Carpet recomendations for Rented 5 Bed house

pcfixmanchester

Hiya

A Carpet Newbie here, spent the last 24 hours reading the DIY Forums but MSE always does me great on the Small Business Forum so thought I would ask advice on the DIY Side.

We are looking to rent a nice old 5 bed house, planning to stay there for at least 3 -5 years, we have agreed with the landlord that we can totally redecorate to our tastes. So first thing we want to do is replace there very colourful pink and blue carpets that have throughout the house !!

As we only going to be there for 5 years max, dont want to spend too much on carpets, and if possible want to reuse the existing doorbars/grippers/underlay as they all only a couple of years old.

So what is the cheapest way of doing it, and what sort of carpet is good for short term use. Happy to just go for a neutral /biege/stone colour throughout the house, which is lounge, dining room, 3 double beds, then further 2 double beds in Attic, and of course 2 flights of stairs !! Is it correct that you can make a good saving if you happy to have off-cuts or joins that would be hidden under beds and wardrobes.

I have in mind a rough budget of £1K, is that possible ??

Any feedback on what types of carpet we should ask for, and other money saving tips on getting as much done as possible for the budget. If the budget is too small then we could ignore the attic rooms for now, but would be nice to get it all done and out the way now.

Cheers

Andy ;-)

PasturesNew

If you can, shove the carpets taken up into the loft ... in case the landlord wants you out in a year or so. This way, also, when you do leave, you can give him the option of relaying his carpets or leaving yours.

It might all seem hunky dorey now, but you can never tell how circumstances might change in the future.

gizmo111

I have just carpetted 2 doubles a single hall stairs and landing, front room and vinyl flooring in large kitchen/diner for £1092, including fitting and any underlay, gripper etc. Basically all one colour sort of sandy/stone type thing, medium quality carpet. Went to a local carpet shop.

MrYorke

get some sort of written confirmation from your landlord to say he's ok you changing the carpets.

Yes he's getting a good deal by you doing it, BUT, best to cover your backs just incase

A grand should be fine to do the areas your talking about. No need to replace the underlay or gripper unless its very bad in places. Check for wobbly floorboards first. A couple of nails through them should sort any out. CHECK UNDERNEATH FIRST SO YOU DONT GO THROUGH ANY PIPES OR CABLES!

Go to Carpet Right etc as they do great deals all the time. You can get cut-offs that can cover huge areas as you may find it difficult to get matching cut-offs. You should get a good deal on 'off-the-roll' carpets anyway

Phirefly

MrYorke wrote: »

Go to Carpet Right etc as they do great deals all the time.

I disagree. Better value can be found at your local independent carpet fitters. I have Cormar http://www.cormarcarpets.co.uk/ throughout my house as it delivers a good balance of quality and price. You can get better quality if you want to spend more and you can get cheaper carpets if you're prepared to have lower quality, but I found Cormar ranges to be the best compromise.

underlay_guru

Phirefly wrote: »

I disagree. Better value can be found at your local independent carpet fitters. I have Cormar http://www.cormarcarpets.co.uk/ throughout my house as it delivers a good balance of quality and price. You can get better quality if you want to spend more and you can get cheaper carpets if you're prepared to have lower quality, but I found Cormar ranges to be the best compromise.

I also whole heartedly disagree.....the 'sales' that these multiple retailers (known in the trade as 'The Sheds') have are usually false discounts....50% of then a further 10% then another 10% etc etc etc....They also make a MOUNTAIN of profit on the underlay, grippers, metals and fitting and delivery charges.

I would use an independent carpet retailer, as you know exactly who you are dealing with, rather than an inexperienced, quickly-trained-up young salesman, chasing his commission targets so he can save up for a souped-up Saxo!!

Doozergirl

With a house of 5 beds, it's possible that you will use a whole roll of carpet, in which case you should ask for an extra discount as they don't have to buy in a roll to have the remnants sitting around for someone else to buy, they're simply ordering a roll and passing it on to you.

pcfixmanchester

Thanks all for the reply so far.

We went to our local CarpetRight (Regent Road, Manchester the one near Sainsburys, so you know were to avoid ) on Sunday, and underlay_guru was totally correct.

The young guy who gave us a quote, could not find a working pen, gave up and used a broken one, just had a scrap of paper, asked 5 times in row what the room sizes were which we told him 5 times over !! then at the mention of a stair case had to get his manager over who tapped away at a calculator and came up with £3,200 !!! thats for a carpet at £9.99 sq/m, and with reusing the existing underlay, grippers, door bars etc. When I asked for a written quote was told they dont do them !!! as we were the only people in the shop I guess more and more people are fed up with rubbish service from the big chains !!
If 5 members of staff in a whole store with no other customers cant find one working pen or a proper piece of paper for a quote you really start to doubt the quality of the job they would do on carpeting the house properly !!

So next stop is the independant shop this weekend.

Cheers

Andy ;-)

underlay_guru

Well, with more than 60 independent carpet shops in Manchester, you are spoilt for choice!

Also, ask for a written quote. Being a 5 bed house, I imagine you will require a lot of carpet, possibly a full roll. This is a great time to ask for a discount (If the carpet shops buy a full roll of carpet from the wholesaler, they usually get it 10-35% cheaper....;) If you have found a carpet in CARPETRIGHT for £9.99m2, aim to pay between £6 & £7m2 at the independent shop for an equivalent product.

...Ive just noticed on your OP you have a budget of 1k. Depending on the size of the property, you should easily be able to afford at least a basic carpet, fully fitted with a half decent 8 or 9mm PU underlay. Ask for DUBLIN TWIST or similar, or a Polypropylene Natural Loop carpet at the independent carpet shop(These are decent budget carpet products which any carpet retailer worth his salt will recognise immediately, and should cost no more than £7m2).






Happy shopping!