New carpet options?

[eyePod]

Wife and I got our town home, and we want to replace the carpet upstairs. Its a little less than 700 sq ft upstairs (3 bedrooms). We priced it outat Lowes and the cheapest option was 1800 including install. The install is the cheapest part ($97). just trying to figure out what we should do.

Is stainmaster really worth it? What about the pad? Would love honest opinions/experience from this community. We want utility and don't want to pay for just the name if its not worth it.

[Greg]

$97 for install?  Impossible.

Shop around, including non-big-bax flooring stores.  Call some independent installers and ask where you should look for product.

I'm not a fan of carpet for health and maintenance reasons, so if you're open to it I'd look at Marmoleum or similar products.

[zataks]

We decided to go with carpet too.  Neither of us are huge fans of carpet but top of the line carpet installed was about the same price as installing hardwood ourselves.  And we don't plan on being in this condo [too] long-term.  We went through Costco's carpet seller, they use Shaw carpets.  It will be installed on Tuesday and they do everything: come in and measure/quote for free then take out the old stuff, install the new stuff with carpet pad and we opted to have them install new base boards too. 

Nicest carpet with nicest pad was not cheap by any means but like I said, comparable to us doing hardwood ourselves.  With all the other work we are doing, we wanted our time more than than wood.

[Zette]

$97 for install?  Impossible.

Shop around, including non-big-bax flooring stores.  Call some independent installers and ask where you should look for product.
.

I see a similar special at Lowes periodically, $97 install for whole house (stairs are extra)  so not impossible at all. Lowes and Home Depot seem to have lower cost than the independent places or Costco, but a smaller selection. I've wondered the same thing about Stainmaster vs other stain resistant brands, as well as the supposedly stain resistant pads.

[mustachianteacher]

I've done quite a bit of research on carpet as we are planning a similar project, and everything I've read says that Mohawk's Smart Strand carpet is more stain-resistant than Stainmaster. The warranty on stain-resistance and overall wear is better too, if I remember correctly.

[Daleth]

I'm not sure about stainmaster vs. other, but I've found that an upgraded pad makes a huge difference in how it feels and holds up under your feet.  There are some nice pads out there made from recycled materials too.

I've heard good things about rubber pads, as opposed to the foam pads usually used. More durable, comfortable, less offgassing, etc. That's what we're putting in the bedroom of a rental right now. They have rubber carpet pads at Lowe's.

[zataks]

I've heard good things about rubber pads, as opposed to the foam pads usually used. More durable, comfortable, less offgassing, etc. That's what we're putting in the bedroom of a rental right now. They have rubber carpet pads at Lowe's.

Don't know why this did not occur to me; seems like a fantastic idea!  I think also a rubber would be more resistant to absorb liquids.  I'm sure some would still get in there but not nearly to the same extent as foam.

[eyePod]

Thanks for the great discussion. We definitely want carpet but just liked the price tag that we had for the discount prices at Lowes. We are definitely willing to shop around and the rubber pad is a great idea!

[sol]

We recently replaced all the carpet in a rental house.   Home Depot had a similar $37 installation deal, but I'm sure they make it up on the price per square.

Home Depot quoted us $2052 for materials plus $404 labor plus $200 for rip-up and haul away and another $200 for miscellaneous stuff like carpet rails and installing on funky stairs.  It added up to about $2700 after rebates for 104 square yards (that's 936 square feet) of what we thought was very nice carpet, for a rental house.

I also had a private flooring company come out and bid on the job.  Their initial bid was almost twice as high, and they resorted to a bunch of high pressure sale tactics like "this price is only good if you sign today" that made me angry.  After some back and forth between the installers, each one claiming they would beat the other's price, we ended up around $2400.

Looking at carpet samples, we saw very little correlation between price and quality.  Carpet costs for otherwise equivalent products (as measured by face weight, PAR rating, pile height, warranty, etc) seemed to vary by about a factor of two.  Shop around.

[malacca]

I have never paid more than $2 a SF installed for builder grade carpeting (all-in installation, including any stairs, etc. NO extra charges. Includes take away).

That is decent carpet and pad. Builder grade is designed to last 5 years.

