Can’t afford to carpet my council house

I moved into a new build council property beginning of last year and was in the same position!
so first of all I went on Facebook, picked up as many free carpets and rugs as I could, before you put them down thoroughly vacuum everything to minimise the dust levels.
then I started saving like mad, I got underlay and gripper off Amazon as cheaper, I got that first and stored it. Then I used clear pay to get carpet for the kids rooms and paid that off every 2 weeks I believe. Then saved for the rest, I done 1 room at a time, flooring superstore was the cheapest I found, and on weekends it was 10% off, then I put out on Facebook for someone who could fit carpets.
took me a year to do the house apart from my bedroom! still needs doing but have cheap carpet down at the mo.

I had similar but aren’t your kitchen and bathroom vinyled? I was told they did the kitchen and bathroom in vinyl for safety (??) reasons but it was up to me to carpet the rest.

As your house is a new build, presumably it’s as tiny as mine, so approach it in stages. I put sheets over the lounge floor to start with, with a cheap rug, then spoke to a local carpet shop and got a deal for that room. That room was my priority.

You don’t have concrete upstairs so that’s easier. The floorboards will be a bit dusty from the building, but you can hoover and brush those fine. A cheap rug or carpet offcuts will do for now and give you something nice to step out of bed onto.

I prioritised my lounge because we spend most time there, DC can then be comfortable, and it looks better coming into that room all done.

Hi, I would you consider vinyl and rugs for now as this is a cheaper option. When I was in the same situation I found cheap carpets on eBay they are low quality and I had a friend fit them (he didn’t do the best job as an amateur haha) but it was a temporary solution that was better than concrete and I upgraded once my situation improved

Facebook marketplace is your friend. People changing their carpets will be giving them for free or cheap. Room sizes of new builds are small so you will find something. Follow local Carpet shops on facebook, they announce offers if it's sections already cut or last bit of the roll. Good luck!

Onto your local Facebook groups and ask if anybody knows a local carpet fitter. You will get a few suggestions and then message them and explain your circumstances. If you give them the dimensions of the rooms and tell them you are not fussy about colour etc then often that's the cheapest way by far to sort it out.

My carpet guy is brilliant. I told him the size I needed for my stairs and 3 weeks later he had an off cut from a commercial job that was just big enough. Cost me £130 fitted. My bedroom was £190 and this was literally in the last 6 weeks.

I can see someone has already recommended vinyl flooring. I have some in one of my rooms which looks just like floorboards but is warmer, draft (draught?) free and really practical for mopping. You might want to consider that for downstairs as it's so practical and easier to keep clean than carpet.

Carpet the stairs and bedrooms if you can. Could you afford to do a couple of rooms? You could ask the shop or the fitter if they can possibly donate suitable size carpets they've removed from other houses. If you've bought something from them they are more likely to be amenable to doing you a favour. It also saves on their disposal costs. You'd then only have to pay the fitting costs for the second hand carpets. Good luck!

In our old house we needed to update the flooring on a budget, carpet and lino. No way could we afford decent carpet and carpet fitters.

We bought carpet off Ebay, it's not thick or lovely and soft, but it's better than no flooring, and isn't too bad with cheap underlay. We saved money in the living room by reusing the nail boards from the previous carpet but carpet tape is easy to use, cheap and works, we used it in the bedroom

We laid it ourselves, it's not hard to do a semi-decent job, you just need a Stanley knife. You'll never get it as tight and perfect as fitters, but it'll still look OK. Lino is even easier to lay

We paid less than £200 to do the large living room, under £120 each for bedrooms, stairs we were given free carpet and paid a fitter to do that one (think it was about £100). But it was over time, more like one room every other month rather than all in one go.

I think you can also get coloured versions, which might make the concrete less concrete looking as well. Then some cheap/free rugs from all the places mentioned above.

