Carpets - Money saving style!!

KILOCHARLIE

Hi,

I'm looking to get my whole flat recarpeted (43m2). The only carpet currently in there is my lounge one which although is in good nick, looks dated.

After going to the usual high street stores on the weekend (carpet right, allied carpets) I saw one which seems ok. Its cream with brown flecks in it (which I hear covers stains better) and its also made of little loops of fibre rather than many individual strands (which i guess is harder wearing?).

Its £7 a square metre but underlay is another £5 ish too. My questions are these....

Do i really need underlay? - The carpet which i saw is thicker than most carpets and since I live in a flat with no floorboards - just concrete floors - is it really needed. My girlfriend suggested it would be a waste in the bedroom at least since my bed covers around 80% of the floor space.

Can i use my old carpet as underlay? - The lounge carpet is in good nick and a guy in work suggested i use it as underlay. Is this a good idea?

Where's the best place to look for carpets? - is allied carpets and carpet right my only options?

Whats the cheapest way to fit it? - My carpet at the moment has no grippers or anything like that (although it looks fine). Do i need all these and is it generally cheaper to get a non carpetright fitter?

If anyone has any other ideas it would be greatly appreciated!!!

thanks!!

ormus

carpet right etc are very good for prices on the main carpets. where they make a fortune is on the underlay and the fitting charges.
so the trick is to buy the carpet off them and nothing else.
then buy the underlay (if required) yourself. ebay?
same with grippers. they make a fortune off it.

most fitters work for themselves. so go round the back of any carpet shop at 8 am and ask the fitter loading his van, to call you for a fitting job!
have a bit of paper ready with your details so he can slip it into his pocket!

as for using old carpet for underlay etc.. its not the done thing but ive done it in the past with no problems.
some fitters will only do it the correct way. ive met both types.

astonsmummy

Hi
Have you tried mobile carpet fitters who supply carpets too, apparently you can get some good deals, my dad paid for my first split level maisonette to be done, carpet, underlay and fitting including stairs for £600, not sure if that was 'mates rates' though.

KILOCHARLIE

thank you both, will go with the old carpet as underlay and have just seen 150 mts of gripper on ebay for £25. Carpetright charge 49p per foot apparently!!

can't find any decent underlay on there mind. Will be checking the yell.co.uk for some fitters

has anyone got any other tips?

alanobrien

You can buy underlay and carpet grippers very cheaply at your local BandQ. I would just buy the carpet and pay a fitter cash to install it and the cheaply purchased underlay.
Saves a fortune on shop prices.

dreamypuma

Hi I'm not sure if you have a Screwfix store near you. However they do 152m of carpet grippers for £22.99 ic VAT. Online they have a minimum order value for free delivery, so if that's all your after a store would be best.

When I had my house done last year I was going to buy the grippers from there, instead I waved the Screwfix price in front of the carpet bloke and he soon dropped his price to something more reasonable.

I find Wilkinsons are very good for the door strips / thresholds / joints and have good range.

I also managed to get my cloud 9 underlay for £3 sqm from an independant carpet store in Leeds. They can get it down to that price if you play hard ball. Most charge about £6 -7 sqm

I would recommend a good underlay, you can have the most expensive carpet in the world, but it will soon wear out without a good underlay.

mountainchrisriver

Try googling "carpet underlay"... should get some good results; far cheaper than carpetright etc... best price depends on exactly how much you need as some sell per metre, others sell per roll size...

DKLS

And dont forget to haggle, My mum has just has her bungalow carpeted by allied, and they originally came in at £800, when she came to pay she got it down to £540 simply by saying she had a better offer elsewhere.

Kizzy001

Hiya

My husband saved us loads of money when we re did our carpet in our flat.

We brought the carpet from carpet right, brought the underlay from B&Q, brought the grppier from wickes and he fitted it all himself!

It was the first time he'd ever fitted any carpet, we brought a carpet fixer from argos (see link below) and he cut and laid all the carpet out in each room and then used the fixer to fit it all. It looks lovely - no one can beleive that he fit it because its done so well!

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/7016396/Trail/searchtext>CARPET.htm )

Sparkycarpetman

As a Floor layer ill answer some of your questions and give you some inside info.

When ever you buy a carpet always get the best you can afford.
Wool pile carpets keep their apperance for longer and dont flatten as quickly as man made pile carpets. But they stain far easier than man made carpets.

Underlay is generally good for about ten years in average traffic areas, Again get the best you can if you want a soft carpet underfoot, Id always reccomend the foam underlays over the rubber, Cloud 9 underlays are a good product that last well.

Carpet retailers make money on underlay and gripper but very little (sometimes nearly nothing) on carpet, they also dont make money on any fitting charges they add on.

If you buy a carpet from carpet right and you have them sort out the fitting for you check you invoice and you might see a £20 delivery charge and a £45 Hall Stairs Landing charge, GET THOSE TAKEN OFF!! they dont give the fitter whos bringing the carpet in his van and fitting the HSL that money!!

Above all else just remmember youll get what you pay for, there are many poor fitters out there who do rubbish work for rubbish money.

Just dont expect a Champagne job when you pay Lemmonade money.

Nenen

One word of caution regarding employing a fitter for cash... if anything goes wrong and he cuts the carpet incorrectly you won't have any comeback from the shop you bought the carpet from. Although carpet fitters are usually self employed and subcontracted by the carpet shop, the carpet shop will have to help if they have arranged the fitting and anything goes wrong.

Several years ago we had a large kitchen/diner fitted with good quality vinyl... costing over £250. The fitter made a complete mess of it, cutting corners badly and leaving several gaps along the walls. The vinyl could not be reused as it had been cut too small. After arguing the *&&^ that it wasn't their fault, the carpet shop eventually sent their manager out to look and he asked me if the fitter had been drunk wheh he did the job! The store paid for another piece of vinyl and a new fitter. If we had employed a 'cash only from round the back of the store' fitter and this had happened I doubt whether we'd have got our money back!

Likewise, if you try fitting the carpet yourself and cut it incorrectly it could cost you more than the cost of a professional fitter in the first place! I've cut and fitted small pieces of bathroom carpet myself (I make a pattern from newspaper first) but only when the total cost of the carpet is cheap enough that a mistake wouldn't be disasterous financially!