Free
Expert Carpet Buying Advice for Homeowners
By
Alan
Fletcher - 30-year Carpet Expert & Consumer Advocate
What
Homeowners Need To Know First...
Hi,
I'm Alan Fletcher, a third generation carpet expert and a trusted consumer
advocate since 1998. I
have retired after 30-years in the
Carpet business and no longer sell or install Carpet. My
goal is to help
homeowners choose
new carpet wisely by offering Free Carpet Buying Information and expert
advice.
It's
surprisingly easy select the wrong carpet, pay too much or fall prey to a Carpet
Scam,
even if you've
bought new carpet before. You need to do your carpet homework before you begin
shopping for new carpet.
Where
NOT to Buy Carpet
Where
you buy carpet is a major factor because not all carpet retailers have your
best interests in mind, and some carpet retailers should be avoided at all costs!
Buying
new carpet wisely starts with knowing
how to select the right grade of carpet for your home! The last thing you want
to do is buy the wrong grade of carpet and have it wear out in a hurry. There
are many other key factors for you to consider too including - Selecting the correct
padding;
obtaining qualified installation; and getting a good price!. Learn more about The
Best & Worst Places to Buy
New Carpet
Learning Your
Carpet ABC's (AbcCarpets.com)
Choosing
the right Grade of Carpet is not as easy as most folks think. It's not like it was 20
or 30 years
ago when all carpets were made quite well. Today there are literally thousands
of Carpet styles, colors, textures, patterns, grades and quality levels to choose from.
Some Carpets are designed to last for just a couple of short years... and
some are made to last a lifetime! You can't easily tell the difference just by
looking at it or feeling the top surface fibers!
You
must choose a carpet that is capable of tolerating
YOUR level of foot traffic for the length of time you desire. This sounds
easy, but as you will soon discover... Choosing the right carpet is
NOT as easy as most folks think. Buying new carpet today is complicated and
confusing even for seasoned and experienced homeowners! Have carpet questions?
Read my Carpet Q & A (over 200 common
Carpet Questions & Answers posted on this website)
How
To Select The Right Carpet
and more...
Many homeowners choose their carpet based
on color, look, feel and price. However, there are many other important factors that need to be taken
into consideration. From start to finish you must make all the right
decisions to be successful and satisfied with the final outcome. Choosing
the right Carpet, the correct padding, getting qualified installation and a
reasonable price is just the tip of the iceberg! Learn more about Carpet
Comparison
Carpet
Buying Mistakes / Common Carpet Complaints
A
list of common carpet complaints from homeowners who bought new carpet and why
they were unhappy with their carpet purchase. My
years of experience and ongoing research has revealed that fewer than 14% of consumers
make ALL the right Carpet choices from start to finish. The other 86% either spend too much, choose the wrong
materials, end up with installation problems or unhappy in some way with their
Carpet Buying Experience. What can
go wrong you might ask? Plenty! These unfortunate homeowners didn't do their
carpet homework and have lost thousands! Read more about Common
Consumer Carpet Buying Mistakes.
How
To Avoid Carpet Scams
There
are lots of Carpet scams to watch out for. The best way to avoid scams is to
buy from a reputable carpet dealer. Read more about Carpet
Scams
What Grade of Carpet
will meet
your Needs, Goals & Lifestyle?
Take
my Free Carpet Foot Traffic Test
to discover what grade of carpet you need for your home. Once
you have this key information you can then determine approximately how much your
new carpet is going to cost based on the Amount of Foot Traffic in your home and
How Many Years
you would like your new carpet to last.
How
Much Carpet Do You Require?
Most
Carpet Salespeople are not very accurate at measuring for carpet and that
could spell bad news for you. Over-measuring or under-measuring can cost you time,
frustration and money. Greedy salespeople might try to
sell you more material than you actually need just to make more profit from the
sale. This can easily add hundreds to the total cost of your carpet job. Most
carpet salespeople are hired because they are good
"closers" and often don't know very much about the carpets they sell.
They likely have no idea which type, grade or style would be a wise and
suitable choice for
you.
There are
several smart ways that you can prevent being a victim of over-measuring. One
smart way is to buy carpet from one of my hand-picked Preferred
Carpet Dealers. You might want to consider learning how to measure carpet yourself. Have a tape measure
and a calculator? Let me show you How
to Measure Carpet in four simple steps.
How
Much Does Carpet Cost?
New
Carpet
is WAY more costly today than most homeowners expect. Take a look
at my Carpet and Pad Pricing
Chart to get a good idea about how much new carpet is going to cost you.
How
To Care For Your Carpet
It's
a well-known fact! How
well you care for your carpet will determine how long your new carpet will
last. Get it wrong and you can easily void your warranty and lose up to
half of your carpet's intended life span. Check out these important pages to learn more about how
to properly care for your new carpet, and what you need to know about proper Carpet
Care and Maintenance.
Alan's
List of
Preferred Carpet Dealers
It's
getting harder to find honest and reputable Carpet Dealers these days! That's
why I have compiled my own special hand-picked list who are locally owned, give free estimates, offer fair prices, have
knowledgeable staff, provide honest measuring and hire qualified installers.
See
who I recommend near you!
The Complete