# Carpets in bathrooms



## Einstein

A linguistic discussion in the Italian-English forum turned into a cultural discussion, so we were invited to look at this thread.
As I said here in post no. 7, I'm used to a bidet after 30 years in Italy and I'm continually amazed by the way the British (and Americans and North Europeans in general) resist the idea so much, instead of appreciating it as a positive aspect in a country.

But here I want to raise a related point. Starting in about the 1970s a strange fashion came into being in Britain: *carpets in bathrooms!* It seems so crazy to me, when you can have a tiled or linoleum floor with a few mats, that is so easy to keep clean and dry. I was pleased to meet a Brit a few years ago who didn't know of this practice, but it's definitely widespread. What do other Brits think of this? Does it happen in other countries? What do visitors to Britain think?


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## Elby

Interesting!
In Italy I think that every house has one of these.
They look like this, and even if I understand the fact that they may not be very functional for the cleaning of the bathroom, I really appreciate it... especially in cold mornings when I have to dress up and so my feet are protected from the freezing tiles of the floor! 
I know that a lot of Italians use it also when they come out of the shower (or bathtub) in order to avoid to wet the floor! I personally don't do that...

Anyway I think it's something that has to be washed often!!


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## Einstein

What you have indicated is a bath-mat (or shower-mat?). These exist in British houses too.
But what I'm talking about is a fixed carpet (moquette) covering the entire bathroom floor! How is it possible to keep this clean?!


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## Elby

Oooops I misunderstood what you meant than!
I really can't think of it in a bathroom...

Sorry for my mistake!


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## Frank78

Carpets in bathrooms are *very* rare in Germany but a lot of people have shower mats, despite I think they are a bit out of fashion nowadays. Some people, especially older ones,still have those awful woolen covers for toilet lids and a mat in front of the toilet as well.
I have a flagged floor (as most people) with an underfloor heating, so no cold feet as well  
Bidets are considered something "upper class" here so they are seldom as well.


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## Trisia

I don't think I've ever seen carpets in the bathroom in Romania, but yes plenty of/most people use mats/rugs, thickness ranging from towel-like to extra fluffy. Before those, people often used a sort of wooden grill that they'd place next of the tub, so that they didn't walk on  the cold tiles and the water could drip on the floor and be cleaned afterwards. Hygienic enough but not too cozy.

The "awful woollen covers for toilet lids" have always surprised and intrigued me. Nevertheless, in old people's homes they're still to be found, though that's becoming a rare occurrence, too.

I noticed the bathroom carpets in England, and the fact that they were always _extremely _clean (though of a very light colour). My friends hoovered them twice a week, and they had an extra mat next to the bathtub, covering the carpet, to prevent it from getting wet. I absolutely loved it.


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## cuchuflete

Bathroom mats are common in the U.S. I have never seen a carpeted bathroom in this country, though I wouldn't be surprised to learn that such things exist.


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## miguel64086

It depends where you are in the US. I live in the mid-west and it's not unseen here. 
I few years back I was in the market for a new home and we saw about 50% of older houses (or with old people) had carpet in the bathroom.  I think it used to be very popular in the 80s, but now your house can depreciate if you still have carpets in the bathrooms.


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## Lavinia.dNP

How can people think that a carpet can be kept clean in a bathroom where water is spilled regularly?

I wouldn't want a carpeted floor in the rest of my home, let alone in the bathroom.


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## Paulfromitaly

I actually found carpets in the bathroom a couple of times in UK.
My first thought was: mate, this is gross! How can you keep it clean and in good hygienic conditions, especially if children use the toilet?
Not to mention the fact that regardless of what kind of "liquid" you will sooner or later spill on it, carpet is bound to stink after a while..


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## Outsider

I've never seen a carpeted bathroom in Portugal. It seems to be like in Italy, around here.


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## jonquiliser

Einstein said:


> But here I want to raise a related point. Starting in about the 1970s a strange fashion came into being in Britain: *carpets in bathrooms!* It seems so crazy to me, when you can have a tiled or linoleum floor with a few mats, that is so easy to keep clean and dry. I was pleased to meet a Brit a few years ago who didn't know of this practice, but it's definitely widespread. What do other Brits think of this? Does it happen in other countries? What do visitors to Britain think?



It seems crazy to me, too. When I was looking for a house in Britain, I came across a few places with carpeted bathrooms, and some that had carpets in both the kitchen and the bathroom. I have never seen that anywhere else (luckily ).


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## ewie

I've known many a carpeted bathroom in the UK.  As long as folk don't actually wee or poo* on the floor, what's the problem?

*Pardon my _crudités._


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## Revontuli

I've never ever seen a carpeted bathroom in Turkey, but yes, mats are very common. 

Sorry, ewie, but I can't even stand the idea of a carpeted bathroom! Not only bathroom, the whole house actually.


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## ewie

British floors are often _cold_, Revi.


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## El intérprete

I don't think I've ever seen a bathroom with a completely carpeted floor in the United States, and so far I have yet to see one in Chile, thankfully.  Where did you ever see one in the US? The idea of it sounds gross to me.


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## lablady

As Miguel64086 mentioned in post #8, fully carpeted bathrooms seemed to be popular in the US at one time. He mentioned the 80s, but I think it started a bit earlier than that.

When I purchased my first house (in 1980, in California), the bathrooms had wall-to-wall carpeting in them. Carpeted bathrooms were not uncommon in this area at that time. It only took one leaky water pipe (resulting in one flooded bathroom) to convince me to replace the bathroom carpets with tile and machine-washable mats.


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## Einstein

ewie said:


> British floors are often _cold_, Revi.


Bathroom floors are cold in _all_ countries, at least in the winter.



> As long as folk don't actually wee or poo* on the floor, what's the problem?


But drops of pee do end up on the floor. No problem, just run a mop with some disinfectant over the floor... if it's tiles or lino.
My Italian wife admits that these bathroom carpets are not filthy, but just doesn't see the point in them when a bath-mat is sufficient to avoid putting your feet on the cold floor.


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## Grop

I have seen* underfloor heating at some expensive places, but no fixed carpet in a bathroom. I haven't visited everyone's bathroom in France, though.

* Well, felt, in the case of heating.


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## Paulfromitaly

Another possible reason why it's almost impossible to find a carpeted bathroom in Italy is that Italians don't usually take their shoes off when they go into a house and even those do it at their own house would never ask their guests to do the same.
Needless to say that if you walk on carpets with filthy shoes you can kiss hygiene goodbye.


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## ajo fresco

lablady said:


> As Miguel64086 mentioned in post #8, fully carpeted bathrooms seemed to be popular in the US at one time. He mentioned the 80s, but I think it started a bit earlier than that.
> 
> When I purchased my first house (in 1980, in California), the bathrooms had wall-to-wall carpeting in them. Carpeted bathrooms were not uncommon in this area at that time. It only took one leaky water pipe (resulting in one flooded bathroom) to convince me to replace the bathroom carpets with tile and machine-washable mats.



Same thing here in southern California.  Several years ago I bought a condo that was built in 1985, and it had a carpeted bathroom.  All the other condos in my neighborhood were the same way.

The first thing I did was replace the carpet with ceramic tile, and got a nice bath mat.  Bathroom carpeting has always seemed unsanitary to me.

Frank78, I've never heard of underfloor heating here, but I like the idea!


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## kirsitn

Very rarely (if ever) seen here in Norway. Most people have either linoleum or underheating with tiles on top in the bathroom. Wall-to-wall carpets in other rooms were fairly common during the 80's, but now most people have wooden floors, sometimes mixed with tiles.


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