Carpets / flooring

[BiscuitNibbler]

Have a bit of unexpected cash and would really like to get the carpets replaced as they are in a dreadful state and were quite stained when we bought the house 6 years ago.

However, I have no idea about this area at all, and don't want to look a complete fool when I speak to someone, so please help if you can!

1. Do you have to remove all furniture for them to take away the old carpets and put down the new ones?

1. Will they quote per room as well as whole house? I really have no idea how much they cost so may find out I don't have enough and will need to prioritise the rooms.

1. What should I be looking for - is a quality underlay important?

1. Am considering hard flooring for the hall - anything I need to ask about this?

1. Am I better to go for a national or local company?

Sorry for all the stupid questions, I have never been in a position to / had to replace carpets before.

TIA for any help.

1. Yes all the furniture has to be removed.

1. They can quote per room or for whole house, whatever you want

3.Quality of underlay is, imo, very important, and has been consistently said by all carpet suppliers I have ever spoken to. Carpets with a wool content tend to wear better than synthetic carpets, but cost more.

Not sure about 4 and 5. I am currently having hard flooring laid in my kitchen but the process has been so long and complicated, I forget what questions have been discussed. I guess you need to think about durability, wood v laminate v alternatives, suitability of material for the room in question, draught proofing if this is an issue, etc.

Re 5, I would look round both local suppliers and national companies and choose that way. We have had carpets from carpet right - they were fine, no problems. Currently having floor laid by a local company - again, they seem good, professional fitters, decent price. Everyone we have been to has given us a lot of time, discussing our needs, measuring, etc. I think they are all keen for your business in these straitened times.

HTH a bit.

Thanks, Essene, that's very helpful.

Depressing about the furniture having to be removed. I was hoping for some sort of everything-to-one-side-of-the-room-and-then-the-other type arrangement! How on Earth am I going to move sofas, dining furniture, beds etc and where will I put them?

There is also the option of getting the carpets from a supplier and getting an independant carpet fitter!

We are just trying to work out the logistics of getting out carpets replaced and have decided that we will get it all done apart from 1 bedroom and the lounge. We are putting a wooden floor in the lounge so that will be done on a different day any way, and we will get the fitters to come a second time for the other bedroom. We will end up paying a bit more for the fitting that way but its the only way that we think we will manage to get it done!!

I think a hard floor in the hall is practical, and as for what you can have depends on how much money there is.

Laminate is not my favourite, but its a cheaper option (well the price varies alot you can get expensive laminate too), you can get all kinds of styles and colours.

Tiles are another option.

Karndean/amtico/rhino flooring is very posh lino. Its padded and ridged and really looks like wood but its expensive.

There is also nothing wrong with carpet in the hall, if you are a 'clean' household - e.g don't have a pack of muddy hounds and DC to get it all mucky!

Yes, that's a good idea. It is the large bits that are frightening me to be honest - the sofas, dining table, sideboards etc. I could definitely find somewhere to put the other stuff, I just don't know how we could get some items back through the doors!

Hmm... maybe I'll concentrate on local firms then.

That's interesting, Oreo, I did toy with the idea of a hard floor in the sitting room, but wondered if it might be a bit "cold". In an ideal world I would have hard flooring for the entire downstairs, but DH isn't keen.

Is the same firm providing your carpets and hard flooring?

The carpet in our hall is the worst one and I know that if we replaced it with more carpet it would look dreadful in weeks - we have a 3 yr old and she loves mud.

No I'm using an independant carpet shop, a seperate independant fitter and the wood flooring is coming up from london (I'm in the north east) and I will arrange someone to put that down when I find someone recomended! (Floor is coming from london as thats the cheapest I could find it not because its extra posh or anything!!)

You can get it all from the same company if you want, but I wanted a solid walnut floor and the big chains tend to sell the more popular oaks etc.

I have a town house, our ground floor is all stone (we have 4 dogs) so thats practical, our lounge is upstairs so warmer than most. I had wooden floors in my last house and they were not cold, but alot depends on what the floor under it is. If its a concrete floor then it is cold.

Wood is warm enough for a lounge but is expensive, you can get engineered wood which is laminate with a veneer of real wood on top and alot cheaper.

So many things to consider, thanks Oreo. I don't want to make a mistake as I doubt we'll be able to replace them again for years!

I would go and have a look at some big carpet/flooring places, see what prices you are talking about for what.it won't be a massive waste of money.

The same carpet throughout looks nice IMO, but if you are happy to have different carpets in different rooms then ask about roll ends and off cuts.

A good quality carpet for bedrooms and lounge is an 80/20 wool mix. For a high traffic area like the stairs you can get some good quality synthetic carpets now, and for your DD's room (depending on how messy/dirty she is allowed to get her bedroom), it might be worth getting a cheaper synthetic one, then if you have to replace it in the future it won't be such a waste of money. If you spend money on good quality underlay now, then you won't need to replace that (well for a long time). Also pull somce carpet up and see what your underlay is like. If its good then you might be able to get away without changing it.

Then get online and see what you can find cheaper!! You need to see things in the flesh to know what you are looking at IMO, and then you can do the rest online.

I got my carpet fitter from a cheap carpet shop (franks factory flooring - might be a north east company I'm not sure) when I was having carpets put in my rental house a few years ago. He is independant they just have a load of business cards and you pick one!! He was good and I've kept his card and used him for other bits and pieces over the years.

If you do decide on a wood/laminate/tiled floor ask the company what they charge for fitting, and then see if you know anyone who would recomend someone they have used, and get a price from them. If you can't get a recomendation then I would use the company you bought the floor from, then if they fit it badly you can complain and ask for it to be re done - if you use your own fitter then you can only take it up with them. It is worth making sure its done well when you are spending alot of money.

That's really helpful, thanks.

We have an idea in mind of how much we want to spend, but it is negotiable, as we have a larger sum but want to pay some of the mortgage off as we are about to come off our fixed rate. So if we had to spend a bit more we could.

I really expect our underlay to be beyond hope, as I think the carpet must be at least ten years old.

I agree about the same carpet throughout, although we really need to put hard flooring down in the cloakroom and en suite. I also think it may be a good idea for the playroom and dining room. I hate our kitchen floor (riven tiles - I curse the previous owner daily) but I think that might be prohibitively expensive to replace (but again, I have no idea).

I second everything oreocrumbs has written.

Also, another tip: if you are going to use a national company, eg Carpet Right, remember they have sales! Local suppliers don't necessarily. Sometimes you can get exactly the same carpet for half price if you are willing to wait until January, or whenever the summer sale is.

Also, good point re off cuts and using a cheaper carpet for your dd's room. We got a cheap synthetic offcut for our dd's room. We couldn't decide on a colour, and then dd saw this offcut in purple! It was not something we would have wanted to buy otherwise, but it was so cheap - the room is about 10 x 10 feet and the carpet cost us something ridiculous like £90 - so we reckoned even if didn't want the carpet to stay longterm, it was worth it in the short term because it was so cheap. One year on, it still looks as new and dd still loves it and it actually looks really nice - big surprise!

Ha! I bet DD would think a purple carpet was the bee's knees!

Think I had better brave the big carpet warehouses to get an idea of what I would like. I hope they don't pounce on you and do the hard sell though, that freaks me out and I end up walking out.

Just be brave and confident and tell them you are looking for ideas and prices and not ready to buy that day! Have fun

Thank you! I'll have to put on my old "hiring and firing" heels - no one messes with me when I'm wearing them!