Choose me a carpet. Please.

[SarkyWench]

I spent 2 hours in carpet shops today losing the will to live.

Each person I spoke to gave me opposing advice and I am no more further forward than I was this morning. One lot told me that with messy kids I'd be foolish to do anything other than synthetic. The other told me that I'd regret it if I didn't spend the extra on good quality wool.

I need to recarpet 4 bedrooms, 2 sets of stairs and two landings.
I don't have a fixed budget but I am a tightwad who doesn't like spending money unless I'm really convinced it makes a big difference.

And most importantly I have three very messy boys, age 7, 9 and 41.

Thank you :)

You could go for a blend of wool and synthetic? Nicer than just synthetic but harder wearing than wool. Or alternatively wooden flooring with rugs?

When it comes to carpets you get what you pay for. You want at least a 40/60 mix 40 being wool.

Wool carpets wash better, they wear well and keep their colour better.

For areas of high traffic either washable hard flooring or very tough carpet.

Thanks both.

I'm really confused. I thought the whole point of getting the synthetic was that they were more easily washable as you could use harsher cleaning products on them.

I've definitely got synthetic wool mix in bedrooms and dc rooms. My carpet shop guy is lovely. Advised against 100% wool despite doing himself out of money.

You're right synthetic fibres are easier to wash. Essential if you have young dc IMO.

I think my landing and stairs also not all wool. I just chose a colour I liked from a hard wearing range that wouldn't show too much dirt.

Try and find a good local carpet shop (not some discount place or chain) and take their advice. You don't need endless choice. You need to know what will wear well and last a long time. You also don't want a carpet that sheds a lot as the hoovering will drive you demented.

Thanks.
Totally agree about the value of good local advice. Unfortunately neither of the places I went to today inspired much confidence.

Can anyone recommend a particular carpet that has worked well for them?

We've used Victoria carpets simply heathers 40oz. It's a wool synthetic mix. Basically plain colours but with enough variation (heather) to hide a multitude of sins. In bedrooms 30oz carpets is fine (according to MIL who knows about these things) but 40oz is good for high traffic areas.

Your next choice is underlay - wide range of opinions. I was persuaded by the blurb on the hammond hill website and bought the crumb and felt. It doesn't feel really springy, but the carpets have easily recovered from furniture dents with no effort on my part. My only regret is I didn't twig that (as it can be cut and comes in smaller widths) you only need enough for the square footage of the floor, which will most likely be less the the amount of carpet you buy --staring at the extra roll of expensive underlay)

Forgot to say we ended up with 40oz through out as they didn't make a 40oz version. (Not really sure what the difference is -I trusted the MIL)

I have 2 rugs the wool one comes up brilliantly if anything split on it the synthetic one doesn't

we just bought wool mix carpet - 80 wool/20 synthetic

i believe wool is more hardwearing, doesnt flatten as much as synthetic and is generally nicer looking

the synthetic ones i saw are slightly shiney (probably only to my extremely crictical eye). i have synthetic in my lounge and although its ok i will be replacing it with wool when i re-do the room

I'm with livingthegoodlife I changed our playroom and study carpets with a synthetic carpet - looked lovely for a few months. Then it was stained, squashed and matted looking (high traffic areas). The previous carpets had been put in by the previous owner and were pure wool berber and they hadn't worn well, mainly because they were very pale oatmeal colour.

Anyway, 2 years ago we replaced all the carpets with an 80/20 wool carpet. It still looks brand new - even on the stairs - The fitter said we should get 20 years out of them. he cut the extra into sections that will fit up the stairs for us to roll and store in the loft in the original bags it arrived in as he says if we do get a bit of wear on the stairs (since the wear tends to be very concentrated) he can just slot a new section in.

Thanks all.

Would those of you who are happy with what you have mind telling me what you chose?

And does anyone have a Berber style that seems hard wearing. I like the look of these but have hear mixed reports.

