Carpets: straight-up nasty

You won't find carpet in this registry. That's deliberate. Of everything that goes into a house, it's the one we'd most like to see go.

It holds what you don't want

Carpet traps dust, dust mite, pet dander, mould spores and whatever comes in on shoes, and keeps collecting for its whole life. ASCIA, the peak allergy body, says carpet can hold large amounts of dust mite that vacuuming can't fully remove, and suggests hard floors where practical. It even suggests waiting 20 minutes before going back into a room that's just been vacuumed.

The Carpet Institute argues trials don't show hard floors improve asthma. Our view is simpler: we'd rather have a floor you can actually get clean.

Moisture and mould

In a humid SEQ summer, carpet on a slab or in a closed-up room can stay damp. The US EPA says mould generally won't grow if wet things are dried within 24 to 48 hours. Carpet and underlay are hard to dry that fast.

VOCs and treatments

Most synthetic carpet is nylon, polyester or polypropylene, made from oil. New carpet gives off VOCs from the fibres, backing, underlay and glue, and the new-carpet smell from latex backing can last months. Stain treatments have long used PFAS, and California now lists PFAS carpets for regulation. Recycled foam underlay has tested positive overseas for old flame retardants. Even wool carpet is often mothproofed with insecticide.

Hard to clean, hard to get rid of

You can't wash fitted carpet, and wet cleaning puts moisture back in. When it wears out it's torn up, and with carpet recycling still largely untapped in Australia, most of it goes to landfill.

What we use instead

Marmoleum, made from linseed oil, wood flour and rosin. Cork, soft and warm underfoot, the closest thing to carpet in a bedroom. Oiled hardwood that can be re-oiled with Osmo for generations. Polished concrete on a slab. Check the adhesives and sealers too.

For softness, use rugs you can take outside and wash: cotton, jute or wool (ask if it's been mothproofed).