Buying cheap carpet online?

[user143677433]

We are putting our house on the market in the next week or two.

We had hoped to get away with just cleaning the carpets, but have just realised the living room carpet is shot. I mean really awful. Stained and threadbare far more than I realised.

I have been to the usual places today (Carpetright etc) and all said there is no hope of getting carpet from them before Christmas. Plus we’d be looking at £400-£500 including fitting.

So, given that I am just looking for a cheap fix, I thought about buying a length of carpet online and either fitting it ourselves (DH has done this pretty well before, although hated doing it), or seeing if a local carpet fitter might be able to fit us in, as it should be a quick job.

Any thought? My main concern is not having any way to tell the quality of the carpet.

I've bought cheap carpet from flooring srllers on ebay and booked a fitter separately and it's been fine
You can order samples from most of them too.

Buy online but get it professionally fitted if possible.

Ask for sample

OMG I am such an idiot 😳
It never even occurred to me that I could order a sample. It wasn’t an option on the particular eBay listing I was looking at, but is on a different listing from the same seller.
See, this is why I need you guys! 😂

Why would you bother .. buyers could very well rip it all out the day they get the keys . We are moving into our forever home this week and the carpets are like new .. still ripping them out as they won't suit our furniture.

Honestly- don't waste your time and money! It won't be worth it, they may well change it all completely and what little you 'may' gain in terms of sell value (likely nothing more) would be wasted in cost of carpet, installation, time and effort etc. Having spend weeks painting my nans house before sale- I deeply regret the time and money I spent doing this.

Get a large rug to cover the thread bare areas for property photos and viewings instead!

Personally, I'd consider replacing it if it's really bad. Nobody will rationally choose not to buy your house because of the carpets if they like the place, but a really threadbare shabby floor covering could perhaps add to a viewer's general nonspecific "not getting the right feeling" at a viewing.

A carpet wouldn't make a difference to the "value" of a house on paper, but as long as buyers are the irrational creatures they are, it might make the difference between selling and not selling in a difficult market....

I wouldn't worry about the quality when you're looking to go as cheap as possible & really just want to smarten the place up to sell. Even if it doesn't look the greatest, it'll look clean & 'can live with that for now' rather than 'shit, will need to replace that immediately, wonder what else has been neglected'

Yes, it’s just cheap carpet in the living room.

The bedrooms are fine. Hallways and stairs should be replaced if we were staying here but will be fine for a sale - they are not going to put anyone off.

I’m not expecting it to “add value” to the house, but we want a quick sale and I don’t want to put someone off for reasons that they might not even be able to articulate themselves.

I did price up a rug but it was going to be £250 for a rug or £125 for carpet.