So talk to me about carpets

[WinkyWinkola]

because I've never bought one before.

We need a new hall, stair and landing carpet. We want to sell this house in a year or two - all being stable on the housing market so don't want to splurge on a really gorgeous one.

I've been to CarpetRight and that was quite a grim experience!

Anyway, I was looking at the various types - 100% polyethelene (or something), 10% wool or 100% wool. I couldn't decide which was best, particularly since the prices with all the different discounts were quite confusing.

What I want to know is, is buying an artificial fibre carpet a false economy particularly in a hardwearing area like the hall? Will it look cr*p in a year when people come to view the house?

Advice greatly appreciated.

Bump.

I always get 80% wool ones. They wear well and seem to keep looking good for longer.

Do not buy in CarpetRight - awful shop. Try a local shop and see if they will do you a deal, with underlay and grippers and fitting.

Spend money on the underlay - this will make a cheap carpet look more expensive. This also applies to the fitting. A good fitter can make a cheap carpet look fab. A bad fitter can make an expensive carpet look awful.

My dad is a carpet fitter

Thank you very much.

I've just had hall, stairs and landing done. I got a local fitter to quote for fitting, and measure for me, then bought an off cut of 80% wool carpet from Carpet Right and really good quality thick underlay from eBay. The fitter supplied gripper rods, etc. It was by far the cheapest way of getting a good quality job, as the local shop was going to supply polypropylene carpet for the same price, and nearly half the thickness of underlay.

Let me refer you to this fab post about carpets that was posted some months ago. Tiggy gives some great advice.

Brilliant. Thank you Nosey.

I've just bought a dark grey carpet (not as gross as it sounds) from a local shop and used existing underlay. Small shops are generally up for a bit of bartering, unlike Carpet Right. Mine cost about £10 per sq yard and it liiks great (but shows every bit of fluff!!). i supppose it depends on whether you assume that new owners will want to change flooring.

Agree with previous posters, definitely go for 80% wool and the most expensive underlay you can afford, this really makes a difference. We went to a local shop and got a range that they were discountinuing and only had enough left for our hall stairs and landing, this was £27per sqm but we got it for £15 per sqm.

Has anyone experience of a polypropylene carpet? We've just ordered one and I'm wondering whether to cancel it. It's for the sitting room. I'm worried about toxicity and the effects on my DD (3 yr old). She lay on the sample and then I noticed a rash on her neck and I didn't think about a link between the two until I started searching the internet, which mentioned skin irritation. She is also asthmatic and I'm getting worried. Has anyone experience of problems with these synthetic carpets? Or am I worrying for no reason?

Can't help re skin sensitivity, sorry, just wanted to say that the cheapest place I found for underlay was Wilson's - even my carpet fitter said he couldn't have got it cheaper (went for the Cumulus Cloud 9 :)).

Is 100% polypropelene really that bad? How many people can really tell the difference once it is down?

We need to replace stairs and small landing and need it to last but planning to hang enough pics that it won't be what people look at - but it is still going to need 6m of 4m wide. The local shop has a nice neutral stripe 100%prop at £5pm2 - comparing that to the crucial trading stripe I love at £33pm2, or even the cheapest wool twist, I just can't justify it! A decent underlay will help...

My mum got all wool carpets in her house when they moved in 30+ years ago. She is now sick to the back teeth of them but feels she can't replace them because they are still in good nick and they cost a fortune at the time. When she did bite the bullet and re-carpet their bedroom, she got polypropelene so that she won't feel bad if she wants to change it five years down the line - so there is that in its favour!