Cheap hard wearing carpet for rental property ?

stylus360

Hi All

Need to fit carpets to a property i am renting and not got a clue about them. My mate is a fitter for a local company but he said to buy from carpet right as cheaper.

Anyone recommend anything cheap and hard wearing for bedrooms, landing and stairs ?

Cheers

sequence

Cheap and hard wearing don't go together! Either stump up the cash for a decent carpet + underlay, or expect it to look rough after a year.


(it's better to spend money on good underlay rather than carpet though...)

smp77

Pay extra, cheap carpet doesn't last long in my experience. Also do not get a light colour as it shows dirt easily in high traffic areas and is harder to clean!

Paul_the_Painter

A fitter reccomending carpetright???????????

!!!!!!??

Unless you are seriously out in the sticks, any fitter should have a wholesaler he uses for trade supplies that also supplies carpet. Most fitters would love to have a supply and fit job.

On the quality front - branding does not matter at the lower price points.

I can only think the fitter is thinking that the rollstock is pretty competive at Carpetright. I would be using this anyway for a rental property.

If you are going to keep the propperty for a long time, get top quality rubber crumb underlay (NOT Cloud 9, or sponge rubber) Your fitter will reccomend Cloud 9 or similar - it's easy to fit and light, but rubber crumb wears the best (think decades!)

Also buy full rolls of underlay and keep some in the loft in case there are repairs/accidents etc, as thicknesses vary between brands.

As to the carpet, spend about £7.00 - £10.00/sqm but only buy the stuff in stock off the rolls, for a similar quality these are around 60% of the price of the stuff on the samples.

If there are going to be pets, avoid looped pile carpets, personally I would avoid anything with any natural fibres in a rental property, as stain removal is more important than durability.

serious_saver

If you buy cheap carpet be prepared to fork out regularly to replace it. If it's cheap it will stain, wrinkle and generally wear out faster.

A lot of landlords seem to put in cheap carpet and expect tennants to pay for the cleaning/ replacement when the carpets get dirty or damaged but forget that reasonable wear and tear is going to make cheap carpet look worse much faster.

Think seriously about who is likely to rent the property. If it's multiple occupancy you'll have more people walking across it and it will wear out faster. I personally hate very pale coloured carpets in rental property as they show everything.

It's not suitable for stairs but I know someone who fitted out the rest of a house with carpet tiles. The idea being that if something needs to be replaced you can just remove a section. They're normally aimed at offices so they're pretty tough. I have seen them in different colours as well, meaning you can do some pretty funky things with them, like adding a different coloured borders around rooms or making patterns in childrens bedrooms. I;m not sure of the prices either.

Paul_the_Painter

Carpet tiles can be a great idea, especially if you get 20% extra so you can keep some for damage. They generally measure 50cmx50cm, dirt cheap ones are about £2 each, so £8.00/sqm plus about £1/tile to fit. so £12/sqm. They are really rough though. Nice Heuga ones start at around £5.00 and go up to £10.00 each

theartfullodger

So, you plan to treat your tenants with as little consideration as possible as regards your wallet.. What goes around comes around laddie...

Have you considered the "If I treat them with respect & decency, perhaps they might treat my property & me the same way"???

Sigh!

Artful

PS I keep asking my local carperwrong if I can pay for everything (Carpet & fitting) on one invoice & they keep saying no, pay separately.. So why do I want to do that - well, if there's a problem and you've paid separately, guess what each party (Carpetwrong & fitter) will say is the problem...

stylus360

theartfullodger wrote: »

So, you plan to treat your tenants with as little consideration as possible as regards your wallet.. What goes around comes around laddie...

Have you considered the "If I treat them with respect & decency, perhaps they might treat my property & me the same way"???

Sigh!

Artful

PS I keep asking my local carperwrong if I can pay for everything (Carpet & fitting) on one invoice & they keep saying no, pay separately.. So why do I want to do that - well, if there's a problem and you've paid separately, guess what each party (Carpetwrong & fitter) will say is the problem...

Yes i am going to treat my tennants with no respect whatsoever and offer them no decency, i have obviously proved that by asking a simple question regarding carpets..........:rotfl:

Thanks guys for your helpfull replys, will get a decent underlay and get something a little more mid market then.

Is 100% polyester hardwearing ?

Cheers

poppysarah

Nothing with a pile as it'll look scruffy in areas of high use.

Ask at a couple of carpet shops for advice. There's some big chain shops near us but we prefer to use the local bloke as he can usually get it fitted next day and lets you haggle

clutton_2

start up a good relationship with the local carpet shop.. if you are buying properties it is good to have an ongoing business association and you get better service... you also get the smaller offcuts of vinyl for small bathrooms at knock down prices. !!

i utter agreee about underlay.. a good underlay can double the life of a mid-range carpet.. NEVER use beige carpets in rentals.....

JanCee

I am going to disagree with the majority of posters and say, put in cheap carpet with attached underlay - but be prepared to replace it every 3-5 years.

Tenanted properties are very hard on carpets, no matter how good the quality, they get very stained and worn and require specialist cleaning. This is frequently a source of contention between LLs and tenants. Much better to use a cheaper carpet and replace more often. New carpets lift a rental property and tenants shouldn't have to live in fear of staining expensive fitted carpet and not get their deposit back.

Always choose a darker colour that is forgiving of wear & tear and family life.