Carpet

Supernova

From John Lewis 52 SqM 1 bed flat

80% wool New Forest Comfort £936 (£18 pm)
Underlay £260
Fitting £320
Uplift and dispose of old carpet £225
Move furniture £120

Total £1850

Any savings to be had there?

Thanks

rdpro

take up the old carpet yourself, for a start! Cut it up if necessary for transport ease, take it down the local tip - or if it's still half-decent, advertise it on your local freecycle site - buyer collects

Get 3 independent quotes for the fitting - if you go through John Lewis' contractors you're probably being overcharged.

Supernova

Thanks for the reply.

I was thinking it would probably take quite a few trips in a hatchback to dispose of the carpet but it would save a good few quid for sure. Tips are OK about taking carpet I presume?

Also I assume it's easy enough to take up - anything worth bearing in mind?. They were going to see the state of the current underlay to see if it was worth keeping too.

bryanb

Don't keep the old underlay, in fact get better quality than the standard stuff.
£2.50 per sq m is usual for fitting both carpet and underlay. (plus edge fixings). Probably extra for stairs.

Supernova

Yep, probaly best. It is 12 years old!

Do council tips take carpets? One salesman told us they charge...

To be honest, if it takes a whole day of trips and trouble maybe it's not worth the hassle.

rdpro

tips only charge professional workmen to tip stuff, never heard of household waste being charged (apart from fridges, etc) - you could hire a small skip for less than half of what they're charging you to get rid of it

cheekyweegit

I'll second the bit that was said earlier about using "freecycle" for the disposal of the old carpet.

We have had quite a few requests on ours for old carpets for allotments as a weed suppressant and for carpeting sheds to make them a bit cosier for the owner.

It might be worth contacting any local allotment associations too to see if they know anyone who wants it.

In both cases, of course, get them to collect.

As for the council tip, up here in Dundee you just dump your stuff in the relevant skip and the attendants say nothing. We have two huge ones in the particular dump I use for household things including carpet.

As for the underlay and reusing it, depends on the quality to start with, I gave mine away after it being down for 10+ years as it was still in excellent condition (changed to laminate to try and help my sons' asthma) and the usage it's had i.e. how many in the house, ages and more importantly spillages over the years will effect the quality and erm smell.