Moving house - new carpet?

[Fleurchamp]

Please help me settle an argument with DH.

When you move home do you immediately replace the carpet of your new house?

DH (whose family basically move from new build to new build) is adamant that carpets have to be replaced straight away and it is "disgusting" to walk bare foot on carpets that have been used by the previous owners. He says he won't feel like it is his home until they have been replaced.

Whereas I think having them professionally cleaned will be fine.

Quotes for new are around £5k, cleaning more like £300.

The carpet is less than 2yrs old and I think replacing it is 1. A waste of money and 2. Really bad for the environment.

When we moved into our current house it was a renovation project and so carpet was replaced pretty quickly but the house we are buying is done and I think the carpet is pretty good quality.

Thank you!

I have never done this - replaced or cleaned ok Cartier’s just for the sake of it. We only replaced one carpet in our previous house, which was a terrible pattern, did that in the first few months. In this house, we replaced the very cheap, nasty carpets but after about 5 years downstairs and 10 years upstairs! Couldn’t afford to sooner.

Seems like an awful waste of resources to replace ok carpets just for the sake of it, just because someone else has walked on them.

Cartier’s ? = carpets

Nope, I have never done that. I’m in my 50s and as an adult have bought or rented 7 different homes. I’ve never had a carpet professionally cleaned either.

His family obviously have more money than sense, and as you say, don’t give a toss abut the environment.

We didn't replace or clean the carpets when we moved in as they were nearly new and immaculate. Why would you unless it was not to your taste?

I’m on your DH’s side and would never keep somebody else’s carpets, so would always built the cost of replacing them with wood into my moving budget. I could probably be placated with a very good professional clean temporarily, but they’d still never feel properly “clean”. I suppose it’s just one of those personal and sometimes slightly irrational thought processes.

Thank you!
The carpets are perfectly tasteful and will be absolutely fine after a clean (they have children, as do we). He just assumed that we would replace them!

Nope, never done this.
Replacing a 2 year old carpet for "hygiene" reasons is just weird.
If it was bright purple/a psychedelic pattern that made your eyes ache or stinking of pet wee etc then yes.
But just because someone else has trodden on it.....no.

Comtesse- that is the other thing, I prefer wooden floors with rugs in living areas and am lusting over a parquet floor but I wouldn't be able to justify that for years if we replaced the carpet now.

In the past yes, because the carpet was completely not to our taste, and although it was relatively new it was cheap and the underlay hadn’t been redone at the same time. Current house no, I had the stairs and landing professionally cleaned a couple of months after we moved in as the previous owner had cats and I was still finding cat hairs despite weekly hoovering. We had borrowed MILs carpet washer thing to do the kids bedrooms when we moved in in case of cat hair

We had a carpet cleaner in for our last house as I did feel a bit ick about it, new build this time. But no I wouldn't physically replace a perfectly good carpet if all it needed was a clean.

We moved in to our first house 8 years ago, and because we were moving from rented we moved a few days after we got keys. I borrowed my parents carpet cleaner and steam clear and cleaned all the carpets/floors before we moved in as the previous owners had pets.
We still have the same carpets from 8 years ago because we couldn't afford to replace them at first and then we had a child. It just didn't make sense. We did buy a rug for DS's room to make it comfier but that's it.

I hate carpets so might pull them up at some point for that reason, but I absolutely wouldn't replace a perfectly good one with new just because other people have walked on it. That's environmentally disgusting. I'd hire a carpet cleaner for a day or two if they were manky and clean them myself.

we moved into this house 18 months ago every room a doer upper and so far we have replaced bedroom carpets stairs and hall and at the moment in the middle of doing the redecorate of the front room and i have to walk on 1980s horrid floral axminster, but before we moved in i did bring my carpet cleaner and clean all the carpets, and have cleaned it on a regular basis since, i wish this house had two year old carpets would have saved us a fortune

I wouldn't want any carpet in general - polymer all the way

Nothing worse than viewing a house and you can tell they've put in a new grey carpet throughout, that will soon by going in the skip

Our current house we got the carpets done in the bedrooms asap because they all had laminate in them and I can't stand bedrooms without carpet.

Stairs, hallway and landing carpet was replaced partially with new carpet and partially tile after 2 years once we round to it.

Previous house we replaced one bedroom carpet immediately it was badly stained then re-did it and all the others after about 3 years to tie it together.

Replacing carpet just the sake if it is bonkers.

Carpets were replaced in my house, 8 weeks before my offer was accepted. Then the house sat empty.

No way would I rip them up and throw them away.

A fool and his money are easily parted.

We waited 4 years as we were planning on extending the house, and yes they looked like something from the seventies, but we needed to save first.
Its not "disgusting " to walk on other people's old carpets. What do they do when staying in hotels etc?
You're not going to be licking the carpet!!!

We’ve lived in our house over 10 years and just replaced the last of the carpets this year. We’ve replaced them as needed and never had them professionally cleaned.

I'd suggest being flexible. I moved to a house where the bedroom carpets were more stained than I'd realised on viewing. I hadn't budgeted for replacing the bedroom carpets but I did and I don't regret it. I also improved the underlay (I definitely hadn't budgeted for that) and the difference is immense. The rooms still need decorating but I'm now a convert to replacing the carpets (and underlay if it isn't already thick).

However, the stair carpet was in perfectly good condition and was just grubby. Given that bedroom carpets tend to be simpler to replace than stairs I was happy about that.

Good luck!

Err, neither, didn't even vacuum the day we moved in. Never occurred to me to be worried

I wouldn't think to replace them for that reason, no.

@TravellingTilbury

Could you possibly tell me which underlay you bought. Before lockdown I wasn't getting much joy asking carpet & flooring companies about their underlay. I know a fair bit about them as I had a business overseas that required that knowledge, but they're different companies & compositions here, and I don't know what to buy! Thanks!

@Fleurchamp your DH is being a melon. At most they just need cleaning, but unless there was a crawling baby or toddler involved I wouldn't even bother with that until the summer.

I always have them professionally cleaned (when they bring the huge machine and literally pump water in and suck it out). This brings them up like new.