasty. The feel of a steamy bathroom after getting out of the shower was like walking on someone's dirty wet acrylic sweaters.
Oh, and 'a few puppies, a dog with "digestive issues," and a man' ... just hilarious.