Who knew that carpet was so expensive

[Towncrier]

My wife steadfastly refuses to let me buy a dishwasher to replace the 20 year old unit that came with our house. You ask "What does a dishwasher have to do with carpet?" Well, Sue has told me that even if I do buy a new dishwasher, she won't use it. And that if a new dishwasher shows up BEFORE she gets new carpeting in the family room, she will be VERY disappointed.

So when I got home from work this evening, I suggested that we go to the local discount carpet store and price out replacement carpet. I had poked around the internet and figured out that, if we played our cards right, we could recarpet the family room for under $1000. Hopefully well under $1000. Sue and I hopped in the car with our color samples and, in under an hour, had picked out a style and color of carpet that we both love.

If we move our own furniture, tear up the old carpet and padding, and if we don't put new carpet under the bookcases on either side of our fireplace, that it will only cost us $1100 for 220 square feet of carpet and padding. At least we don't have to install it ourselves.

We left a 50% cash deposit and left the store in shock. I had no idea it was going to be so expensive. I guess that the living room, dining room, stairs, and upstairs hallway and bedrooms are going to have to wait......until I win the lottery.

 

[icebrat001]

wow, what kind of carpet did you get?

 

[escape]

Wow! That's $5 a square foot or $45 a square yard (how carpet used to be measured). Yikes!

 

[Caradana]

Is that high or low for carpet? I don't have a clue about carpet ...

 

[clh2]

Our family room carpeting was the same sort of surprise.

In my mind - this should have cost about $400 or so. Imagine my surpise when it ended up being about a grand. We have a little more square footage though. And - the total cost for this carpet place to remove the old carpet and padding, and take it away was only about $50 - which we thought that was too good of a bargain to pass up.

 

[Towncrier]

wow, what kind of carpet did you get?

Berber at about $3 per square foot. I think that the carpet pad cost more than the original carpet that we had installed when the house was built.

 

[icebrat001]

Berber at about $3 per square foot. I think that the carpet pad cost more than the original carpet that we had installed when the house was built.

Makes note to self: Make sure the carpet is nice when we buy a house in 3 months. Carpet cost too much money!

Sorry you had to pay so much and thanks for the heads up.

 

[scoutsmom99]

Check out home depot. We got our carpet from there two years ago and we have been really satisfied with hit.

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

Towncrier, is that $3/sf price for the carpet only? From your OP I'm guessing it is. If so, that's on the high side IMO. Berbers are usually made out of olefin or an olefin/nylon blend. Olefin is a less expensive fiber than nylon and I know you could find a good quality nylon for the same price.

I've been in the carpet industry for 10 years. Post here or PM me if you have any questions.

 

[Michie]

Obi, wouldn't it be cheaper if he could do a laminate, if he did it himself? I think it would look better than new carpet in one area and old in others.

 

[Jasminesmommy]

usually if you pick a selfowned carpet place they can do it for very cheap. My dd roomgot carpet a year ago for her room and it was $500 from empire but empire hires local people to instal and I asked the guywhat he charges and was willing to do my whole upstairs and stairs and bedrooms for $1800 carpet included same as empire and empire quoted $3500.

 

[escape]

Same here. I checked at Home Depot and Lowes when I bought my carpet last year. They both quoted me around $45 a square yard to install. A small, locally owned carpet store charged me around $27 (maybe a little lower) for the same, exact carpet.

 

[SplshMtn99]

Carpet is one of those "you get what you pay for" items. It is definitely WORTH paying for a good quality carpet & pad. The pad will really make the difference.

Cheap pad & cheap carpet will show "crushing" in just a couple of years.

We paid ALOT for our carpet & got the best pad when we did our whole house 8 yrs ago. People can't believe it is 8 yrs old. They look great still. I knew the problems with the old carpet (fading; crushing where we walked all the time; stains....). I told them i wanted to avoid those problems.....and we have. We got a cut & loop carpet.

However, at the same time, trying to "save a few bucks" we put a cheaper carpet in the 2 bedrooms. BIG MISTAKE. They look horrible. They are crushed where we walk. Soiled. Faded a bit.

And we get all the carpets cleaned every 18 mths. The carpet on the stairs from the front door is showing dirt on the edges.....but otherwise, holding up VERY well. Stains come RIGHT OUT.

If you have carpeting, you need a BISSEL Little Green Clean Machine. You want to get those spots out immediately. Best "carpet insurance" available.

 

[KathyTX]

Ouch... I need to recarpet the whole house this spring. I don't think I want to even begin to calculate based on John's surprise.

Let's see... probably 2000 sf carpeted. And they're going to have to move furniture, including bookcases and dressers... Do I even want to know what to budget?? $10,000 or so? Yikes...

 

[escape]

Carpet is one of those "you get what you pay for" items. It is definitely WORTH paying for a good quality carpet & pad. The pad will really make the difference.

Cheap pad & cheap carpet will show "crushing" in just a couple of years.

