For the last few post I talked about prepping for new carpet: Painting and Purging and told you I would share with you some important things we learned during our carpet project.
Purchasing:
DO NOT go to the big box stores! They do not have the best quality, because they sell "cheap". They also don't have the most experienced staff. Remember this is a big purchase that is supposed to last for decades, not years. Lastly they tend to add on additional cost.
DO shop locally owned stores, preferably one that has been around for decades. They know their stuff. They have experienced staff and the cost of installation should be included in the carpet, not an additional fee.
Buy Ecofriendly. Wool is the most expensive but it is also the most natural product out there. We actually chose an ecofriendly brand Mohawk. It’s from a corn based product and not petroleum. Thank about that for a second, do you want to walk on cornmeal or oil? Also this is super important if you have small children or dogs. Where do they play? On the carpet. They will have all of the synthetic fibers touching their skin and research has shown this can cause a higher risk of cancer. Scary to think about. Go Ecofriendly, it's not only good for the environment, but your family.
Budget. Jack thought our new carpet would cost around $2,000 and I was predicting around $4,000 because I knew I wanted quality and Ecofriendly. To be safe we budged $4,000 and anything that wasn't spent on the carpet would go to the next house project.
Shop around. I cannot stress this enough. We went to a local place and met with and told them what we were looking for. They seemed sort of knowledgeable, very helpful, and were willing to come for a measurement (required to get a true quote) for the following day after work. The quote came back to us at $3,500, right within our budget. But while we were getting frustrated because they couldn't email us the quote because they didn't understand what an underscore (_) was; we talked to Amber and Aaron about who they used to replace their carpet after the fire damage last year. They used and highly recommended this place in an old part of town. They warned us that there was piles of carpet everywhere and it seemed very disorganized, but the shop owner knew were everything was at. So during our lunch Jack and I went, carpet everywhere was an understatement! The shop was ran by an older couple who had been in business since the 80's and he knew exactly what I wanted and didn't look at me like I was scary when I said I wanted something Ecofriendly, like the other shop did. We found the same product as the other store and a few other options and scheduled a measurement (quote) the next day. Their measurement appointment was very different. The first shop a guy came took measurement and left. The elderly couple both came with samples and ready to write a quote right there. The gentlemen took the measurement while the lady and I talked about Duffey and their adventures in the Airforce in Europe in the 60's. Once the measurements were finished we began talking about the two carpet samples we liked. The first was the same as the shop before and the other was considered a Luxe carpet, fancy. After discussing the prices we quickly realized their Luxe carpet was CHEAPER than the other shops price for the regular carpet, we chose the Luxe carpet. Lastly we talked about a carpet pad; this was something that was never discussed at the other place. I'll talk more about carpet pads in a second. After deciding on higher end carpet pad and the Luxe carpet, we were ecstatic to see that our new quote was under $2,800! Much better customer service, higher quality product, AND a lower price? SOLD! We booked our installation that moment. If we didn't shop around, we would have regretted spending more for a less inferior product. Shop a minimum of two, three is better, shops before making your decision. It's well worth the extra effort.
Carpet Pads. The second shop brought us four samples that were made with different material and/or thickness. We were able to quickly dismiss the regular pads that were manufactured from left over furniture foam in China and focused on the two U.S.A. brands. One had a single layer of water resistant material and the other had a layer of water resistant material on both sides. The one with both sides was also quilted and provided extra softness. Since our home was built on a concrete slap, we opted to the quilted, double sided water resistant carpet pad.
Walk on the samples barefooted! This may seem like an afterthought, but it should be seriously done. We are all for feeling the texture and softness with our hands, but we use our feet to walk on it. Since the samples were brought to our home we were able to put them on a hard floor and walk on them. We tired each carpet sample with each carpet samples until we made our decision. You may feel silly taking your shoes off in front of a salesman; however, you wouldn't feel odd about lying on a mattress when purchasing one, so why wouldn't you walk barefoot on carpet?
Prepping:
For every room you are replacing carpet for, you have to remove EVERYTHING! We were offered to split up the installation, but we decided to get it all done at once. If you have a lot of rooms and not a lot of time to donate removing everything, do the multiple days. Like I said in my pervious post we used this time to purge the rooms so we would have less to move, twice.
Pets. We asked Amber and Aaron to watch Duffey for the day. We didn't want her getting scared or getting in the way of the installer. Plus it also made me nervous that he would accidently let her get out as he was bringing in the supplies. I was much happier the day of the installation that she was safe and happy at her Auntie Amber's house. Please don't forget to think about your pets on the day of installation and plan accordingly.
After Installation:
Be warned new carpet smells, it’s new and the smell goes away after a few days. We used scented candles to help since it was winter and unable to open up windows.
Moving back in. We put the bigger items in first, expect the dressers (that's another project). We were very careful on what we brought back into the rooms. We didn't bring in Jack's old desk, shelves, or couch; instead we are using a folding table and purchased better quality shelves. Once the rest of the rooms were back together, they felt different. They felt clean and new and we want to keep that feeling around for a long time. Our bedroom now feels like a place of relaxion and not chaos.
