The complete beginners' guide to carpets please!

[somebodythatiusedtoknow]

Our carpets on the top two floors of our house are now about 16 or 17 years old and looking tatty, although they are very good quality.
Downstairs has wood floors apart from one room.

I would like to replace them but wondered, is it a nightmare moving everything, even if the fitters presumably do the heavy stuff?

How much should I allow for good quality?

Same carpet in every room or is it okay to have different ones?

What won't look dated now but will be enduring? I want something classic.

Ime the fitters don't move anything - they may do if pre-arranged perhaps - although they will work round a bed or sofa if the room is big enough to move it from one side to another.

In terms of classic style that won't date - steer clear of pattern, including stripes which are very in, sculptured pile and fashionable colours. But really I would choose what you like as you will be living with it.

I like wool/wool mix carpets as they wear well although initial outlay is more. I recently sold a house with a twelve year old wool mix carpet in the living room which had worn extremely well and looked like new when it was cleaned.

Neutral shades work with different decor so you can update rooms with paint or wallpaper without having to worry about tying in with the carpet.

80:20 wool:polyamide mixes are harder wearing for high traffic areas - 50 or 60g weight for stairs, etc will wear and last well. Synthetic carpets are much better than they used to be - we have one in a small bedroom. I've heard that the pile flattens quite quickly, but it's not an issue in a little used room and can be very economical. Buy good quality underlay - you can buy it online for far less than any carpet retailer will sell it on to you for. The more you buy the cheaper it works out per m2. HTH.

Thanks that's great. So if they don't move the furniture, we are meant to have a couple of burly people about to do it presumably?!

How much should I allow for good underlay?
We are looking at about 1225 sq m I would say.

I am sure the current carpet is wool and it has worn so well even on the stairs. Only in the last year has it started to look tatty.

Ask the suppliers/fitters about moving furniture - you can always get friends or family to help you if necessary.

That's a lot of underlay! We have a mid range foam underlay everywhere in our home with a thicker one in the living room. You probably have rubber underlay if your carpets have been down a long time and it may well have perished by now. We have bought underlay from this company twice now. We even had the carpet fitters ask where we got our underlay from once as they couldn't believe how cheap it was!

I've just ordered a 60g 80:20 wool:polyamide carpet for our hall stairs and landing from a local independent flooring shop. It is on special offer at £24.99 psm. Normal price is £31.99. You can spend a lot more. It depends on your budget and preferences for colours, etc.

Just something neutral and beige but wool or good wool mix with a decent underlay.

Not sure we have appropriate friends who wouldn't be at work and would want to spend a day lugging our furniture about if so! Surely this must be a problem lits of people have if having most rooms done at once?

All you can do is ask OP. We have always been expected to move our stuff ourselves. We had three bedroom fitted at once but before we had any wardrobes in. The fitters just moved the beds in the two bigger rooms as they needed. When our living room carpet was fitted we cleared everything into the dining room next door apart from the larger of two sofas we couldn't fit next door.

We've just had a quote for new carpets and it includes a sum for moving furniture. So some clearly do do this... Ask a few carpet companies.

John Lewis look like they do the moving for an extra charge if you buy from them but I expect they are expensive.

Not sure where to begin but I will ask around locally.

Carpetright contract woukdldift and move 1/2 pieces of furniture if room big enough. So they'd fit one half move bed (for example) onto new carpet then finish second half

Thanks for posting this op. We bought 100% wool carpets for the kids bedrooms and hall stairs and landings about 12 years ago. It is not worn as such but tatty as we bought neutral- dark cream really and despite cleaning stains just have not come out. Think very carefully about what colour you want and how much wear and tear it will have. I cannot decide what colours work best in hall/stairs/landing areas.

cat - you need some synthetic content in carpets to make them hard wearing. Totally agree with you about colour - you have to pick something that hides the dirt as much as anything. We're getting out new carpet fitted tomorrow and I cannot wait to have something lovely, unscratched and clean instead of the pet ravaged mess we have at the moment.

Any good carpet retailer would move all the furniture & uplift all the old carpets. An 80/20wool mix will last longer and keep its appearance better than a man made depending on the quality of the yarn used to make the carpet as there are different grades, 2 ply yarn is the sign of a quality 80/20. A good man made will last about 10 years but the pile does go flat. Nylon is very popular in our showroom & has great stain resident property's & the fibres bounce back. You can get a good quality 80/20 from about £26 up. Feel free to ask for any advice regarding carpets or flooring as that's what we do.