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Shopping For New Carpet Soon?By Alan Fletcher - 30+Year Veteran of the Carpet Business and Consumer Advocate
Be very careful who's Carpet buying advice you trust!
Sadly, most carpet and flooring information available on the internet today is either wrong or misleading. They fail to provide complete, accurate or honest carpet and flooring information! Some websites even plagiarize my content and claim it as their own. Stealing someone else's original content is illegal for sure but it is also unfair to you the consumer!
Why should you trust my advice? First, I don't make any money from your flooring purchase, no matter who you choose to buy from. Second, my goal is to help educate homeowners about how to buy new carpet and flooring wisely. Third, I have been online now for over 18 years as a consumer advocate. I have no negative reviews and have links from hundreds of trusted online consumer sources like HGTV magazine and Houzz.com to name a few.
Everything you need to know about buying new carpet or flooring is available totally free on my websites. Please bookmark my website and visit as often as you like. Feel free to print out my free articles, coupons, useful Forms and Checklists!
Visit my Sitemap to find specific answers to your Carpet and Flooring Questions. If you have a carpet question, feel free to email me and I will do my best to answer. Please put "Carpet Question" in the email subject line so it doesn't end up in my Spam folder.
Visit my free Carpet Q & A pages to see my Answers to Common Homeowner Carpet Questions!
Q. Why do most homeowners OVERPAY for new Carpet and Flooring?It's because they don't do their Carpet homework! By doing just a little bit of research on my websites, most homeowners can quickly learn how to select the right grade of carpet or flooring products to meet or exceed their needs, goals, lifestyle and expectations. You can also save money by learning how to avoid common scams
I first started educating consumers about carpet in 1998, I have become the most trusted source of carpet-buying information website on the internet today. Learn How To Choose Wisely & Avoid Retail Carpet Scams!
Three Things You Need To Know Upfront:
You Need Rock-Solid Answers to These 4 Key Carpet Questions...
These are just a few of the important Questions & Answers you need to learn about before you agree to buy new carpet from ANY retail source. I have dozens of free articles posted on my website to give you all the answers you need to make wise and informed choices. My ultimate goal is to help make sure you end up happy with your carpet purchase for many years to come.
Have a Carpet Question? Read through my Carpet Q & A Pages or Search my website
How to Avoid Common Carpet Scams
Buy the wrong grade of carpet and you stand to lose hundreds or even thousands! Choosing the wrong grade carpet can cost you dearly! You might hope to buy carpet that will last for 15 years. What will you do when your carpet wears out in just 3 years?
Take your time and learn your Carpet ABC's before you begin shopping for new Carpet! Choosing the "right grade" of Carpet is not as easy as most folks think. Take my Free Carpet Foot-Traffic Test to see what grade of carpet you might need to buy to meet your needs and goals.
Times have changed! It's not like it was 50 years ago when there were limited styles and colors but all carpets were well-made and able to last a long time. Today there are thousands of different colors, textures, patterns, grades and quality levels to choose from. Choose the wrong grade of carpet today and you may end up having to replace it much sooner than you think!
You need to know... Some Carpets are designed to last for only 3 to 5 years... and some carpets are made to last 7 to 10 years. Some are designed to last 15 to 20 years or longer!
Whatever grade of Carpet you buy, it will eventually wear-out based mainly based on YOUR level of foot traffic you have in your home. What level of foot traffic do you have? Low traffic, medium traffic, heavy traffic? Learn more: What Grade of Carpet Should I Select?
How long your new carpet will last has absolutely nothing to do with the manufacturers warranty limits or the wear-rating they attach to it. It mostly depends on the amount of foot-traffic you have in your home verses the grade or quality level of carpet and the padding you select!
Carpet Quality is Not Always Obvious...