Enjoy your new fabulous carpet!
Purchasing:
DO NOT go to the big box stores! They do not have the best quality, because they sell "cheap". They also don't have the most experienced staff. Remember this is a big purchase that is supposed to last for decades, not years. Lastly they tend to add on additional cost.
DO shop locally owned stores, preferably one that has been around for decades. They know their stuff. They have experienced staff and the cost of installation should be included in the carpet, not an additional fee.
Buy Ecofriendly. Wool is the most expensive but it is also the most natural product out there. We actually chose an ecofriendly brand Mohawk. It’s from a corn based product and not petroleum. Thank about that for a second, do you want to walk on cornmeal or oil? Also this is super important if you have small children or dogs. Where do they play? On the carpet. They will have all of the synthetic fibers touching their skin and research has shown this can cause a higher risk of cancer. Scary to think about. Go Ecofriendly, it's not only good for the environment, but your family.
Budget. Jack thought our new carpet would cost around $2,000 and I was predicting around $4,000 because I knew I wanted quality and Ecofriendly. To be safe we budged $4,000 and anything that wasn't spent on the carpet would go to the next house project.
Shop around. I cannot stress this enough. We went to a local place and met with and told them what we were looking for. They seemed sort of knowledgeable, very helpful, and were willing to come for a measurement (required to get a true quote) for the following day after work. The quote came back to us at $3,500, right within our budget. But while we were getting frustrated because they couldn't email us the quote because they didn't understand what an underscore (_) was; we talked to Amber and Aaron about who they used to replace their carpet after the fire damage last year. They used and highly recommended this place in an old part of town. They warned us that there was piles of carpet everywhere and it seemed very disorganized, but the shop owner knew were everything was at. So during our lunch Jack and I went, carpet everywhere was an understatement! The shop was ran by an older couple who had been in business since the 80's and he knew exactly what I wanted and didn't look at me like I was scary when I said I wanted something Ecofriendly, like the other shop did. We found the same product as the other store and a few other options and scheduled a measurement (quote) the next day. Their measurement appointment was very different. The first shop a guy came took measurement and left. The elderly couple both came with samples and ready to write a quote right there. The gentlemen took the measurement while the lady and I talked about Duffey and their adventures in the Airforce in Europe in the 60's. Once the measurements were finished we began talking about the two carpet samples we liked. The first was the same as the shop before and the other was considered a Luxe carpet, fancy. After discussing the prices we quickly realized their Luxe carpet was CHEAPER than the other shops price for the regular carpet, we chose the Luxe carpet. Lastly we talked about a carpet pad; this was something that was never discussed at the other place. I'll talk more about carpet pads in a second. After deciding on higher end carpet pad and the Luxe carpet, we were ecstatic to see that our new quote was under $2,800! Much better customer service, higher quality product, AND a lower price? SOLD! We booked our installation that moment. If we didn't shop around, we would have regretted spending more for a less inferior product. Shop a minimum of two, three is better, shops before making your decision. It's well worth the extra effort.
Carpet Pads. The second shop brought us four samples that were made with different material and/or thickness. We were able to quickly dismiss the regular pads that were manufactured from left over furniture foam in China and focused on the two U.S.A. brands. One had a single layer of water resistant material and the other had a layer of water resistant material on both sides. The one with both sides was also quilted and provided extra softness. Since our home was built on a concrete slap, we opted to the quilted, double sided water resistant carpet pad.
Walk on the samples barefooted! This may seem like an afterthought, but it should be seriously done. We are all for feeling the texture and softness with our hands, but we use our feet to walk on it. Since the samples were brought to our home we were able to put them on a hard floor and walk on them. We tired each carpet sample with each carpet samples until we made our decision. You may feel silly taking your shoes off in front of a salesman; however, you wouldn't feel odd about lying on a mattress when purchasing one, so why wouldn't you walk barefoot on carpet?
Prepping:
For every room you are replacing carpet for, you have to remove EVERYTHING! We were offered to split up the installation, but we decided to get it all done at once. If you have a lot of rooms and not a lot of time to donate removing everything, do the multiple days. Like I said in my pervious post we used this time to purge the rooms so we would have less to move, twice.
Pets. We asked Amber and Aaron to watch Duffey for the day. We didn't want her getting scared or getting in the way of the installer. Plus it also made me nervous that he would accidently let her get out as he was bringing in the supplies. I was much happier the day of the installation that she was safe and happy at her Auntie Amber's house. Please don't forget to think about your pets on the day of installation and plan accordingly.
After Installation:
Be warned new carpet smells, it’s new and the smell goes away after a few days. We used scented candles to help since it was winter and unable to open up windows.
Moving back in. We put the bigger items in first, expect the dressers (that's another project). We were very careful on what we brought back into the rooms. We didn't bring in Jack's old desk, shelves, or couch; instead we are using a folding table and purchased better quality shelves. Once the rest of the rooms were back together, they felt different. They felt clean and new and we want to keep that feeling around for a long time. Our bedroom now feels like a place of relaxion and not chaos.
Enjoy your new fabulous carpet!
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