I feel so lost. There are a million options and I have no idea what any of them mean. Density? Pile? Type of dying procecess? Type of stain resistance treatment? Nylon vs. Poly (in various forms)? I just want a decent carpet for not a fortune, is that too much to ask?
We need to re-carpet our baby's room and probably our bedroom at the same time, since we're paying the same install price either way. I think I want a darker, grey toned carpet, unless anyone has a reason to stay away from those.
Words of wisdom, anyone?
Re: Anyone here bought carpet before?
We went to Lowe's because we like Lowe's in general. We told the guy what our purpose for carpeting over our original 1923 hardwood was: for noise reduction for when the baby comes. (We don't want to carpet over but the acoustics are horrible without some kind of noise buffer for stairs, hallway, nursery).
We told him that we do have dogs, and that they are inside dogs. He was able to narrow down which type of piling is good (looped gets snagged by paws) but "cut pile" is higher-cut carpet without loops (just plush-er). They have nylon and polyester fibers, one of which I believe holds color better and one holds texture for longer. They also have new "smart" fiber made by Shaw and Scotchguard, which is cheaper than the traditional nylon and polyester and supposedly withstands tons of wear in testing phases. There is also fiber for "green living" which is cheaper too, and 100% recycled material.
The questions I'd ask are:
Installation fee:
Cost for tacking strip/linear foot:
Furniture moving fee (if applicable):
Padding difference between premium and basic and cost w/padding
Cost to carpet stairs (if you have any).
My husband is a Master Floor Installer. He has been installing flooring for 20 years. Here is what he is telling me. In regards to color, staying light will helpthe room look bigger, darker colors tend to make the room look small. 100% nylon has easy clean up and very durable. Density- you want something that is 35 ozs or greater. Pile- is all about the look, what you like (i.e. textured or flat).
From top to bottom of what would last the longest would be berber then frieze then cut-pile. Again, the pile is all about preference of look though.
Hope that helps some.
-Christy
Thanks, this is super helpful!
I seriously recarpeted my whole house 2 weeks ago. We went to Home Depot, and they gave us a little tutorial. we went with the 1.48/sqft neutral brown. when you run your fingers through it you dont hit backing like cheaper kinds. We also got the it was either 6 or 10 year pad. By the time that padding is shot, we will be moving out/new owners coming in and its time for replacement carpet anyway
Also, this isn't our "grow old" house, so we just wanted something clean for LO (the carpet we did have came with the house and I dont know when that was replaced, we moved in in 2005)
for 850 sq feet, no furniture moving, and a military discount we paid a little over a grand. And it makes a WORLD of difference
Wow, do you happen to remember the maker/type of carpet? Everything I've been looking at is more than that. We were looking at over $1000 for the carpet, padding, and install for only about a 400 sq ft area (2 rooms), which I thought was high.
i will look in my paperwork and PM you