Carpet - cheap underlay & grippers?

travel_freak

Hi there,

Just been to Carpet Right to get a quote for new carpets as they have some very good reductions on at the moment, some carpets are 60% plus a further 20% discount which is great.

What I'm wondering is if anyone can recommend a trade or wholesale place where it might be cheaper to buy my own underlay and grippers - or is this a false economy? I know from Carpet Right that I would have to pay extra for the fitters if I supply my own underlay but just wondering if the overall cost would work out cheaper.

Many thanks in advance.
Regards

roswell

We used fibre underlay board its about £20 for something like 20 square meters from most DIY stores / flooring stores.

edthedead

Hi,

We found that the carpet at Carpet Right was cheap, but everything else was very expensive!

I brought foam type underlay from Carpet-Underlay-Co on ebay for about 40 quid which was enough to do the whole room (over half the price of Carpet Right) - there are loads of types of foam underlay and we have found it just as good, if not better, than the rubber type.

The gripper I brought from Screwfix - £20ish for miles of the stuff, enough to do the whole house! The door bars I got from Screwfix as well for cheaper than Carpet Right.

I then called a carpet fitter out the phone book who fitted the whole lot for cheaper than the Carpet Right fitter (not by much though).

All in all I recon it cost me about half the price of getting the whole lot from Carpet Right!

Another tip with Carpet Right is that they will try and charge a £20 fee on top of the cost of the carpet. Some branches say this is a delivery charge others say it is an admin charge (...surely this should be included in the cost of the carpet per meter... but anyway). I have always taken the carpet away in my own car (folded up, it's fine as long as you unfold it and roll it when you get home), and got them to waive the fee... if the branch you go to won't wavie it either go to another branch or tell them that the other branch you 'normally go to' always waives it

Hope this is usefull!!:T

travel_freak

Thanks Roswell, that price sounds brilliant! Sorry to ask but I've never heard of this stuff before, is it as good as normal underlay to put beneath carpet? It's a top floor flat so I was hoping that whatever I use would give a little added sound insulation too, as well as giving the carpet hopfully a longer life.

Does it come in different thicknesses or a standard one?

Do you think a carpet fitter, such as Carpet Right would be happy to lay carpet on top of this or might there be any issues I haven't thought of?

Thanks so much for your reply.

travel_freak

Hi Edthedead,

Thanks for your reply - it wasn't there a second ago when I was typing my reply to Roswell!

You're absolutely right, I was quoted a £25 "delivery" charge, in addition to the fitting fee, the bars etc, etc. It did seem to me that the bars and gripper were very expensive indeed so I'm grateful for the tip re Screwfix, I'll take a look at them to compare prices.

Will also get some quotes from fitters to see how they compare.

A great tip to play off two branches against each other, re the "delivery" charge, I hadn't thought of that!

Many thanks again.

Regards.

travel_freak

Thanks again to the above posters, I've just been following up on your suggestions and what a truly STAGGERING price difference!

I asked the man in Carpet Right to write down quantities of what I'd need and prices. He said I'd need 55 sq metres of underlay at £6.99 per sq metre at a cost of £384.45.

I've looked at various places online (Flooring-Exposed.com and completelyflooring) at both felt and rubber underlay, 11mm thickness so quite good, which comes in at around 1.99 to 2.60 per square metre, a "mere" saving of £241 at the 2.60 price.

The grippers, as you said, are also cheaper, twice the quantity I would need for around £30 - Carpet Right's price was £150!!

Finally the door bars on Screwfix are around a couple of pound each, whereas CR charge £7.99 each.

My total quote from CR was £1,000 odd excluding fitting and I think I can bring that down by around £400 and I haven't even started to look for an independent carpet fitter yet. What a rip off! I can't thank the posters above enough!

I'm also looking at the fibre board option as an alternative and this too seems more affordable.

If anyone else is getting Carpet Right in I recommend shopping around too!

Regards,

flang

if your planning on fitting your carpet yoursel argos now sell a carpet streatcher for only£30! its fantastic and saves hell of a lot of money if your doing more than one room! (im not brave enough to do the stairs mind!)

Lord_Gardener

For underlay I suggest that you buy something like Cloud 9 rather than 'cheap rubbish' that will not produce decent sound reduction and have a good cushioning effect. I've yet to come across a diy person who can fit carpet properly. Decent underlay and having your carpet fitted properly will extend the carpets life and give you that feel of luxury! Have you tried your local independant carpet shop? Often they can get you a better deal, will have a much larger range and usually know what they are talking about!

NB Your independant carpet fitter may be able to do a good deal on underlay and grippers!

travel_freak

Thanks Lord Gardener,

No, I'm definitely not going to fit it myself, just trying to save money on the underlay and grippers etc.

I went to a larger branch of Carpet Right today to see if I could find a cheaper carpet and I talked through with them the option for providing my own underlay. They told me that Cloud 9 was not a good underlay as it is too thick and results in more wear on the underside of carpets. They said Cloud 9 is designed more for contract carpets but is not suitable for domestic.

They also said that Cloud 9 is very difficult to lay on stairs becuase of its thickness and that some fitters would refuse to fit Cloud 9 because it needs to be stapled so many times around stairs as it's so bulky.

I'm confused because all the bumph I read online yesterday about these underlays makes them sound perfect for the job and they say they're suitable for both domestic and non-domestic use.

Can anyone comment on what Carpet Right have said?

Basically, Carpet Right's cheapest underlay is £4.99 a square metre but I can get underlay online for £1.99 a square metre.

Many thanks.

edthedead

"More wear on the underside of the carpet"... can't quite see how that could happen! The foam underlay i got was the 11mm thick one I think, not Cloud 9, but along the same lines. The carpet fitter who fitted it said did not say anything about it marking the carpet wear any quicker, in fact he seem impressed with the foam type underlay, did not mention any negatives!

Not sure about laying it on stairs though... I can see that the thickness may be an issue.

Ed

Woby_Tide

we ordered underlay(Duralay) from flooring-exposed.com as was free delivery over £25 and we only needed one rooms worth, gripper rods were about £4 for a pack of 12m or so from B&Q as was cheaper than paying postage. Carpetright fitters were fine with both