My daughter is preparing to go to college this fall. Instead of an area rug for her dorm room, she is considering the "rubber puzzle piece" flooring to put on the floor. I was wondering how it "wears" and any thoughts on it as a floor covering in a dorm room.
Thanks so much for the input! I got opinions both ways, so I printed it out for my daughter to read. She has decided to go with carpet, but nothing boring - some wild print or color. I had told her it was her decision, but I wanted her to have some input from others. Thanks so much!
I'm not sure about how that flooring wears, but it doesn't sound much cozier (sp?) than the tile floor in the dorm. I purchased a large carpet remnant for my dorm that went wall to wall. It was very homey feeling. Everyone always hung out in our room! :)
That kind of flooring won't be easy to move things like a desk chair on. Just keep that in mind. Also, if she's rooming with someone, she may want to met or talk to her roommate first and see what they're doing as well.
But most college dorms now a days have carpet. If not, a nice pair of slippers could do the trick (keeps you from having to cover the whole room when she moves in and having to take it all out at the end of the school year)! HTH
My college dorm had wall-to-wall carpet. If she's sure her dorm won't have carpet, those puzzle piece or carpet square sets (I've even seen those at Target) are a good idea for portability reasons. My friend at a different college had a large throw rug that was difficult to move in and out and store in between school years.
We didn't use the rubber puzzle pieces for college (not there yet), but did use them in my kitchen when my kids were learning to crawl (better grip and softer for falls).
Overall, they held up well for wear. Walking on them continually, etc. wasn't a problem. The only problem we had was with the dog's toenails digging in or her digging at the pieces.
The biggest issue with these rubber pieces is that they are difficult to clean, especially if you get the ones with a little bit of texture (which is most of them). Remembering my college days, I have a feeling they are going to get pretty gross pretty quick and not cleaned well.
If it's the padding she wants, get the rubber pieces and put them under the rug. If it's versatility and fun, check out the new carpet squares that you can put down and rearrange.
I had that flooring when I went to college. It lasted pretty well, but was hard to clean. It got dirty really fast, dirt and black marks all over it and all you could do was sweep it- really difficult to mop and get it cleaned. And in order to keep it in one place (it would slip out from under you or move in the corners under the chairs and stuff) we had to tape it to the floor, which after a year in the dorm was really, really hard to clean up off the tile.
I would recommend an area rug :(