We paid ALOT for our carpet & got the best pad when we did our whole house 8 yrs ago. People can't believe it is 8 yrs old. They look great still. I knew the problems with the old carpet (fading; crushing where we walked all the time; stains....). I told them i wanted to avoid those problems.....and we have. We got a cut & loop carpet.

However, at the same time, trying to "save a few bucks" we put a cheaper carpet in the 2 bedrooms. BIG MISTAKE. They look horrible. They are crushed where we walk. Soiled. Faded a bit.

And we get all the carpets cleaned every 18 mths. The carpet on the stairs from the front door is showing dirt on the edges.....but otherwise, holding up VERY well. Stains come RIGHT OUT.

If you have carpeting, you need a BISSEL Little Green Clean Machine. You want to get those spots out immediately. Best "carpet insurance" available.

I definitely agree with you here. The carpet I bought was a top quality carpet....I was just able to find it at a very good price. I also got a top quality pad. The dealer had more expensive pads but said the carpet manufacturer's warranty would be void if I didn't use the recommended padding. Maybe Obi-Wan Pinobi can shed some light here.

Oh, and I also agree with you on the Little Green Machine. We just recently bought a new one....the old one started having problems.

 

[barkley]

i worked for about 3 years in a furniture/carpet store and i can adamantly say that cheaping out on the padding will result in much more quickly worn carpet! cheap padding results in more wear and tear on a carpet and more dirt being pulled into the attaching fibers (which cannot be removed despite the best cleaning service).

i DETEST berber-the only reason i installed a year ago was because it does not wear poorly over a short time period and buyers (i intend to sell my house in the next few months) for some reason seem to adore it. my argument against it is because unlike standard carpet (which is not a continuous weave) it cannot be repaired if damaged without massive costs (no patch repair-it has to be a full room, and then you run the risk of a different dye lot up against a previous dye lot that does not match).

i learned that one of the best means of finding a good installer is to contact carpet cleaning companies in your area. they work with carpet on a day to day basis and can advise which carpet installers do proficient work.

i would hesitate to ever use a home depot and the like to contract for purchase and instalation. they tend to contract out sub contractors who are the lowest bidders. any disputes over installations problems result in the buyer having to deal with the installer (who because home depot and the like pay him directly is not nesc. responsive).

 

[Towncrier]

Note to self. Call Matt next time you need carpet.

We had a local company install industrial berber in our basement rec room over 10 years ago. The carpet still looks as good as the day it was installed. Unfortunately, the owner's son installed the carpet and was not very good at it. We swore off using that company ever again.

The original carpet in the rest of the house is from Sears. When the house was built, we upgraded the padding to the best available from our builder, but we cheaped out on the actual carpet. I guess we shouldn't complain that our 20 year old carpet looks at least 20 years old. I look 20 years older too, come to think of it.

As far as why we picked another berber (a nylon one at that) for our family room, we tend to gravitate to that room and we like the way that the berber in the basement has held up. We considered laminate flooring for the family room, but since that's where the tv and stereo are located, we wanted sound absorbing material on the floor.

The installer wanted to charge us $50 to move the furniture and an additional $50 to move the projection TV. There was also a fee for removing the old carpet. Yikes. We have opted to do that work ourselves. Maybe I already said that. I was suffering from sticker shock when I posted last night. But we found a berber pattern that we can both live with, and the color is very close to what has been in that room for 20 years (which is important because we just replaced the cushions on the couch and love seat and are not planning to change the room color).

Perhaps we will consider laminate or some other type of flooring when it comes time to redo the living room and dining room. But that will have to wait until after I get my new dishwasher (which is the whole purpose of getting the carpet if you recall my original post).

 

[Chicago526]

I lucked out! I sold my condo over the summer. While getting it ready for sale, I decided to replace the carpet. It was totally shot, and if I didn't replace it I would have had to offer a carpet credit, and it wouldn't have "shown" as well. My brother's neighbor is a carpet installer, and they've worked together on side projects the last couple years. He was happy to take me to the cheapest carpet distributer in the city and get me the cheapest carpet they sold (it just had to look nice!). He had some top of the line premium padding left over from another job he did that was just enough to do my place, and he gave it to me for FREE! So, in the end, it cost me $900 TOTAL (carpet, padding, install, and furnature moving) to do my 900 sqft condo. That was a living room, dining room, hallway, and 2 bedrooms! DH and I did have to dispose of the old carpet ourselves, but wat a DEAL!

I beleive the new carpet is one of the major reasons why the condo sold in 2 days! Moral of the story...be good friends with a guy that installs carpet!

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

Wow now I am afraid to price out Pergo. At Lowes it was priced at $3.37/sq ft and I want to do my living room, kitchen and dining room in Pergo for my condo.

 

[Magickndm]

Be prepared for the dirt you'll find under the carpet.
We pulled up our carpet to install hardwood, and if I hadn't already decided on hardwood, that would have convinced me.