Tip for anyone buying new carpet

Biggles

I got a sharp lesson on buying carpets like the OP, when we went to a similar branch of a national chain and looked around.

We found a carpet that Mrs Biggles found quite acceptable for our stairs and landing at £6.99. But alarm bells started sounding when the salesman started doing them sums, as the cheapest underlay was as much as the carpet, and the one he recommended was much more! Then there were fitting charges on top!

We then went to a small local store (that we had ignored previously, as we thought they were expensive) and found a carpet there at £13.99. Horrendous! But then we found that, with underlay and fitting, it worked out a great deal less than the national chain. And we got great local service.

The moral? It's the bottom line that counts, not the shelf edge price.

Trader Girl: All you need to do is measure the width of your steps, the number of them, and the dimensions of your landing. They will work out a rough estimate based on that. They will come to measure up before giving a firm quote anyway.

Biggles

Ice_Queen_112 wrote: »

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

Tell me about it! Apparently certain, very effective, chemicals have been banned by the EU and, what with that and climate change, we are now getting far more of these nasty beasties. Since discovering the damage (it's always hidden under furniture) we are keeping on top of it but we wouldn't have another 100% wool carpet now.

bargainlover08

We bought carpet yesterday and I did bit of haggling. Don't be scared to ask for a lower price. Carpet Right came and measured up our whole house and said it would be £850 (we are not having underlay as it is OK already). This included 20% off as they had an offer on this weekend.
Allied carpet came later that day and measured up, they said it would be £950. The carpet we had chosen was better quality from Allied so we expected it to be more. I told the salesman Carpet Right would do it for £850. He called the store and they agreed to do it for £830.
Result! We are getting better carpet for less money.

skintc

trader_girl wrote: »

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.

Yes, stairs are tricky to measure, but if you go into any large carpet retailer, they'd be more than happy to work it out for you. Even if you don't buy from them. Just ask them how much you'd need and tell them you're still looking around.

bunster2427

Alias_Omega wrote: »

Also, measure up and check the end of roll items at the back of the store, and when you find one you like, haggle on the price as you will take it there and then.

Gripper rod can be bought for £20 a box on eBay, and underlay too, though a decent carpet wont need underlay. But if your a !!!!!, you can use the old carpet as underlay. Just turn it over..

I am a carpet fitter. A decent carpet will need a good underlay so forget that load of rot and please do not use an old carpet as an underlay this can cause no end of problems in as much as your new carpets life will be affected (shortened).

Gripper is very cheap as is doorbars ,the major stores will charge you a fortune for this as much as £4.5 a length (5feet) I always provide these free with all my jobs. A good carpet fitter will charge £3-5 per metre for fitting ,as with all things you only get what you pay for. If you have a carpet fitter who only charges £1.50 be very aware of his ability to do the job professionally.An experianced fitter will be able to fit an average sized bedroom (12' x 12') in 30-40 mins that includes gripper ,door bars,and underlay. Also forget places like B&Q for your underlay and gripper they also charge well over the odds for it. A good underlay should not cost any more than £30-£40 per roll (15 m2). If you pay more than this then you are being cheated.

Don't bother to view carpet samples out in the sun light unless you are having your garden carpeted. As you know carpets are always indoors so put any samples you have in the room that you intend to have the carpet fitted.

bunster2427

trader_girl wrote: »

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.

I am in the carpet business so here is what you do;
measure 1 stair length first then width (most stairs are .45 x 84 aprox) and muiltyply this by the number of stairs. The kite shape stairs (Winders) you measure in the way same just make sure you measure the longest and widest points. This is best fitted by a carpet fitter as the winders need a lot of experiance work to complete.
The best carpet for you with your kids and moggy ( I have one also) is a man made carpet these can be cleaned with bleach ETC.
To fix your carpet to the laminate on the landing you will need a 'Z' edge bar.

bunster2427

Biggles wrote: »

I got a sharp lesson on buying carpets like the OP, when we went to a similar branch of a national chain and looked around.

We found a carpet that Mrs Biggles found quite acceptable for our stairs and landing at £6.99. But alarm bells started sounding when the salesman started doing them sums, as the cheapest underlay was as much as the carpet, and the one he recommended was much more! Then there were fitting charges on top!

We then went to a small local store (that we had ignored previously, as we thought they were expensive) and found a carpet there at £13.99. Horrendous! But then we found that, with underlay and fitting, it worked out a great deal less than the national chain. And we got great local service.

The moral? It's the bottom line that counts, not the shelf edge price.

Trader Girl: All you need to do is measure the width of your steps, the number of them, and the dimensions of your landing. They will work out a rough estimate based on that. They will come to measure up before giving a firm quote anyway.[/QUOTe

All the large national carpet shops will charge you much much more than your local carpet shop, they charge well over the odds for underlay,gripper and doorbars .

bunster2427

If you want any advice on carpets or carpet fitting please ask bunster2427

lynsiloo

good post, a little off topic now but hope somebody knows what the heck i am talking about. Recently we went to look at a showhome, mainly for decorating ideas!! When we went through the front door the had almost what was like a fitted door mat. Not coir matting, like a fine ribbed almost industrial like carpet. I fancy doing this is my house, thought it would be good for shoes and little ones dirty feet!!! Ao have a large piece of this then a start my wooden flooring. Anybody know what this stuff would be called?? Been to a few carpet places, but the keep suggesting coir matting which is not it. Any suggestions??

Harveycat_2

skintc wrote: »

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


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.............



Bethany

No wonder it was so expensive... you are only supposed to carpet the floors... or are you from Armenia?