Idiot's Guide to Buying Carpet?

efunc

Hi folks,

I've lived in my house for 35 years, and believe it or not, still have the original carpets that were in the house when it was bought, which may well be up to 50years old! Even more unbelievably they're doing very very well and the only signs of wear are on the stairs. However this has prompted me to finally bite the bullet and consider a complete refresh. I guess I have very high quality wool carpets fitted which would cost a bomb to replace at today's prices, but I'd like to get something almost as good. (Wilton, Axminster, Woven carpet?)

Having never had to go through this process, is there a 'moneysavingexpert' approach to this? ie, hotel foyer off-cuts, auctions, trade outlets? I want decent quality, plain, wool-rich, non-flashy, non-patterned carpet, however I don't want to fall into the trap of walking into John Lewis and walking out with a second mortgage!

If I'm sourcing the carpet myself presumably I need to know exactly how much I need and what roll, widths/sizes? If so, is there a simple formula for this or an accurate way of calculating it? How much does fitting tend to come to (through lounge, hallway, stairs, 3 bedrooms)?

Any tips/advice would be gratefully received.

Thanks!

TDPIX

Just a quick post - also consider the underlay, which I don't think you've mentioned. You can get this fairly cheaply from somewhere like TradePriced. Although the 'best' underlay - Axfelt - isn't stocked by TP.. depends on what underlay you like most, I suppose.

As for fitting, this will probably be £2 - £3 per square metre depending on your location.

efunc

You're right, I never considered underlay! Thanks for the advice.

macman

Purchase your own underlay, grippers and door bars. This is where the carpet sheds make most of their profit.

scottishblondie

I've only bought carpet from a carpet shop, so I can't suggest any cheap places to buy like you've listed. TBH I would just go to one of the carpet sheds as you'll be able to choose something you like much more easily. I wouldn't suggest John Lewis, I can imagine they would be quite costly!

As for the measurements, you should get the carpet fitter round to measure up once you've chosen your carpet and they can tell you how much you need. You have to consider things like the carpet width and nap, and things like stairs can be quite difficult to estimate especially if you have turns. If you take some measurements with you to the shop they'll be able to give you a rough idea - for the stairs measure the depth and height of the tread as well as the width.

Stairs are usually more expensive for fitting. I had carpet put down on 2 flights of stairs and 2 landings in January and it cost me around £30 a square meter. This included the carpet (a decent 80/20 blend), underlay, fitting and the grippers. I purchased and fitted my own door bars separately.

efunc

Thanks for the great advice. I suspected there'd be no shortcuts to this, and it looks like I'm probably right. The John Lewis range look really nice, I wish money were no object! I'll take my time and shop around then. I notice there are lots of quite cheap Wilton carpet on ebay advertised as 'seconds'. So there might be areas to investigate, but maybe more trouble than it's worth.

Biggles

We went to one of the carpet sheds and were impressed by their low prices. Then, when they'd added on all the extras of fitting, it didn't look any where near so cheap.

We then went to a small local independent, who looked much more expensive, but found their sq m prices included fitting and not only was their bottom line cheaper than the shed's but we got good service too.

efunc

Thanks for that. So on that basis, roughly how much would you be looking at to carpet your average 3 bedroom semi with decent 80% wool carpet? Just very rough ballpark figure?

daveyjp

Good quality UK made 80:20 wool mix carpet is now around the £20 per sq m mark.

macman

efunc wrote: »

Thanks for that. So on that basis, roughly how much would you be looking at to carpet your average 3 bedroom semi with decent 80% wool carpet? Just very rough ballpark figure?

How can anyone tell you that without knowing the room sizes?

artbaron

efunc wrote: »

I guess I have very high quality wool carpets fitted which would cost a bomb to replace at today's prices, but I'd like to get something almost as good. (Wilton, Axminster, Woven carpet?)

Having never had to go through this process, is there a 'moneysavingexpert' approach to this!

I think not if you're going for that sort of quality. Assuming 90m2 for an average semi then you'd be looking at £6-8K for Axminster carpet, good underlay and fitting.