Saving in Carpet maintenance

[Radiance]

Initially I thought I'd move to a 3/2 private rental after my house sells.
But now I think I want to move to a 1bdr to save even more money and turbo charge my financial plans.

Problem is that there are very few private rentals with only 1 bdr.
So it is posible I might need to rent from a rental community, which brings the following disadvantages:

1) You get less sq ft for your money - ok
2) Washer dryer are minimum size, They look as they were pre-owned by Barbie. - ok, fine I'll do laundry every day
3) Carpet! Private rentals typically have tile and wood. I can not find a good rental community that has a flooring other than carpet, and I have a baby! I hate carpet!

What are my options? How do I take care of it? I do own a good vacuum cleaner, ORECK, should I buy a steamer? I have allergies to carpet, which I discover are triggered when I play in the floor, which I do a lot with my son.

Can I cover the stupid carpet with something,,, I am willing to live with it for 2 years, but I think after that I'll pay the additional $300 or so for a private rental of 2+Bdr.

Help!

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

No way to really cover the carpet occurs to me off hand, but I'll try to think of something. I understand the problem. DH has asthma.

When we first bought our house, I vacuumed all the carpets nearly everyday. Yet when I pulled up the carpets to switch to bare wood, I could not believe the disgusting, DISGUSTING filth that was in the carpets and had filtered all the way through to the wood surface. I never want carpets again after seeing that!

Oh, if it is a contact allergy--skin contact--maybe a heavy, large painter's cloth or tarpaulins could be used. If it is a respiratory allergy, I don't have any idea how you could seal it away.

Yesterday I was looking at various kinds of tarps for sale at Harbor Freight Tools. They had s good prices on large tarps. They seem to be all over the country and do mail/internet order, too, I think.