Lowes didn't want our $4000

[MrsPete]

Another vote for the little guy!

When I needed tile work a couple years ago I went to the "big box stores" and to a small local store, which several friends recommended. The small store gave me great service and while the price wasn't lower, it also wasn't more. The big stores asked me what I wanted and told me the price. At the little store they asked me what I wanted, then took time to educate me on my options -- I'm not "up" on all the types of carpet, etc., and I definitely appreciated them taking the time to explain what's what to me.

I've been back to that little store for carpet, and they're absolutely tops on my list. They encouraged me to walk on wool carpet vs. nylon carpet. They let me take home samples to see in my own house. They really helped me make a good choice.

However, having said that, I'm sure that there are no-good local stores around. You'll have to rely upon friends' opinions to guide you to good ones.

 

[Muushka]

Pet urine and OSHA? That is a new one to me. Great excuse if anyone would believe it.

 

[Anne34]

For those of you who have had your carpet replaced in your bedrooms -- what did you do with your furniture? Do they move it out of one room - carpet it and then move it back in?? We really want to have our 3 br and hallway redone, but don't know where we would put everything.

Thanks!!

 

[mskayjay]

We had a great experience with Lowes. Yes we moved our own bedroom furniture and yes they took the old stuff.

 

[torinsmom]

When I had my laminate put down, I moved the little stuff(cleared off my dresser, shoes that were on the floor, etc), but the installer moved my furniture to one side of the room(or out in the hall), then moved it to do the other side. Lots of work that I sure wouldn't want to do!

Marsha

 

[DannysMom]

When I had our MBR, 2 walkin closets, stairs & hall carpeted, we cleared out as much stuff as we could & then the installers moved the rest of the furniture first to one side, carpeted the clear side, then they moved all the furniture to the other side of the room & carpeted the other side.

 

[tiggr33]

That's how much it was going to cost us to have our carpet replaced in our living room, dining room, two hallways, and one bedroom. We were all ready to pay when they told us this did NOT include hauling away our old carpet. "The independent installer who priced the installation doesn't have to haul away carpet if you have pets," they told us. "There's an OSHA rule that they don't have to haul away carpet if it has any pet stains."

I too have never heard specifically of this. As a former Project Manager in Disaster Recovery and Remediation, I have supervised my share of carpet removal/installations. I would ask for the specific OSHA standard #, and contact the GM of the Lowes you used to express your unhappiness. I did a quick OSHA search and didnt find any standard for pet stain. There is one for biological stains, primarily blood. But urine could urine fall under that, technically yes. I am on the fence about big box, VS. independant local contractor. The job will all depend on the individual. Also for the differences in estimates from Empire, HD< Lowes and independants, you really have to know your product to know if the estimates are comparing apples to apples, or is they are apples to oranges.

As for anyone taking carpet away. It is standard for a removal fee to be charged. Some wrap it into there regular costs and do not itemize it. Typically if a homeowner put it out to the curb themself there is no cost invloved. But if a contractor brings it to a dump, they are charged as a commercial customer. This issue really varies from region to region.

 

[TupperMom7]

Have you considered getting laminate wood flooring such as Pergo? That is easy to intall, it would not be hard to carry up a spiral staircase, etc. and it is very durable with pets. It also looks great!

 

[HGD24]

We found cabinets for our new house at Lowes that we really liked. We called a couple of days later to set up some time with the salesperson who helped us so that we could place our order, but our calls weren't getting returned even though we were leaving messages with an actual person in the cabinet dept. Finally, I got ahold of a supervisor who told me our sales person went out on medical leave so we set up a time to meet with him to place the order. We get to the store only to find out that he left for the day because crowds were so low - apparently, we weren't worth waiting around for.

Well, we immediately went to Home Depot and ordered the same cabinets there. When the supervisor called us, a week later, to set up another time to meet with him, I told him we already placed our $10,000 order with HD and that they priced matched Lowes, gave us the same deals and threw in some freebies. He hung up without saying another word.

 

[Todd&Copper]

I was getting laminate over my whole house except for the kitchen and baths. I had Empire come out and with their 50% off special, they quoted me $7,000 This was for about 800 square feet. Then Home Dept came out and their bid was $5000. I found a local licensed man to do it for $3000 and that included moving the furniture, hauling out old carpet and everything else. They did it over 2 days and it looks great! I can't believe that Empire wantes more than twice as much for the same thing!

Marsha

A friend of mine used Empire for their lamiante flooring on the upper floor of their house, and their "next day installation 50% off" was comperable to HD (within a couple hundred dollars), so she went ahead and hired them b/c her some was severely allergic to the carpet and she wanted the work done sooner rather than later.

 

[RitaE]

Lowes and Home Depot both can vary widely based on what Contractor they use.

We just had 3 bedrooms and one hallway of carpet installed through Lowes, I had a 20% off coupon and got a fabulous. They moved all our furniture and put it back nicely. The only thing that wasn't included in the $139 fee was the stairs, which was told to us before they ever even came to measure the rooms.

They even installed on a Saturday morning so we didn't have to mess around with work schedules.

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

go local -- offer to pay cash and ask for a discount. We did and since we paid cash, they did not have to bill us or have a credit card fee -- they gave us a sizeable discount.

 

[PrincessKitty1]

I too have never heard specifically of this. As a former Project Manager in Disaster Recovery and Remediation, I have supervised my share of carpet removal/installations. I would ask for the specific OSHA standard #, and contact the GM of the Lowes you used to express your unhappiness. I did a quick OSHA search and didnt find any standard for pet stain. There is one for biological stains, primarily blood. But urine could urine fall under that, technically yes. I am on the fence about big box, VS. independant local contractor. The job will all depend on the individual. Also for the differences in estimates from Empire, HD< Lowes and independants, you really have to know your product to know if the estimates are comparing apples to apples, or is they are apples to oranges.

