What's your definition of 'cheap' carpet?

gabyjane

I completely agree with this! We only have carpet on our stairs and landings which is cream but pretty well wearing..i have been really strict on no shoes and have loads of people in and out of the house and it is still looking good, however the 3 bottom stairs are grubby just from people sitting on them etc. I can imagine the lounge now wrecked as leads straight onto the garden..just couldnt cope with it!! We have wood in bedrooms and lounge and kitchen and toilets are vinyl although looking at tiling the kitchen possibly in time to come as fitters did a rubbish job.
We have a nice rug in each room to match each colour scheme and it is so easy to mop dry and looks like new..also very easily changed in terms of decor.
Can you tell i love it!

PasturesNew wrote: »

I'm afraid I'm anti carpet....

Hard floors then chuck rugs down is better imho. Rugs you can change, move about, swap around, just where you need them.

Hard floors are a breeze to keep clean too.

A friend of mine bought a brand new carpet, the same short pile carpet throughout an entire brand new house (4 beds, detached, but tiny) nearly 10 years ago and it cost her £3,000.

She lived alone and was very very careful. She was out all day at work 12 hours, would come in and that was it. No kids, no pets. Cleanest, most careful person in the world. After about 4-5 years she decided there was a slightly trampled area along the entrance hallway, so she had professional carpet cleaners in ... and some of the colour came out of it.

If she'd had hard flooring from the start there'd have been no obvious trampling.

One carpet throughout would be a nightmare to keep looking the same, everywhere. One idiot through that door and the whole lot is toast.

edgex

PasturesNew wrote: »

I'm afraid I'm anti carpet....

Hard floors then chuck rugs down is better imho. Rugs you can change, move about, swap around, just where you need them.

Hard floors are a breeze to keep clean too.

A friend of mine bought a brand new carpet, the same short pile carpet throughout an entire brand new house (4 beds, detached, but tiny) nearly 10 years ago and it cost her £3,000.

She lived alone and was very very careful. She was out all day at work 12 hours, would come in and that was it. No kids, no pets. Cleanest, most careful person in the world. After about 4-5 years she decided there was a slightly trampled area along the entrance hallway, so she had professional carpet cleaners in ... and some of the colour came out of it.

If she'd had hard flooring from the start there'd have been no obvious trampling.

One carpet throughout would be a nightmare to keep looking the same, everywhere. One idiot through that door and the whole lot is toast.

weve now got tiled floors in hall, kitchen, conservatory & bathroom
real wood floor in the living & dining rooms
the only carpet is then stairs/landing & the bedrooms

i dont think id ever carpet a hallway ever again

boombap

Hello, me the OP here again!

Just wanted to thank everyone again - both those who've responded and those who've read the thread

I'm just wondering if I can ask another quick question but this time it's regarding carpet fitting...

What should the price of fitting include?

The shop who we're likely to be buying from offers fitting at £1.50 per square yard. Would this price be for just carpet fitting or would it include underlay fitting too? Obviously I'll be asking them that tomorrow when they come and measure up but just thought I'd ask anyway...

What about carpet removal (ie taking it off the floor)? I believe that the £1.50 p/sq mtr does not include removal - is this 'normal'? Also what about disposal of the old stuff?

HUGE thanks once again,

S.

wallbash

I would expect the underlay work to be included , its a very very quick job.

As to the removal , I have always had to clear the room .
Easiest is to slice the carpet up into '4 ft lengths and the roll up. stick a bit of gaffer tape , to stop it unrolling and its a trip to the dump.

Errata

Fitting price covers fitting, but not the cost of, underlay, gripper, carpet and doorplats. Fitters will take up existing floor covering and removal at an extra cost, but it's so easy to DIY. even by a female pensioner like me, it's not worth it. Use the method described by Wallbash.
The homeowner is responsible for clearing the room of furniture, although my fitters have been happy to shift the large sofa around the room as they work - no chance of me moving that monster out of the room.
Don't forget to offer the fitters a cuppa, and a tip if you feel they've done a good job.

boombap

Thanks for those tips Wallbash & Errata.

As we're having the whole house done we'll cram all the small furniture into the kitchen and bathroom but I guess things like the beds will have to be shifted from room to room as the work is done. Thankfully we've not moved in yet so there's not an awful lot of furniture.

I'll make sure to have the kettle in heavy use and will even buy a pack of biscuits for the fitters (shops own lable though ).

S.

boombap

Just thought I'd pop back and give an update (don't know about any one else but I always like threads to have a proper ending!)

The carpet was paid for today and the fitters will be coming on Friday (only after did I notice it'll be a Friday 13th!). In the rooms which will see heavy use we've gone for a more delux underlay than the spare bedrooms and we've gone for a beige/honey manmade berber. Total floor space is 135 mtrs sq and the cost of underlay and carpet is £1089. The fitters charge will be just under £300 but we have to remove all the old carpet and will fit out own grippers where needed to save a little more ££.

I'm pleased with the price although I'm sure I could have shaved a few more pounds off here and there but it would have complicated things further.

Thanks again to everyone for their helpful comments. I'll pop back later on in the week and let you all know how the fitting went - just hope I don't have any Friday 13th horror stories to tell

Happy DIY all,

S.

Errata

Good luck - just make sure you fix the gripper in exactly the right place.

boombap

Errata wrote: »

Good luck - just make sure you fix the gripper in exactly the right place.

I think my bedtime reading better be Grippers 101 tonight

S.

Errata

You could do worse. The last thing you need is a team of fitters standing in the middle of a room, looking at the gripper and sucking their teeth !