Easy-clean carpet advice

Fen1

My elderly aunt needs a new carpet in her very small sitting room. It needs to be easy-clean as she is unsteady on her feet and clumsy, so food, tea etc, gets dropped on the floor. She wants carpet not lino. Carpet is warmer, and is more cushioned when she falls.

No. She won't accept help. Tried everything.

Anyway, any carpet recommendations? I was thinking of something like an industrial/ workplace carpet that is designed to be low-maintenance. The sitting room is next to the back door, so takes a beating anyway and gets mucky.

carly

Flotex ?

http://www.forbo-flooring.co.uk/For-Your-Home/Products/Flotex/

Fen1

That looks interesting. There are a few shops near me that stock it, so I'll have a look-see.

zaax

Bathroom / kitchen carpet, or gym matting if your want the bounce though its the underlay is what makes the bounce in the carpet.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Interlocking-Fatigue-Flooring-16sqft-Easimat/dp/B003DVFY9K/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1416840439&sr=8-2&keywords=gym+flooring+mats

Fen1

Would I use the tiles as an underlay, then carpet on top? My aunt definitely would not want those tiles on view.

adandem

We've had Victoria carpets heartland carpet on our stairs. It's bleach cleanable and stain resistant but looks convincingly like wool.

Paul_the_Painter

Loads of polypropylene carpets are bleach cleanable, and look good too. My advice would be a polypropylene carpet at around £20/sqm and purchase a "family" Vax or similar. Also consider the underlay. Do not get a cloud 9 type foam rubber underlay, get a crumb rubber one that is 1. extremely durable 2. Doesn't compress like a foam type underlay, and so much better for stability for the less mobile amongst us.

Oh and pay attention to my signature! I've worked in the carpet trade.

Fen1

Thank you for the detailed advice. I am a complete novice with carpets, so advice is very much appreciated.

I don't have the measurements of the room, but how much approximately would fitting cost? I have never bought nor had carpets fitted, so don't have a clue.

lee111s

Yeah as above, a lot of carpets now are bleach cleanable, ideal for me with mud lovint dogs!

daveyjp

A good quality 80:20 wool carpet can be cleaned and no need for bleach. Carpet shampoo is more than adequate.

Paul_the_Painter

Trust me on this, I've got 80/20 in my house. However given the circumstances a polypropylene is going to be much better. We had contracts with insurance companies where we would go out to a customers/claimants house and attempt to clean a stain. Amazing how many owners of polypropylene carpets were disappointed when we got the stain out, they were expecting a new carpet.
Now the point of saying "bleach cleanable" carpet is mostly marketing, you wouldn't normally use bleach, for a start it doesn't smell nice.

The point is more that it (almost) doesn't matter what you put/spill on it, you'll be able to get it out. In my mind the main disadvantage is heat damage, if you are inclined to iron on your carpet (and you'd be surprised how many people do) or smoke in the house a wool carpet is much better. A polypropylene carpet will melt, a wool carpet will char from a cigarette burn and a bit of faffing with a blunt knife will sort it out.

Just to be clear about the costings for the carpet PAY about £20/sqm ignore the "was", "reduced from", " from next week £XX buy now " THEY ARE NOT REAL PRICES AND NEVER WERE AND NEVER WILL BE. I worked for 2 years for a large carpet retailer and the only time we didn't have a 50% off sale was when we had a 60% off sale.

Using a room 4m x 4m (13ft x 13ft ish) fitted from a chain would be roughly

16sqm carpet @ £20 = £320
16sqm underlay @ £7 = £112
16spm fitting @ £3 = £48

Total about £500

As you can see from the above if you cut the carpet down one at £10/sqm (verging on the carp end of the spectrum) your total bill goes down to about £350. Bearing in mind that there are also fixed costs in producing a roll of carpet (transport/stocking/cutting etc) you are getting a carpet of less than half the quality for only a 30% discount. In my mind £20/sqm is about the sweet spot for carpet in a quality/cost tradeoff, with a bias to slightly more if you are looking at wool 80/20, where I would be looking at £25-£30.


If there is already carpet there you wouldn't need any gripper, you may want new door bars at £10 each, they may try to sting you for delivery @ £25.

If you are prepared to do a bit of research, be available for deliveries and contact fitters directly (and have little/no guarantee or comeback) you can get that down to and £200/£60/50 with door bars at about £3. So a total of about £350.

I source my underlay and accessories from tradepriced, carpet from a shed (but I know the manager) and fitting from a contacts list in my phone that is too large for my own good.