Tip for anyone buying new carpet

pantone

Here a few more pointers:

Wool carpets may be more expensive but will retain their appearance.

Wool is naturally stain resistant.

Man made fibres are very durable but prone to soiling unless treated with stain resistance.

Some carpets may be stain resistant, but no carpet is stain proof.

When removing liquid stains - blot the affected area with absorbent kitchen roll or tissue and rinse with clean water before blotting again. Apply stain removement treatment. NEVER rub a stain with a cloth.

Carpets come in many varieties and constructions. These include woven Axminster and Wilton, hessian or secondary backed and felt backed types.

When buying a carpet consider the following:
What is your budget, how long do you intend to have it for - will you perhaps change your colour scheme and decor in 12 months or 12 years? How much wear and tear will it be subjected too?

The pile on a carpet may be a loop pile eg Berbers, cut pile eg twists or cut and loop eg Shadow pile.

Nearly all cut pile and cut and loop pile carpets may suffer in time from a condition known as shading. This wont happen overnight and will not affect the wear of the carpet but some people regard it as unsightly. Shading is caused by uneven pile crushing in high traffic areas. The pile is crushed in different directions and light is reflected accordingly. Carpet retailers should explain this possibility to you and details of this condition will be displayed on the back of most carpet samples. Carpets with a velvet pile finish are particularly susceptible to this problem. Twist pile carpets are more resilient. It will not happen on loop pile.

Cut pile patterned carpets may still shade but the pattern disguises the effect.

Shading doesn't happen overnight and will not affect the durability of the carpet but please be aware that the condition may occur

Berbers. These are particularly fashionable at the moment - however those with a high wool content are susceptible to a condition known as piling. Whereas loose wool fibres will eventually work their way out of a cut pile carpet, they can become trapped in a berber pile, and may start to bobble like an old wool sweater! This is more likely to occur in high traffic areas.

Berber style carpets are available in man made fibres and will be considerably cheaper, but as I mentioned previously they are prone to premature soiling and staining and feel a little bit rough underfoot. So if you wish to purchase a berber style carpet buy one that is a wool/man made fibre mix.

When investing in decent and expensive carpet it pays to fork out for a good underlay and paying a proffesional carpet fitter to install it properly.

Stores that offer "Free" fitting and underlay will have to recoup the cost somehow - they will have to pay the fitter and the quality of the underlay may be questionable. They may regain some of this outlay by inflating the cost of gripperrods or charge for cutting or delivery.

Always ask the store to show you the quality of the underlay they are going to use.

Felt backed carpets can be installed with or without underlay.

Good quality underlay may last several years and may be used under your new carpet and possibly a future replacement. This is especially true in bedrooms.

Bargains can be found! Carpet roll-ends can often be considerably cheaper.

My carpet of choice is twist pile. These can be completely plain, have a "heather" (slight flecking) effect or a "berber" effect (more pronounced flecking). The heavily flecked twist piles combine durability and practicality and (IMHO) are rather stylish.

If you wish to match your carpet to your furnishing, take a cushion from your sofa/chair to the carpet store.

When selecting a new carpet ask the store if they will lend you samples. This will enable you to test them against your decor and furnishings. View the samples in daylight and a night under your own artificial lighting.

Invite the carpet store to measure up and give you an estimate. It is better to compare overall quotations rather than prices per square meter alone.

By far the best flooring for kitchens and bathrooms is vinyl flooring. These are of course fully waterproof and practical. However they are slippery when wet although many modern types have a slightly textured finish making them slip "resistant".

A thicker vinyl flooring is not necessarily a better quality vinyl. Those that are too thick are often too soft and prone to indention. High heeled shoes are a particular problem. Instead select a thinner more solid vinyl with a good "wear layer". This is a clear layer of vinyl on top of the vinyl flooring.

If you do require carpeting in the bathroom or kitchen you should consider the following: Waffle backed bathroom carpet - waterproof and washable. Gel backed bathroom/kitchen carpet - water resistant. Flotex - Slightly expensive but top quality "flocked pile" gel backed flooring - water and stain resistant. Both have the bonus of being manufactured in 2mtr (6 foot 6 inches apx) widths.

When installing vinyl flooring on uneven wooden floorboards consider hard-boarding the floor (watch out for pipes! when nailing it down use "ring shank" nails)

I recommend having vinyl flooring professionally installed. You may be able to stretch carpets a little if you cut it short, but vinyl is not so forgiving.

