Can’t afford to carpet my council house

[Florafloral]

I have recently moved into a council house with my 5 year old after being made homeless. It’s a new build so All rooms are painted which I’m grateful for but I can’t afford to carpet it. It’s concrete flooring throughout which is impossible to keep clean, is very powdery and dusty. It’s making our clothes and furniture dusty too. I applied for a grant for flooring with the council but was turned down because my DD isn’t under 3 and we have no health conditions. Does anyone have any tips or how I can try and get cheap flooring. I’ve been quoted over £2000 for the whole house. It just seems impossible

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.

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.

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.

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.

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)

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

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!

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.

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 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!

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.

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!

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

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.

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.

Ffs, the money that's pissed away and they are housing you with bare concrete floors🤦🏼‍♀️

Contact your local Citizens Advice to ask if they can help you apply for a grant towards it.
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/contact-us/contact-us/contact-us/#h-find-your-nearest-citizens-advice

My local Citizens Advice knows about all the available grants and funds and can help you apply, or apply of your behalf. If you need appliances or furniture they can help with that too.

You are likely to need to provide bank statements for the last 3 months and a screenshot of your most recent UC statement.

@Florafloral

Are you in the Greater London area?

There’s a house around the corner from me who have a really large roll of new carpet with a ‘take me’ sign written on it. It’s been there for around a week.

Recycle bay is also excellent for all sorts of home items for free, including flooring and carpet. One of my friends is also getting lovely things for her house from there, and I had to reluctantly turn down a dining room table and 4 chairs as I hold t fit it

Oops, couldn’t fit it in our car.

Yes my hairdresser lived in a social housing flat (owned by a social housing company, not the Council - but they operate along similar lines).

She had the place carpeted, had all of the light switches and sockets replaced with chrome, had new (nice) light fittings installed and had her dad wallpaper a feature wall in the main bedroom in a neutral, expensive paper.

They told her that unless she ripped all of that out when she left, she would be charged. So that was the 3 year old carpet chucked in a skip.

And that particular company raves about its green credentials!!

It's standard to have no flooring in council houses .

You can buy offcuts from a place online called designer carpets. Sound expensive but isn't. Maybe you could save up and just do a room at a time. That is what we do.

Apologiea dis mean to quote anyone

Also, could large rugs work in some of your rooms? We have flooring in my house, but in some rooms we’re considering getting large rugs that almost fill the rooms - some of our rooms really aren’t very large. Asda online and places like Amazon, EBay and Shein have some good rugs at fairly low prices.

Definitely try a local carpet shop too for remnants.

I really wish you all the best OP. My Nan lived in a council house, and I understand how difficult it can be with getting the council to do anything in your home.

This, I had a similar issue, sealed the concrete and stuck rugs everywhere. If you know someone with a van you can often get cheap massive rugs for free / cheap.

Also those big foam playmats that come as giant jigsaw pieces are a good temp solution for a kids room