You can get floor paint from B+Q and other suppliers specially formulated for concrete floors. All sorts of colours. Apply with a roller. That will seal in the dust and make it easier for you. Then look on Freecycle and in local charity shops etc for rugs to go on top or buy something cheap and cheerful from Dunelm:https://www.dunelm.com/product/practirug-gabriella-washable-rug-1000206140?rugSize=160cm+x+230cm+%285ft+x+7.5ft%29&colour=Gabriella+Natural
Or Matalan:

https://www.matalan.co.uk/home-accessories/homemaker-villa-stripe-rug/14760462.html?switchcurrency=GBP&shippingcountry=GB&variation=14760464&creative=&keyword=&matchtype=&network=x&device=c&cq_src=google_ads&cq_cmp=20275839522&cq_term=&cq_plac=&cq_net=x&cq_plt=gp&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwltKxBhDMARIsAG8KnqXqVWN4c4njRLbye4Ifynet3SXg8dWZibszS4HI0P7T5MIFs3MXB0caAsBjEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Most of us, whether in social or private housing, have to start off by making do however we can. I was lucky enough to be able to buy a flat but I lived for the first few years with everything bought used, bare floorboards (which I painted and stained) and rugs from the charity shop or picked up cheaply at auctions. I have a nicer house now I'm older but still have a lot of secondhand furniture. The rug currently under my feet was chucked out by my SIL. The one in the sitting room was from a neighbour's house. You'll just have to be like the rest of us!

OP, if you use concrete sealant then make sure you get a water based solution, it will dry faster and have less fumes.

I believe it is council policy 😞
my mum had nearly new carpets and when she moved into a retirement bungalow she was told that if she left the carpets in her old home she would be charged for removal- we put them on free cycle but ended up taking them to the dump - what a bloody waste (luckily she could afford new carpets in her new bungalow - it was also 400 miles from her old home so We didn’t want to transport them)

Please don't get a loan or a credit card to buy carpet. The concrete sealant is a cheap quick solution to the dust, and then I'd be looking for second hand or freecycled rugs, off cuts, flooring of any kind and make it work for now.

OP I hope you manage to find something from the websites suggested, I think muddyford’s idea is good if you are close to a town with carpet shops.

Unsealed concrete is not a suitable flooring and I'm surprised the council is allowed to let the house in that condition, the dust can work its way through any flooring you put over it.
Contact Shelter and Citizens Advice, see if they can help.

It's not just standard, but required. Even if the previous tenant carpeted the house a few weeks before moving out, they are required to pull it all up and leave the floors bare when they leave.

Defo not obliged to give flooring round here I've had friends have same dilemma.

Concrete and rugs sealed is fine my friend made it look lovely.

Also she already applied for a grant and they said no

Go to a carpet remnants shop with measurements for your priority rooms. Those sort of places will often do vinyl offcuts as well which can be even cheaper. You will need to factor in fitting costs.

I painted a concrete floor in our old house it sealed it in and worked a treat at keeping the dust at bay.

Join local Facebook groups where people are giving something for free and get rugs to make it cosy.

I would paint the floors so they can be cleaned and swept. Carpetwright sell big offcuts really cheaply. Not ideal but this is what i would do to start with. Lino is also cheaper than carpet to supply and fit. It is not right that you cant get help from the council with this OP they should at least contribute.

We had to live with a bare concrete hall floor for a number of months (a case of poor scheduling of works rather than affordability granted).

You are right it attracts so much dust and is very noisy.

We sealed it, as people have recommended, and laid down rugs and thick throws.

Try Nextdoor , even if you don't have one for your town there will be one in a nearby area . There are often free rugs and/or cheap ones offered by the local community . I realise they won't carpet your whole house but they should suffice until you can afford to buy carpeting .

I would check on second hand sites for laminate flooring as well. There is stuff that you can just lay on top of the floor, without sticking it or anything, and it will be in perfect condition if it has been removed from someone's house.

I worked for income support back in the day. I'm sure carpets were deemed a necessity. A budgeting loan or crisis loan would do this. I have a feeling this may have changed to your local council. Please phone them. If nothing else they'll give you proper advise.

Carpet off cuts & rugs. Plastic for hallways etc I know what you mean about the concrete dust I used to hoover it constantly. At least the carpet/rugs don't slip though.

Try https://grants-search.turn2us.org.uk/

I am a trustee of a charity on here (ours just covers a small geographic area but there are lots of others) and we quite often give grants for carpets