If you want something to last more than 5 years don't buy carpet - go with hardwood. Carpets rarely last more than 5 years due to staining, pets, style changes, new owner, etc. Lot's of expensive carpet gets torn out long before it should.

I have paid $2 in the midwest and in Arizona (sometime a $1.80 in Arizona. $150 if they reused the pad). I recently did a townhouse and pushed the carpet guy to give me a better pad - which he did. Tenants say it feels luxurious.

Check Craigslist - tons of $2 guys on there.

I once asked a carpet store for a quote and it was $3.50 for the exact same carpet (not sure about the pad). They had all sorts of extras added on. Ridiculous.

At the end of the day carpet is cheap. But this is America - land where cheap shit is "sold" at high prices by people who have no skill other than fleecing people.

[Daleth]

Don't know why this did not occur to me; seems like a fantastic idea!  I think also a rubber would be more resistant to absorb liquids.  I'm sure some would still get in there but not nearly to the same extent as foam.

Yes, that was one of our thoughts too. This carpet is going over a hardwood floor (just for noise reasons, because there's a bedroom below it) and we definitely do not want liquids soaking into the wood. At least with a rubber pad the liquid should stay in the carpet, which protects the wood and makes it easier to thoroughly clean whatever was spilled.

[Rural]

Don't know why this did not occur to me; seems like a fantastic idea!  I think also a rubber would be more resistant to absorb liquids.  I'm sure some would still get in there but not nearly to the same extent as foam.

Yes, that was one of our thoughts too. This carpet is going over a hardwood floor (just for noise reasons, because there's a bedroom below it) and we definitely do not want liquids soaking into the wood. At least with a rubber pad the liquid should stay in the carpet, which protects the wood and makes it easier to thoroughly clean whatever was spilled.

Just a thought here. But since it's a hardwood floor and a noise issue, have you considered a large rug instead? Should be easier to clean and less damage to the hardwood, and the effect can be really nice. If you look at outlet, etc, you might beat the cost of wall-to-wall.

[Daleth]

Don't know why this did not occur to me; seems like a fantastic idea!  I think also a rubber would be more resistant to absorb liquids.  I'm sure some would still get in there but not nearly to the same extent as foam.

Yes, that was one of our thoughts too. This carpet is going over a hardwood floor (just for noise reasons, because there's a bedroom below it) and we definitely do not want liquids soaking into the wood. At least with a rubber pad the liquid should stay in the carpet, which protects the wood and makes it easier to thoroughly clean whatever was spilled.

Just a thought here. But since it's a hardwood floor and a noise issue, have you considered a large rug instead? Should be easier to clean and less damage to the hardwood, and the effect can be really nice. If you look at outlet, etc, you might beat the cost of wall-to-wall.

This particular hardwood floor would need to be refinished for a rug to work (it looks like hell). Cheaper to just get carpet than to get refinishing + a rug.

[zataks]

Want to note: talked to GF and we are getting a urethane carpet pad (shaw's top of the line one).  It and the carpet are both supposed to have been treated against stains, spills, etc. 

EDIT:  It's being installed Tuesday.  I can give my impressions of the padding and carpet afterwards, if you're interested.

[eyePod]

Want to note: talked to GF and we are getting a urethane carpet pad (shaw's top of the line one).  It and the carpet are both supposed to have been treated against stains, spills, etc. 

EDIT:  It's being installed Tuesday.  I can give my impressions of the padding and carpet afterwards, if you're interested.

That would be awesome.

Right now, we're in a bind because of time. We have a 2 day window when we can have install that's just in a few weeks (furniture will be in storage for a week). Because of this, we're debating about using what they have in stock or end up having to pay the extra $50 per room to move furniture because it takes a month to get stuff in (makes no sense to me, but we'll see I guess). I'm gonna have to price the couple of options later today in person.

Definitely leaning towards the rubber pad though. It feels awesome, and I think it'll last a lot longer.

[multidimeaire]

Have you considered carpet tile?  This seems very DIY.  If a section is ruined, just replace that section.  Does anyone have any good experience with carpet tile?


Something like this:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Simply-Seamless-Serenity-Toffee-24-in-x-24-in-Residential-Carpet-Tiles-10-Tiles-Case-BFSRTF/202510464?N=5yc1vZbo4w

The reviews are really high.