I wouldn't go for a berber as that's what the previous people in our house put down - the stairs were worn threadbare when we bought the house and that was less than 2 years after it was built so the carpet hadn't been down long.

we got a wool twist in a kind of warm toned minky colour with flecks in - can't remember the exact make now.

From memory it was about £2k to supply and fit including underlay, grippers and door bars for 4 bedrooms, play room, study and stairs/upstairs hall - that was an independent carpet fitter who ordered it in for us, stored it in his van until we were ready and came to fit it over 2 days so that we didn't have to empty the entire house :)

It was a very good quality carpet and we are really happy with it.

this is very similar to what we have I think.

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FULL-ROLL-OF-CARPET-DARK-BEIGE-DELUXE-100-SQ-Mtr-80-20-WOOL-40-oz-25m-x-4m-/321058188389?_trksid=p2054897.l5677

Being a tightwad myself when it comes to all things house - fittings, furnishings etc, I wouldn't buy underlay from the carpet shop - they charge silly money for it. You can get the best quality underlay far, far cheaper on ebay. It's called cloud 9 cumulus and works out at less than £3/m with free delivery. It makes a big difference to the feel underfoot and the carpet lasts longer too. (Same for gripper rods.) I've bought bedroom carpet online too and been very pleased with the results and the savings. I'm getting near the hall, stairs, landing carpet stage myself and it'll be interesting but will still buy online as the savings are significant.

I wouldn't get a berber carpet, we were advised to get one some years back and it went very patchy within weeks of going down. The chap who came to assess it from the carpet shop said it wasn't technically faulty as it would probably last forever even if it did look like shit!

Yes, what to do, we looked up the carpet online and our fitter ordered it direct and stored it for us, same for underlay and he didn't charge for gripper as he says it costs buttons and he can't believe how much carpet shops charge you for it.

My take on this would be to spend your money on the landings and stairs - bedrooms are light traffic areas and you do not need to spend a lot there for perfectly serviceable carpets. We have wool - one a berber in our room, the other cut pile in the second bedroom. In our smallest room we have a polypropylene carpet in a berber. Synthetic carpets today look and feel a million times better than the nylon ones of old! They may be the thing for your boys' bedrooms if they play in there as they can be easily cleaned. Even if you decided to go for wool or a wool mix you don't need to spend a lot of money in the bedrooms.

For landings and stairs go for the best you can afford. We tried to choose a colour that hid dirt, but I will say that going for a heathery mix rather than a plain colour is a good idea as they don't show the tracks of frequent foot traffic in the same way.

I agree with not buying underlay from a carpet shop - it's where they make their money. We paid £2.99 psm by buying online. The carpet shop wanted £7.99 for a lower quality underlay.

If you are buying for all these places from the same supplier, get everything costed out (fitting will be separate and likely non-negotiable) and see if they will do anything on price. They may not, but if you don't ask you don't get.

Thanks all.

This is really helpful.

So is it really wasteful to get the same carpet throughout?
I assumed this would be worth it as it would look better.

Are all the Berber style ones a bit shit? I really prefer the look.

I prefer the look of the same carpet everywhere but fudge is correct in that you can save by going for a cheaper carpet in the bedrooms - maybe you could get something toning?

I haven't had good experience with berber but other people may have had better.

There are all sorts of carpets now - sure there are sisal ones etc that give a similar look but not sure how soft they are.

Don't go for sisal if you think you may need to clean stuff off it - nightmare! Wool carpet would be better.

My view is that the same carpet everywhere is a bit dull - reminds of all those neutralised, bland houses that you see developers have re-furb'd on TV. Our carpets do all tone - browns and creams, etc so it doesn't jar when you see the two next to each other in a doorway, but if that's a big deal to you then have the same carpet throughout.

Depends on the berber, the underlay and the location. If you like it, go for it. We have a creamy/natural wool berber in our living room. I love it, but it was a mistake with an ancient, hairy dog in the house - the colour rather than anything else.

We had a 100% wool textured berber type in our last house livingroom - even water going on it stained it - it did come out with a professional shampoo but spot cleaning was a nightmare.