7mm thick carpet underlay

jetcat

is it worth it??

I am desperately trying to budget, and am prob going for foam backed carpets, but following previous advice from other posters, am still getting the underlay. Have found some 7mm budget stiff from tradepriced - would that see me through 3-4 years, or more like 3-4 months??

Also, i see they have 2mm laminate underlay - again, would that suffice for laminate flooring in a living room?

I am a complete novice at all this - can you tell lol!!

WaveyDave_2

What's the expected life of the foam backed carpet?

jetcat

WaveyDave wrote: »

What's the expected life of the foam backed carpet?

if i get about five years, i will be happy. Buying it new, off the roll, only a cheap one though. As i need to carpet the entire house, i want to get it done cheaply, but i dont want to waste money ie. false economy on getting something that will need replacing in a couple of years.

Oh, just realised, did you mean carpets come with a life expectancy - like a warranty etc?? Oh, i dont think i should be doing this on my own lol, its too confusing!!

WaveyDave_2

Some carpets come with a warranty, like Brintons or Ulster, but they tend to be the more expensive end of the spectrum.

Will you still be living there in 5 years time? If you are, will you replace the carpet or put another type of flooring down? If you are thinking you'd replace the carpet, it might be better to buy a decent underlay now, so that you won't have to replace that later too.

Roughly how many sqm of underlay do you need? There's not a huge difference in cost between the budget ones and something like the Cloud9 (which is what I used throughout my house).

What type of underaly did you look at, foam, crumb? Sorry about all the questions

jetcat

no worries, i appreciate you taking the time to help :beer:

Chances are, i wont be there in 5 years, as i am hoping to move up to scotland nearer my sister, when my health is a little better.

for the bedrooms, i need approx 40m2 - i havent actually measured the stairs. Can you use foam backed on stairs??

The underlay i have seen is here, other than that, i saw some in carpet right for £50 for 10m2!!!

WaveyDave_2

Stairs are a heavy traffic area. I would imagine you could use foam backed on them, but it would be the first area to wear out.

To be honest, if you don't think you'll be there in 5 years, I wouldn't worry too much about the underlay. The only thing I've noticed, is that the underlay you link to only has a 12 month guarantee. Why don't you give TradePriced a ring and ask them? I found them extremely helpful when I was buying mine.

brownbake

Personally I would go for the best quality underlay I could afford it really does make the difference. I am looking into getting my large lounge / diner done soon 30m2 and the underlay from that site will cost me around £100 but is 11mm thick I think.

My budget is gonna be about £600 all in - £20 m2 as am gonna get a carpet with some kind of stain guarantee. HTH

WaveyDave_2

brownbake wrote: »

Personally I would go for the best quality underlay I could afford it really does make the difference. I am looking into getting my large lounge / diner done soon 30m2 and the underlay from that site will cost me around £100 but is 11mm thick I think.

My budget is gonna be about £600 all in - £20 m2 as am gonna get a carpet with some kind of stain guarantee. HTH

I was advised against getting underlay that thick, was told not to go higher than 9mm. This is because the thick underaly can prevent the carpet gripping the grippers properly.

jetcat

brownbake wrote: »

Personally I would go for the best quality underlay I could afford it really does make the difference. I am looking into getting my large lounge / diner done soon 30m2 and the underlay from that site will cost me around £100 but is 11mm thick I think.

My budget is gonna be about £600 all in - £20 m2 as am gonna get a carpet with some kind of stain guarantee. HTH

hi brownbake,

at the moment i can only (just about) afford to get the bedrooms carpetted, as i think they may be able to take a lesser quality underlay - did that make sense!!

It is bare floarboards, so am thinking underlay, then foam backed carpet. As i said, i will prob only be there max 5 years, prob not even that long, so need something that will last that long. Will get better quality for downstairs, where there is more traffic.

thanks x

brownbake

Hi - I have learnt so much out of costly mistakes that is why I am letting you know.

We did the same thing when we moved into our flat a few years ago - replaced the 30 year old carpets with foam backed - onto concrete - no underlay - bad move!!!

Lasted about 2 years if that and were looking tired by then so the few hundred we paid would have been better off saved and put towards a decent underlay carpet combo in the first place.

Need to know how old the house is, how level the floorboards are, how big the gap is between them etc? From experience if laying anything onto floorboards best option is to lay hardboard to flatten the surface - cheap!!

If you send me a PM then I will get my partner to message / phone you. Like said we aren't floor specialists - just learnt a lot from our mistakes and various fitters trying to rip us off!!

What is your m2 budget? PM me if sensitive but we paid £20m2 for our bedroom for the best solution.

Carpet fitting should cost £2.50 - 5 m2 MAX. You will be lucky if you can get it less than that. Any fitter talking about thicker underlay being more costly to fit is trying to rip you off - unless that includes lots of door cutting?

HTH

brownbake

WaveyDave wrote: »

I was advised against getting underlay that thick, was told not to go higher than 9mm. This is because the thick underaly can prevent the carpet gripping the grippers properly.

TBH that is just bs if you have decent gripper rods. There are lots of lazy conmen carpet fitters out there, trust me.

When you get it fitted - even with a decent fitter and if the room is square and clear you will be amazed at how quick they fit it.

As stated we got our bedroom done - all in for £240 - carpet, underlay, gripper, fitting. Clear square room - took the fitter less than 30 mins and we paid £36 just for that lol!!! Which works out a £1.20 a minute - expensive in anyones book!!!

Most carpet shops make a lot of money on gripper and underlay and fitting. Shop around - our fitter worked for a carpet shop but gave us his card and we would use him in the future - if we hadn't lost his card lol!!