If you do decide to fit your own bathroom carpet, do not fall into the trap of using the existing flooring as a template and then realizing you have cut out the new carpet back to front!

NEVER try to hide wiring or cables under flooring. It may give a neater appearance but a fire resulting from such action may void your insurance.

If you decorate skirting boards or doors before having new flooring, allow several days for the paint to dry. Also allow wallpaper to dry sufficiently.


I think that's it for now.


A couple more tips:

The pile on a cut pile carpet "leans" in one direction. This will make the carpet appear slightly lighter when viewed from one end. Imagine a large room fitted with carpet. When viewed from one end it will appear light as a result of light reflecting off. Go to the other end of the room and the carpet will appear slightly darker and the colour more saturated as light is absorbed. Bear this in mind when looking at samples.

Never use old carpet as underlay.

Carpet tiles are a good economical option for use in odd shaped rooms resulting in less waste, but once again the cheapest versions are not always the best option as they may not be manufactured exactly square.

Cheap wool carpets may often be made from inferior or recycled wool. Look out for pure new wool blends.

Most carpets come in 4 metre widths, but some are made 12 foot, 5 metre, 2 metre and 3 metre wide. The 3 metre width is an economical choice for bedrooms.

Troutman_2

Pantone , Have to disagree re man made fibre , Soloution dyed Nylon and Polypropelene are not only stain resistant , you can actually use bleach on them and not affect the colour . Also soiling is not the same as staining .

foursuns

skintc wrote: »

Hi everyone, this is my first post, hope I found the right place to put it!

Anyway, I visit this site and forum several times a week, and felt like it was about time I contributed something. Here's a little something my hubby and I did to save money a little while back.

We're currently fixing up our house which we bought early this year. And when it came to carpets, we were going up the wall. You've got to work out the price of the carpet, the underlay, the fitting... Every shop claimed to have the cheapest this, or the cheapest that. But overall they seemed to come to the same. Some would have cheap carpet, but hike up the price of the underlay or the fitting to make up the difference.

So here's what we did.

We found the cheapest place for carpet itself was one of the major national retailers (not sure if I can mention the name, but it includes the word carpet!) But when we sat down to do the figures with the man in the shop, the fitting cost LOADS more than anywhere else, and their underlay was a lot more. So what we did was, we bought the carpet from there and had it delivered to the house. Then, we went back to one of the previous shops whose carpets weren't as cheap or nice quality, and asked them if they'd fit the carpet for us. We also got the underlay from them aswell, as it was a lot cheaper.

All in all, we saved between £200-300.

So my advice is to not just shop around (which is a no brainer) but try and get each part from a different store, whoever claims to have the cheapest. Our fitters only charged £1.50 per sq metre, but the store we bought the carpet from were going to charge us £4.50. And the guys did a great job. Sometimes you have to be wary of fitters, but hey, you don't pay them til they're finished, so just make sure you're happy with the job before handing the money over.

So um, that's it. Hope this is helpful to someone.

Bethany


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Thanks Bethany, that was useful advice as we are redecorating our house. Does anyone know where the best place to buy natural flooring eg sisal etc is?

pantone

Troutman wrote: »

Pantone , Have to disagree re man made fibre , Soloution dyed Nylon and Polypropelene are not only stain resistant , you can actually use bleach on them and not affect the colour . Also soiling is not the same as staining .

I concur. There are several excellent "stain resistant" man made fibre carpets. The problem is some people consider that the phrase "Stain proof" implies that nothing will mark or damage the carpet. There are indeed carpets that are bleach proof, although I have not had the faith to try this out.

Soiling and staining are different qualities. Sometimes soiling can lead to stains. If someone was to walk across your carpet leaving a trail of mud, it is sometimes better to leave it to dry then brush/vacuum the dirt off.

Given the choice and the budget I would select wool blend carpets in most domestic locations, in particular living rooms, hall stairs and landings and dining rooms.

Natural flooring such as sisal can be bought at most carpet retail outlets. They can be expensive and need professional installation. Again I would select a wool blend copy of something similar.

Steve_xx

pantone wrote: »

I concur. There are several excellent "stain resistant" man made fibre carpets. The problem is some people consider that the phrase "Stain proof" implies that nothing will mark or damage the carpet. There are indeed carpets that are bleach proof, although I have not had the faith to try this out.

