Can someone tell me about carpets?

[Yesso]

Moved into a new build 4 years ago, we paid £1500 (4bed over 3 floors) for them to carpet the entire house and they are absolutely horrible. In high traffic areas e.g stairs they are so worn already. At the time we had no money left so had no option but to go for these carpets.
We have some money saved and really want to replace the carpets but we have absolutely no idea about carpets and when we went into a carpet store we found the sales person extremely pushy on a certain type and were still non the wiser on what we should get.

Can anyone recommend a carpet ? I want one that is soft under foot and will last longer than 4 years, more like 10+ . I’m expecting to pay a lot more than £1,500 but not sure where to start.

If you wear shoes in the house then it’ll wear more easily.

Carpet doesn’t have to be real wool to last.

100% wool will last upwards of 20 years. We are no shoes indoor and our wool , carpet was beige and when we sold it was as good as new, including on the stairs.

We will be carpeting upstairs and will go for a Wilton or Axminster wool. Should last for decades. The house we are in had an Axminster wool carpet that looked and feel in tip top shape and was in for at least 30 years. The pattern was too exciting for us. Otherwise, a good clean and it looked and felt great.

However, you do have to pay over £75 per m2 so not cheap but worth it, plus a good underlay.

£1500 won't get you a long lasting carpet (certainly not a wool one). Can you budget stretch? If not, it might be a case of accepting that it will last about 4 years.

You need to consider wear ability and stain resistance, and weight. On stairs I would go for a wool blend (usually 70:30 or 80:20 wool/manmade), short pile and a heavier weight (g/sqm)

Agree re Cormar, they do a range of prices and qualities but they seem to be pretty good carpets. Don't forget decent underlay, especially on stairs it helps to protect the edges from wear

I paid more than that for my front room wool carpet 15 years ago - it still looks great although has been cleaned professionally twice

80/20 wool mix, and at least 40oz preferably 50oz. All modern carpets are treated to be moth resistant, it's a bit of an old wives tale about moths. The more nylon in it, the worse the wear is. And don't skimp on the underlay as that is the protective layer. Brintons, Adams, Axminster, Westex, Crucial Trading all supply great carpets. Avoid chain shops and unbranded/own brands. Def a case of you get what you pay for - and £40 m2 upwards without fitting.

Well, Google isn’t an arbitrary answer machine, it’s results from carpet manufacturers, suppliers and homeware experts – those with experience, you might say.

End users are those with experience, not manufacturers adhering to guidelines.
If you know so much why not share, some of your experiences?

I know £1500 was ridiculously cheap, we’d ran out of money after buying the house and furniture, carpets were bottom the pile (no pun intended).
Finally in a position to replace them and looking for something a lot better quality. Will look into all the suggestions thank you

Google reports results from end users also, and guidelines exist for a reason – user reports and product testing.

My experience would be that I have lived in seven houses with a variety of second-hand and new carpets on the spectrum of quality, and I haven’t seen one stand up adequately to 10-15yrs of high traffic.

Hopefully you sill get-to experience the benefits of the highest quality in future.

I'd disagree that a quality carpet doesn't last, but also agree with everyone saying £1,500 is ridiculously cheap for a 4 bed house, and that's coming from someone who is often agog at the prices some people talk about on MN for things I wouldn't pay a fraction of.

The thing with carpet is to make sure you have good quality underlay.

I'd ask friends, neighbours, colleagues if anyone can recommend a carpet place near you. There a several around here that are small businesses and much better prices than the bigger High Street chains.

I have experienced very high quality carpets, thank you. My opinion hasn’t changed.

It’s OK, we can disagree on carpets.

Independent carpet retailers are much better than the chains like Carpetright and Tapi. They have knowledge and can advise for your particular circumstance.

They will have put the cheapest possible carpet in your house and it will not have been well fitted.

We had Brintons carpets for many years (both myself and my Dad worked for them). A good quality carpet can last for many years. I’d usually choose an 80/20 mix. A flatter pile like a Berber or similar is better for high traffic areas.
However there is a chance of carpet moths with a higher wool content carpet. We had a fairly good 80/20 quality carpet in our old house (unfortunately our budget didn’t stretch to a high end) and we had carpet moths. As soon as I found them I ripped up all the carpets and we had laminate instead.
New house has oak flooring downstairs but we recently replaced the stairs and master bedroom carpet and I’m afraid I bought 100% synthetic as the carpet moths put me off wool carpet forever 🤦‍♀️ it’s not as beautiful as my old 80/20 but hopefully it will last a decent amount of time

You need a good quality wool carpet. Have a look at Ulster carpets

We bought a second hand new build house, that was 4yrs old, a couple of years ago. The previous owners had had the builders carpets put in, plus they had cats, so the carpets were awful.

We went to an independent carpets shop who recommended a decent carpet for the stairs (we had it made into a runner) and then taken through upstairs. We had LVT put in all through downstairs. I much prefer that to carpet, tbh.

They will, my parents have a carpet in their hall and stairs that is over 30 years old. It is now showing some wear but still looks good. They have considered replacing it twice because they were doing other work but each time decided that it wasn't worth it because it was in good condition.

They aren't a shoes off household, got it when their youngest child was primary school aged and it has even stood up to wheelchair use.

https://ulstercarpets.com/residential/gallery/
Go to an independent carpet / furniture retailer

I point blank refused to buy wool carpet: moths eat anything they can get their hands on in my house, I have to change my moth balls every 3 months or my woolen jumpers are literally shredded (not just the odd hole). My parents have a gorgeous woolen rug but it's been terribly eaten.

Ultimately I also know we're a messy household and I wanted a fully bleach-cleanable carpet, so I wasn't worrying about staining it.

it's a bit of an old wives tale about moths

@FruitBat53 Are you saying that moths aren't an issue? In which case, you're absolutely wrong! We had a terrible infestation and just couldn't get rid of them. Apparently in South London they are rife. So in the end, when we replaced those carpets we avoided wool altogether.

@Yesso If you go somewhere like Carpetright (which is where we usually buy our carpets), have a good walk around and look at all the different types and patterns. They are all individually priced, so you'll get a good idea of cheap/expensive. It helps if you have a rough idea of how many square metres you're going to need, as it's priced by the square metre.

The absolutely critical thing, though, is to get good underlay. In some ways it's more important than the actual carpet!

When you've chosen the carpet(s) you like, the salesman/sales assistant should be able to give you a rough idea of cost - and then they'll send someone to your home to measure up and give you a proper cost for the one you've chosen. You usually have to pay extra for fitting/laying - but sometimes they do special offers including that - which is worth looking out for.

Erm the price says it all sorry but it cost over 4 grand for our 3 bed house and we still got them in a sale and went middle range much as I would like to afford dearer ones. Plus the laying was extra and underlay

@MereDintofPandiculation - sorry, carpet moths. They literally munch through the carpet to dust 🤮

You want a short tight twist pile, very densely packed. Anything that feels very soft underfoot will wear quickly. A soft carpet that will last well is like asking for a swimming pool that doesn't get wet. They're mutually exclusive.

This is the sort of thing in my lounge/stairs/hall. Was down when I bought the house in 2007, was a bit worn in places then. It's now starting to go threadbare in places, but I'd estimate it's 25+ years old! The design of the ground floor means you walk through the lounge to get everywhere - wood or laminate would be more practical but I prefer carpet for warmth and sound proofing.

We put polyester carpet in our old flat bedroom and within 6 months it looked flattened. I go for a wool mix (80:20) and decent underlay in bedrooms now, and will be replacing the lounge carpet this year with a similar thing to current as it works for me. I have a bissell carpet cleaner to run over it once a year too.