One of the biggest debacles I’ve had since being at Christopher Newport University for three years is whether carpet or hard flooring is better for dorm rooms. I’ve had experience with both types of floors since living on campus and I can say for certain that I personally find carpet a whole lot better than hard flooring.
As a freshman, I lived in York West, which has carpet as their dorm room flooring. I really enjoyed the carpet, as it made the room feel more like a room and less like a prison cell. I didn’t mind that slightly ugly color of the carpet because to me, it felt extremely comfy to walk around in.
However, as a sophomore, I was placed into Potomac South, and ended up having hard flooring in my dorm. I did not like this at all. First, the hard floor was cold and my feet ended up freezing all the time. Even when I wore socks, I always slipped and fell. I’m not sure who lived in my dorm before me, but there were so many mystery stains on my flooring that it didn’t feel cozy or clean at all. Not to mention you could see just about every miniscule amount of dirt and hair because the flooring was so light. Needless to say, I was excited when my sophomore year was over.
I posted a survey on Instagram specifically for CNU students to see how many people preferred carpet over hard flooring. Out of the 110 individuals that responded to my poll, about 72% said that they preferred carpet and 28% preferred hard flooring. The most common response I got from those who preferred carpet over hard flooring said that it had felt more comfy to them.
Senior Soren French explained that carpet is usually more comfortable than hard flooring because it’s less cold, something junior Nygeria Driver can agree with as she explained that she likes to walk around barefoot, which makes her like carpet floors more as well. Other factors that make carpet better besides hiding stains and making dorm rooms feel more homey were brought up by senior James Coffey.
“The carpet hurts less when I trip and fall, ” he said.
While carpet seems to be the clear winner in this debacle, people also believe that there are other aspects to take into consideration that make hard flooring better than carpet.
According to the poll, one of the biggest reasons for preferring hard flooring over carpet is the cleanliness of the carpets, which we all know after years of college living, aren’t always necessarily in the greatest condition. Junior TJ Smith explains that he prefers hard floors because “carpet gets dirtier and is harder to clean.” Many other individuals feel the same way, including sophomore Caitlin Bergin, who agreed with cleaning carpet being more difficult and also adding a bonus of having hard flooring is the ability to add a cute rug to spruce up your dorm room.
Senior Emma Joyner also explained her reason for liking hard floors is that when she cleaned her hard flooring, “I don’t have to feel disgusted thinking about all the germs.” It certainly is easier to see whether or not your tile has been cleaned rather than your dingy colored dorm carpet, that’s for sure.
Overall, each person has their own preference of whether they find carpet or hard flooring better suited for dorms. It doesn’t come as a shock for me that most people like carpet floors better but I’m a bit biased because I agree with them. Unfortunately, for the most part we as students don’t get to always choose whether or not our rooms have hard floors or carpeted floors, so work with what you’ve got to make the best of your current flooring situation!