Soiling and staining are different qualities. Sometimes soiling can lead to stains. If someone was to walk across your carpet leaving a trail of mud, it is sometimes better to leave it to dry then brush/vacuum the dirt off.

Given the choice and the budget I would select wool blend carpets in most domestic locations, in particular living rooms, hall stairs and landings and dining rooms.

Natural flooring such as sisal can be bought at most carpet retail outlets. They can be expensive and need professional installation. Again I would select a wool blend copy of something similar.

Yes, what you say is so. Man-made fibres have the colour added to the yarn filament at the point of manufacture and therefore the colour is 'fast'. It would be difficult to remove any of the colour from a man-made fibre. These fibres may tolerate a level of bleach, but copious amounts would have the effect of burning the filament and at some point bleaching would certainly damage the fibre.

On the other hand wool is dyed after the yarn is produced and as it is porous in nature it is possible to remove the colour. Sunlight will certainly cause shading on the exposed areas of a 100% wool carpet, and in a relatively short amount of time.

Wool is superior for its anti-static properties.

thebuff1

Thank you Pantone for taking the trouble to write this. Spookily I have just bought home 2 samples for our hallway which is obviously a high traffic area.
I had my heart set on a Berber as I knew that they were 80/20 wool/synth mix but I did not take into account bobbling.
The shop honestly said that they prefer to pro - doh da ones and kept a far smaller range of wool mixes at back. They argue the stain resistence and durability as it does on this site.
However, I loathe static and I'm keen to use natural materials as poss as I can't help thinking that too much synthetic in our homes cannot be good for us.
I was contemplating getting a runner made and bound from the carpet as I have previously but I want a good 10 yrs say from the carpet which is to be in a bungalow with a dog.
Any further input would be appreciated.

pantone

Wool berber carpets are fashionable but may start to bobble in high traffic areas - for example hallways. Their looped pile can trap dirt and make cleaning difficult. A wool mixture or a natural/man made fibre blend would be a better option - and somewhat cheaper. Many modern man made fibres are anti-static.

I would still opt for an 80% wool 20% nylon "Berber Twist Pile", this is heavily flecked and has a cut pile constuction making it easier to clean. The word "Berber" in this case refers only to the fleck effect.

Having a matching runner made, either utilising waste or ordering extra material is a good idea. Some carpet retailers are able to send off-cuts away to be whipped up/bound. Failing that you could seal off the edges using copydex (latex adhesive)- ensure this is fully dry before placing onto your carpet.

Vinyl carpet protector (clear runner with spikes on the back) is ineffective long term as the vinyl will not absorb dirt.

One other option of course is to simply take up your existing flooring to reveal the floor boards. In the event of a solid asphalt or concrete subfloor, laminate the hall with a timber effect material. Then purchase a carpet runner or length of twist pile/berber carpet which has been whipped up/bound.

HTH

[Deleted User]

Neiliboy wrote: »

Brilliant thread - thanks :-)

I didnt know one company's fitters would fit another company's carpets.

Thats very good to know :-)

most fitters are self employed and work for a number of stores,they also in many cases advertise locally and you shouldnt have to pay more than £1-50 a sq.metre if its an almost empty room.Its also a good idea to buy your own underlay from the likes of b&q,and remember cheaper felt backed carpets need no underlay.
The cheapest way to do the job is buy a roll end(usually50% off)buy your own underlay(if needed)and fit it yourself,all you need is a good stanleyknife and plenty of spare blades as nothing blunts them quite as fast as carpet

Ice_Queen_112

Please don't forget the damage done by moths. They just love 100% wool carpets!

trader_girl

my DH has finally given me permission to go and start looking for a stair carpet. (Ive only waited 6 years for the stairs to be stripped and stained) the thing is, I dont know how to measure for stair carpet. our stairs are straight up to the 9 th tread and then turn to the right with three kite shaped treads and then a final straight step onto the landing which is at 90 degrees to the straight stairs. Does anyone understand this?
Also ive got 2 kids a moggy and our house is used for all the family parties so i want a extremely easy to clean carpet. What do you reccomend oh the landing is laminate (like the rest of the house) so do i need a special fixing for capet Any help will be reallllly appreciated thankyou.