As for anyone taking carpet away. It is standard for a removal fee to be charged. Some wrap it into there regular costs and do not itemize it. Typically if a homeowner put it out to the curb themself there is no cost invloved. But if a contractor brings it to a dump, they are charged as a commercial customer. This issue really varies from region to region.

Thanks to you (and everybody!) for your input. We would have no problems paying extra to have the carpet hauled away, but Lowes didn't give us that option. They said the independent contractor would not haul it away, period.And they said they couldn't make any of their contractors haul it away--they would have to ask another installation contractor to come out give us an estimate, and he/she MIGHT or MIGHT NOT be willing to haul it away.

Re: using a smaller local store and/or paying cash, I am leery of this with the economy the way it is. I would not be willing to pay upfront and take the risk of the company going out of business before I got my rug. This actually happened to a bunch of people in my town when a local, privately owned furniture company went out of business- the owner used all the $$ people had paid him to keep afloat rather than to order their furniture.

I will consider a locally owned company but I would pay for the carpet on a credit card and I would not be willing to pay the installation money until the carpet was actually installed. I am SO afraid of having a small company go bankrupt on me.

Re: laminate flooring, I just don't like it. DH likes it OK but I want carpet or tile (would love hardwood but just don't think it's practical with animals).

I don't want to get my carpet salesperson in trouble by going to the general manager at Lowes, but maybe I should anyway. The salesperson really could not tell me what the $139 installation included (by the way, the installation actually came out to around $400 with all the add-ins). He said it did not include moving furniture but the installer said it did include moving furniture. Both he and the installer said it included removing the old carpet but the installer did NOT tell me he wouldn't haul it away. The salesman told me the installer declined to haul it away. Can you imagine if the installer came to my house after I'd bought all the carpeting and decided he didn't want to move my furniture?? Technically the contract they wanted us to sign said NOTHING about moving furniture, and said NOTHING about hauling away the rug. I don't think I want to deal with Lowes at all at this point.

 

[PaulaSue]

OP, why not just put it out in the trash like everyone else does?

 

[alexy]

For those of you who have had your carpet replaced in your bedrooms -- what did you do with your furniture? Do they move it out of one room - carpet it and then move it back in?? We really want to have our 3 br and hallway redone, but don't know where we would put everything.

Thanks!!

We had the carpet replace in our 4, 2nd-floor bedrooms replace a couple years back and we made them come and install it on two seperate dates. We preferred to move the furniture and rip out the old carpet ourselves, and logistically, it just wouldn't have worked to do it all in one day. There was just way too much stuff and no "staging" space. There was some resistance from the installer, but I was firm that this is how we wanted it done. Note, the installation was priced per sq ft and the quote grouped the rooms together to ensure no additional waste/cost.

 

[PrincessKitty1]

OP, why not just put it out in the trash like everyone else does?

Everybody else puts 1100 square feet of carpeting and pad out in the trash? I doubt it.

We live on a beautiful ravine that leads down to a little creek, which means we, personally, would have to haul every bit of that 1100 square feet of carpeting up the hill and pile it ....where? We're on a dead end road (it's kind of a cul de sac, except you have to do a 3 point turn to turn around at the end of it because the area was built before the era of cul de sacs!) and there's not even any place to put it. Our property is heavily wooded toward the street. The trash cans actually go out in the road, right on the edge. I don't think we could pile all that carpeting and pad on the edge of the road, even if we could get it all up the hill.

Besides, who ever heard of buying a wall-to-wall carpeting installation without being able to pay the store to haul the carpet away? I've heard of people hauling their own carpet to the dump to save some money on having the installer do it. but we are not that broke. And we don't own a truck.

 

[tiggr33]

OP, why not just put it out in the trash like everyone else does?

I think that is very subjective to where one resides. In my area there is one day a month that you can put such items out. Where do you store it until that day? If outside and it gets wet, it will smell and be heavy to carry. The padding will absorb the water like a sponge.

A reputable installer will offer (usually at a cost) to haul the old stuff away.

OP, I still think you should complain to the GM at the Lowes. Your saleperson SHOULD have known all the details or said what other costs may be involved with a further explanation that the installer would make the determination upon inspection. Prior to working in Remediation, I worked at Home Depot I was cross trained in carpeting although it wasn't my department. Trust me, they (retailers in general) drill into your head the details of promotions.

 

[Finiamh]

So I am thinking of replacing the carpet in my house. What are some of the questions that should be asked to make sure nothing gets hidden or left out. Besides "Will you haul the old stuff away?"

Thanks

 

[Darcy03231]

Re: using a smaller local store and/or paying cash, I am leery of this with the economy the way it is. I would not be willing to pay upfront and take the risk of the company going out of business before I got my rug. This actually happened to a bunch of people in my town when a local, privately owned furniture company went out of business- the owner used all the $$ people had paid him to keep afloat rather than to order their furniture.

I will consider a locally owned company but I would pay for the carpet on a credit card and I would not be willing to pay the installation money until the carpet was actually installed. I am SO afraid of having a small company go bankrupt on me.

When we used the small local company we paid $500 at the time we ordered the carpet and the balance when installation was completed (and we were satisfied).

 

[LeeLeeLuvsDisney]

We used Home Depot and had no problems. The installer did NOT haul the old carpet away - we just put it out with our trash (approx. 1,000 square feet of carpet). We just called the trash collector a couple of days ahead of time and let them know we were putting it out for pick-up. They took all of it - no charge.