How to effectively plan a recarpet a house?

tristanjourney

Hi all,

Just want some advices about replacing carpets of a house. There are 2 lounges, 4 bedrooms, stair and landing. We don't know where to start.

We haven't moved in yet and the house is empty. We would assume this should make things a little bit easier.

Should we visit stores to choose the carpet or order online samples? Should we buy from high street stores or local carpet stores? How long does it take to replace all carpets of a house?

My expect that local carpets stores may be quicker and less expensive than high street stores to have similar quality of works done. We also expect take 2-3 days to replace the whole house. Are we too optimistic?

Savvy_Sue

No idea about most of it, but think about more than price, and check what is included in the price.

So if you can get recommendations, do so.

Personally I'd go into stores and talk to salespeople. You should get advice from them about how to do the job.

We've had flooring fitted at work by more than one company. one company I would never use again: yes, they were cheap, but we then had to dispose of all the offcuts and rubbish they left behind.

Robby1988

Same advice I give for any home improvement projects really; use local independent outfits with a good reputation to uphold. The national lot with lure you in with well dressed salesmen & finance deals, but the subcontracted fitters are hit & miss and it'll be a load of hassle if you have problems.

Most areas are never short of carpet companies so you should be able to get a few quotes. Visit the showrooms with a good idea of what colours you want & don't scrimp on the underlay because it makes all the difference.

getmore4less

That's a good project for company empty house and a decent amount of product to go down.

get all decorating out the way first.

Also consider other product like wood or LVT

have a good look around as many places as you can to get an idea of what is out there, price/quality range is very wide.

Doozergirl

If the house is emtpy, they'll easily get your whole house carpeted within a day, so don't worry about that.

I'm another one for a local independent shop.

Once you've picked one, you can do some comparisons on the price of the carpet online.

Red-Squirrel_2

If there are other jobs to do, get them done first, then ask for recommendations from neighbours and others in the local area. I agree with Robby1988 that a local firm that's been around a while is usually the best bet. Check out online reviews too, not on their own site but on google.

dunroving

+1 for local independent. If, as it sounds, you're not even really sure what sort o carpet to get, you need to (a) look at loads of samples in shops, and (b) read up on the merits of wool vs. polypropylene vs. mix vs. (shock horror!) other types of flooring rather than carpet.

Considering you are doing the whole house and this is the surface you'll be walking on for the next umpteen years, take your time to make sure you've chosen the right carpet.

I wouldn't let a salesman trail after you while you are looking at the samples, as this detracts from you being able to think clearly, and can rush you.

When you are ready, have a chat with the salesman about her/his recommendations regarding wool vs. poly, etc., and then start making your choice.

If you can find a carpet you know you definitely like/want, there's nothing to stop you ordering itself yourself and hiring a local fitter to fit it.

Do you plan to get any major renovation works done to the house? If you are doing anything really messy, consider waiting to install carpet until after that (even if that just applies to one room, say, the living room).

Also, you didn't mention underlay but this is almost as important as choosing the carpet. There are many decent underlays out there. I recently chose Cloud 9 which seems pretty good.

Also, grippers and door bars are cheap, so any company that charges you £25 each for door bars is ripping you off and you should walk away and don't go back.

Ectophile

I use an established independent shop. The price on the roll looks expensive, but that's the price you pay - underlay, gripper rods, and fitting is included in the price.


They let me borrow carpet samples to see what they look like in the room. One that looks good in the shop might not be right when in the room.

tristanjourney

Thanks for all your advices. I booked a choose at home service from a local carpet shop tomorrow. In fact, they only provide choose at home and don't have retail premises and they said that's how they save and provide competitive prices to customers.

I will update with what I found.

buglawton

As above, I used an independent where the shop knew the fitters well. I arranged that a newly floorboarded area was carpeted first on a Friday and on that day all old carpets disposed of. So had the weekend to test and screw down creaky floorboars. Then on the Monday they completed the job.

tristanjourney

buglawton wrote: »

As above, I used an independent where the shop knew the fitters well. I arranged that a newly floorboarded area was carpeted first on a Friday and on that day all old carpets disposed of. So had the weekend to test and screw down creaky floorboars. Then on the Monday they completed the job.

I may also need to fix the creaky floorboards issue. What kind of contractor you instructed to fix that for you? How much does it roughly cost?

I assume carpet fitter will not fix that problem for you.