I need to get my stairs, landing and a small bedroom carpeted. I know I can just book someone to come do the job but remember reading something here about getting your own underlay etc as a way of keeping costs down etc and getting better quality stuff, so looking for advice.
Talk to me about carpets...
- Thread starter Vidar
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Soldato
I would be interested to know if it makes much difference too.
I am having mine done very soon (20th October). I have two flights of stairs and two landings (one landing larger than the other, 5 doors vs 2 doors on second landing on top floor). I've never source underlay myself before and always thought the price I paid was reasonable.
I had a local Cambridge firm quote for my stairs/landings recently and they wanted the best part of £1100 inc underlay which I thought was quite expensive. The chap I used who did my previous house had quoted me £500 back in March 2018 when I first moved in here, and he quoted me £615 last week so we are going with him again.
I am having mine done very soon (20th October). I have two flights of stairs and two landings (one landing larger than the other, 5 doors vs 2 doors on second landing on top floor). I've never source underlay myself before and always thought the price I paid was reasonable.
I had a local Cambridge firm quote for my stairs/landings recently and they wanted the best part of £1100 inc underlay which I thought was quite expensive. The chap I used who did my previous house had quoted me £500 back in March 2018 when I first moved in here, and he quoted me £615 last week so we are going with him again.
Soldato
I purchased my own tredaire underlay from tradepriced.co.uk. Cheaper than the carpet company and better quality stuff.
Company was legit and the fitter seemed happy with the stuff they delivered to me. You can see my lovely previous lounge carpet as well!
Company was legit and the fitter seemed happy with the stuff they delivered to me. You can see my lovely previous lounge carpet as well!
Soldato
I'll second tradepriced.co.uk , we went with Cloud 9 11mm I think.
A lot of carpet shops will include underlay as part of the fitting but it will be the cheaper stuff which isn't very good and you will over pay for it.
A lot of carpet shops will include underlay as part of the fitting but it will be the cheaper stuff which isn't very good and you will over pay for it.
Soldato
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Where do you buy good quality carpets from?
We normally order our underlay form online retailers and then fit smoothedge and the underlay ourselves. That means that the carpet fitter then only has to fit the carpet and we don't have the expense of the carpet retailer's underlay prices.s
We have also used a lot of carpets from companies that specialise in end of roll carpet. This saves so much money that we are able to get much better quality carpet for rooms.
However, our most recent carpet fitting was a rear hall way that was only 1.8x2.4 metres which cost is £450.
We went for a Brintons axminster carpet and axminster underlay, all supplied and laid by the carpet retailer, including smoothedge. It was a splurge but it is superb.
To answer the question about where to get quality carpet, most places will have an independent carpet retailer whop will generally be able to supply anything form £20 per square metre to carpets in excess of £80- per square metre.
80/20 wool/polyester is the best for most residential areas and Axminster is the best carpet full stop.
You can get 100% polyester carpets that are pretty good now and are more resistant to staining and can be bleached, etc if you have a dirty dog issue for example.
Thank you for this, we have a dog but to be honest I'm more worried about the cats clawing it.
Associate
Just done 3 rooms in the house, 4.3m x 4m , 3m x 3m and 3m x 2m. Got underlay from Tradepriced https://www.tradepriced.co.uk/tredaire_dreamwalk_11mm_carpet_underlay.html . Then got carpet from https://www.onlinecarpets.co.uk/carbon-77-calais-carpet.html . Make sure to get samples first, you can get 5 per person. Then I got a local carpet fitter to fit and he charged £100 to lay the underlay (grippers are lifetime no need to replace old ones) and carpet. Everything came to £720 roughly
Research a little bit about carpets but I went for a deep pile (17mm) due to bedrooms with a hessian backing due to getting good underlay and a 100% Polypropylene which is stain resistant and bleachable.
Also have a think about door clearance, my underlay + carpet was 27mm so had to trim the doors by 5mm
Research a little bit about carpets but I went for a deep pile (17mm) due to bedrooms with a hessian backing due to getting good underlay and a 100% Polypropylene which is stain resistant and bleachable.
Also have a think about door clearance, my underlay + carpet was 27mm so had to trim the doors by 5mm
Soldato
If he has refused just move on and ask someone else.
Underlay is simple to fit, I know you have some mobility issues (IIRC) but my missus run and soldered all the water pipes in our our old kitchen with a leg in full plaster cast so you should be able to manage cutting some sponge and stapling it down.
Underlay is simple to fit, I know you have some mobility issues (IIRC) but my missus run and soldered all the water pipes in our our old kitchen with a leg in full plaster cast so you should be able to manage cutting some sponge and stapling it down.
The easy way round carpet retailers and underlay is, "I don't want/need new underlay". The fitter will almost certainly be 'self employed' and more than willing to fit underlay for a small amount of £. That said, rolling out underlay isn't exactly complicated either.
You'll have to empty the rooms anyway so going the extra step of pulling (literally) the old carpet, underlay and rolling out the new stuff isn't exactly complex. You'll also save money by disposing of the old carpet yourself, our local tip takes it for no charge. All you need is a staple gun and some spray adhesive on standby, you can get creative with the off cuts on the stairs and landing etc. The skilled part of carpet fitting is the carpet itself.
As for the carpet, you'll want something hard wearing for the stairs/landing. Go with something with a fairly dense pile and it should last a long time. We have Cormar Primo (plus?) down in our whole house and it's doing very well on the stairs, no signs of visible wear after a year. If its going to wear anywhere it will be there first.
You'll have to empty the rooms anyway so going the extra step of pulling (literally) the old carpet, underlay and rolling out the new stuff isn't exactly complex. You'll also save money by disposing of the old carpet yourself, our local tip takes it for no charge. All you need is a staple gun and some spray adhesive on standby, you can get creative with the off cuts on the stairs and landing etc. The skilled part of carpet fitting is the carpet itself.
As for the carpet, you'll want something hard wearing for the stairs/landing. Go with something with a fairly dense pile and it should last a long time. We have Cormar Primo (plus?) down in our whole house and it's doing very well on the stairs, no signs of visible wear after a year. If its going to wear anywhere it will be there first.
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@b0rn2sk8 Oh hello mate, the old carpet was disposed of a year ago as it wasn't fit for a kennel. Mobility wise I really can't get down on the floor, I'm on the heavy side now too which doesn't help matters and this isn't something I could ask the missus to do. She does enough already. Though I guess if I could find a local carpet fitter I could probably just order the carpet and underlay get them delivered and then have them fit etc.