Help with carpets..please!

Pipkin

Hi

we are about to move into a new house soon and have to tackle buying carpets for the first time ever.

We want a long lasting hardwearing carpet and are prepared to pay a good amount for it, but have no idea what we are looking for.

We have been recomended an independant carpet retailer, which is fab, but when we went for a look I didn't feel the assistant was particularly helpful (though I would still prefer to stick with this retailer than go to a large chain).

Lots of talk about getting a 42 oz carpet for the price of a 32 oz one and 80/20 mixtures but no help in what that actually means to me in terms of being good quality/cleanability etc...no telling what kind of carpet it was (loop/twist etc)

We are due to go back and pick the carpet soon and I'm quite concerned as I feel I will end up being railroaded into picking something that may not be what I'm looking for (husband will just be happy to have a carpet...any carpet..so I can't look to him for support there).

I've read up online, but the more I read the more confused I become.

If you have any suggestions/advice I'd be very greatful.

We could probably go to £30 -£40 a square metere before fitting etc (because it's a very small house!)

We have no pets (unless you count 2 teenagers) and are carpeting the living room stairway and hall.

TomsMom

If UnderlayGuru is around, hopefully he'll come along and offer some advice.

But in the meantime we've just carpetted a whole house after renovation. We went to a local independent, in fact tried two for the same carpet. Shop 1 wanted to charge £34 per sq.m. fitted price, shop 2 did us the same carpet for £18 per sq.m. supply only. We got our own fitter. This was for a good quality 60oz 80/10/10 (wool/nylon/polyester fibre) twist pile tufted carpet with hessian back. We've used this in hall/stairs/landing and lounge.

I would try another independent to try and get better advice/service then just go where the best price is.

Don't buy your underlay/grippers/door strips from the shop as their mark up is tremendous, get them off the internet instead. We got good quality Cloud 9 Cirrus (9mm) underlay which worked out at £2.28 + VAT per sq.m. when you buy full rolls. Our fitter supplied the gripper and door strips at a nominal cost but you can get these for around £20 + VAT for 500 ft of gripper off the internet.

Ours is a "no outdoor shoes indoors" house as, from past experience, we know that wearing outdoor shoes inside brings in dirt and grit which will wear your carpet much quicker, particularly the most used areas, e.g. you can see a "track" from sofa to TV, from doorway to seating area, etc., so it's bare feet, socks or soft soled slippers in our house but of course that's personal choice.

My son and d-i-l have a nice quality man made carpet, they've had it for quite a few years now and it still looks good. However, with three children and a mad dog (and until recently a cat) she is constantly shampooing it with a Vax. It does come up really well.

Pipkin

Hi

Thanks for your reply, I appreciate it!

Hmm..thats definitely a much better deal than we were being offered.. the 32oz/42 oz carpets he was pointing us to were around the £20 per square metre mark before fitting etc (he didn't tell me how much fitting was, though I did ask).

We do have underlay (it's a bit of a complicated story but basically the house we are moving into has been taken over by a housing assosciation and refurbished..before this new carpets had just been laid by the last landlords (and it's a good landlord so it's a relatively decent carpet for the time being) within the last 6 months so there are practically brand new carpets and underlay in the property..the bedroom carpets are fine as they are a neutral beige colour so we are keeping them for now, however the living room/stairs/hallway have orange carpets which really just won't go with anything in our home at all, so although I feel guilty about it I am changing them).

So, we have underlay already which should be ok , it's just the carpet and fitting we need to pay for.

I do plan to make it a no outdoor shoes house also, so this should help, but I do also have a carpet cleaner, so want something that is suitable for cleaning.

I'm just frightened of being hoodwinked/fobbed off because we don't know much..this is a considered purchase for us and one that has to last as financially I do not know when (if ever) we will be able to redo it.

Pipkin

I came across this one and wondered if it would be any good, or would the pile be too thick for a living room/stairs?

http://www.abingdonflooring.co.uk/product.php?ID=10382

TomsMom

I've never seen a 100oz carpet so don't know how thick it would be compared to our 60oz. With stairs you'd have to ensure that it would be OK on the edge of the step. I'm thinking the closer woven it is the less it will "open up" and show the backing where it bends over the edge of the step. I'm not expert, other than experience over the years with our own carpets.

You could always send UnderlayGuru a PM if he doesn't respond, I'm sure he wouldn't mind as he does offer a lot of advice on the forum.

suisidevw

Underlay Guru knows his stuff!

We have just had 100% wool laid down in our house, it's not the most expensive in the world but this house is a 7-10 yearer so it'll do nicely and is a lovely colour etc. It was on offer through a local shop as well. We used Cloud 9 9mm underlay and it's EXCELLENT. Any questions I may be able to help with too

Pipkin

BUMP (hopeful bump!)

Pipkin

We have to go and pick these pesky carpets tomorrow, any advice would be very greatfully recieved, please.

Debt_Free_Chick

Could you not just ask them to explain?

TomsMom

The information label on the back of the carpet sample will tell you which areas it is recommended for, the pile content and usually tells you what type of construction, i.e. tufted, twist pile, etc. Look for something that says heavy domestic and possibly guaranteed for 10 years (or so).

The more dense per sq.inch the fibres, i.e. tighter packed than looser, is better IMO, and a long pile carpet will be more difficult to keep looking nice IMO. Lovely when just vacuumed but wont stay that way for long, i.e. walk on it and you can see the footprint. Also the fibres the less it will open up on the stair edge as already said.

If your teenagers are messy, e.g. are likely to spill drink or food, then a stain resistant finish may be the way to go and this is more likely to be a man-made carpet. Some man-made carpets are really good. Anything with nylon in can sometimes give static shocks to people susceptible to those.

I would go with an independent retailer rather than the big nationals with never ending sales. IMO 60oz would be great for living room and stairs.

Did you try another independent retailer? Did you PM Underlay-Guru? It's possible he's away if he's not answered your question. Can you not delay choosing your carpet until you have looked into it more and got your questions answered by an expert, mistakes with carpets can be very costly.

Pipkin

Hi

Thank you both for your answers.

When we go back I will quiz the man more, but I did feel a bit intimidated and that he wasn't very forthcoming, however it is my responsibility to make sure he is, so just need to get on with it.:D

I did PM underlay Guru, but no reply so perhaps he is away.

We haven't been to another retailer, but there are other branches of this retailer so we will go to one of those and speak to a different assistant, we had already decided to do this before going back to the original place (we have to go to the original place to order the carpet as it is their main warehouse where they keep special offers like roll ends if it transpires they have something suitable in those that we want).

We really can't delay in getting the carpet as we are moving (well really being evicted) from tied housing (went with the job, no longer have the job) into a different form of accomodation..so there is a time limit within which we need to leave this house (which is rapidly running out) and we would prefer the new house to be carpeted before we move in as it is so small and awkward that getting someone in to carpet once we move in would be a nightmare (have had to have carpets fitted before (not bought by us) in accomodation we were already living in, so have had experience of this).

Thank you for all your points Toms mum, will write them down and take them with me tomorrow.

Thank you all again,
Pipkin x