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!

@AmelieTaylor I'm really sorry but I don't know as the local carpet shop replaced the underlay at the same time as the carpet. Naively, I initially thought I could keep the existing underlay (which was actually ripped to shreds) but (without pressure) the carpet shop guys included a 'good' one at not much extra cost.

The difference between the feel underfoot of the existing landing carpet with builders thin underlay and the new adjoining bedroom carpet/underlay is noticeable - the landing carpet seems much 'harder' underfoot and less springy in comparison. I'm a convert. And at least if I ever change the bedroom carpets (say in ten years) I can just change the carpet and not the underlay in the future.

You could check types of underlay on Carpetright although I wouldn't recommend using them as their fitters are really hit and miss. I used them in the summer (for the place I was selling) and regretted it. Oh and I only got a really thin underlay and thin carpet and the result was rubbish - I'd ordered online. I learnt my lesson in my new house!

@TravellingTilbury

Thanks for your reply. I'll worry about it later, quite a bit of painting snd stuff to do first. I just thought I'd make a note if it if you knew what it was. Thanks again.

We’ve just moved and will replace the downstairs carpets- they arrive next month. They are green so don’t match anything and the underlay feels shot underfoot. Upstairs they are relatively old but neutral and serviceable. We’ve had those professionally cleaned.

If they were knackered or not to my taste, yes, but not just for hygiene, that’s bonkers, if he’s that worried clean them.

We moved in here seven years ago, upstairs is carpeted with what is clearly a very expensive dark cream woollen carpet. I have had them cleaned, but wasn’t within the first couple of years of moving in and they were clearly clean when we moved in. Nothing cross my mind other than “nice carpet”

We've been here for 3 years and are only now getting round to decorating, and thinking about replacing the carpets

We got them professionally cleaned when we moved in, and it's not like we run our faces in them 🤣

We've lived here for over 5 years & can't afford to replace the disgusting terracotta orange carpet in our living room (it's 5m x 5.5m - so not going to be cheap! It's also pretty much all our downstairs space bar the tiny kitchen)

Previous house we replaced all because they were either totally knackered with stains/threadbare patches or the one that was "decent" was neon pink and just not at all to my taste.

The place we've offered on we will probably replace most eventually because we don't love them and they're a little tired, we will be carpet cleaning them on completion though - as we're moving out of a rental so will have some overlap. Seems sensible in the current climate.

Main thing we learned from last house is replace hall/stairs flooring last, then it's less stressful protecting it. Annoyingly we were changing the stairs themselves (to increase headroom which I was struggling with at 5'6) so had to do the stair carpet earlier than we otherwise would have.

I'm a big fan of living in a house before changing it as you can get to know how the light works and any annoying things about the "flow" between rooms/getting in each others way.

if you have kids then shame on your husband for adding more to the pile of waste that they will inherit. Have them cleaned if he is really so precious about other people's feet - does he expect the beach to be scrubbed if he walks on that?

What about the toilet seat?

I've just moved and had the carpets hoovered and professionally cleaned / steamed. I'm still getting dog hair out of them 10 days on. We had 3 replaced that were unable to be saved. I have mixed feelings. I hate finding the dog hair still in the hoover. But I do think it's a waste to bin them.

I feel the need to tell you that for the less well off there is even a market for second hand carpets!
I lived in Rented flats for 14 years - you haven’t lived until you lie awake and wonder quite how many people have slept on your mattress before you.

We ripped up 1970s carpets, currently floorboards only but if they’d been new we would have just had them cleaned for the dust. But we had the whole house professionally cleaned like a rental as not having the oven professionally scrubbed is what weirded me out! Don’t really care about my feet!