Carpet specifications are the key to understanding carpet quality. A medium-grade of carpet may last 7 to 12 years in your home, however, a higher-grade carpet may last up to 25 years, all depending on the Amount of Foot-Traffic you have in your home and how well you care for your carpet. While identifying a low-cost, cheaply-made carpet might be obvious for most homeowners (costing less than $10 per yard), it can be very hard for homeowners to tell the difference between a medium-grade carpet (priced $15 to $25 per yard) from a higher-grade of carpet (costing $30 to $45 per yard or more), just by looking at the Carpet sample or just by feeling the surface fibers.
All Carpets Look and Feel Soft When New!However, cheaply made carpets made from Polyester and P.E.T. Polyester are not very durable or resilient and can quickly mat down in medium to heavy foot traffic areas, hallways and stairs. Once this happens, there is virtually nothing you can do to fix the problem.
There is rarely any new carpet warranty remedy to help you if you choose the wrong grade of carpet for your application! If your home has heavy foot-traffic and you buy a grade of carpet not capable of tolerating heavy foot-traffic, virtually any carpet warranty claim you submit will be denied and you will have no recourse. In fact, most warranty claims are denied for any number of reasons.
Carpets made from Nylon are generally more capable of tolerating heavy-traffic applications. Nylon is the most durable and most resilient fiber on the market today. There are many different grades of the Nylon Fiber and you need to learn what they are and what it means to your own unique application.
How To Compare Carpet FibersSmartStrand®, is a fiber also known by four different names. This can be quite confusing for homeowners.
Mohawk's SmartStrand® Fiber, is made from DuPont's Sorona polymer. SmartStrand® is also known as P.T.T.; Triexta; or Sorona and is, to some degree, very much related to the Polyester fiber. In fact, they say it is manufactured on the same or similar machines as Polyester.
While the manufacturers of the SmartStrand® Fiber may claim it is as, or more durable than Polyester, or P.E.T. Polyester, I believe it is much less durable than any standard denier Nylon fiber, and the SmartStrand® Fiber is more prone to matting and crushing of the pile over a Nylon. SmartStrand® is often touted to be more stain resistant than Nylon, but from my own experience, I think SmartStrand may be a bit more stain resistant than Nylon, but only to a small degree, if at all.
Stainmaster® 6.6 Nylon carpets use the Teflon technology to help resist stains and I think is a good option to consider if stain resistance is a major issue for you. Learn more about Carpet Fibers
I am not as impressed with the SmartStrand® Fiber as many carpet salespeople are. In my opinion, Nylon is a far more durable fiber and it also resists stains; is the most resilient fiber; and cleans easily too. What more can you want? A cheaper price would be nice, but that is not going to happen anytime soon. Nylon is more costly than all other synthetic fibers because it costs more to manufacture and it is the most durable and most resilient fiber available today. Durability is one reason why, and the cost to manufacture the fiber is the other main reason. There is less profit to be made selling a nylon carpet than fibers made from other synthetic fibers like Olefin and Polyester.
Polyester & P.E.T. Polyester are the cheapest fibers to manufacture which is why manufacturers / retailers want to convince homeowners to buy it. More profits!
Sadly, the polyester fiber, and the P.E.T. Polyester fiber is prone to matting and crushing of the pile. This means your new carpet will start to mat down and look bad in a very short period of time, especially in main traffic lanes, on stairs, hallways and any other area in your home that has anything more than light foot-traffic. Regardless of what any salesperson tells you, polyester carpets are not intended for medium, moderate or heavy foot-traffic applications.
Carpet Specifications - The Key to Selecting the Right Grade of Carpet.
Learn all about Carpet and Padding Specifications to be sure you choose wisely. The "manufacturing specifications" are what allows you to determine the grade or quality level of a carpet or padding. Carpets that are made from low-quality materials will wear out faster than those that are made using higher-quality materials. This is why you need full access to the specifications of any carpet or padding you are considering.
The 5 Basic Carpet Specifications Homeowners Need To Understand:
Learn more about Carpet Specifications
Next... You need to be sure to...
After that... You must properly maintain your new carpet by:
Confused About Choosing Carpet?
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
Where NOT to Buy New 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! Never be pressured by any salesperson into buying right now!
Take your time, take some samples home for a few days and make wise and informed choices! 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 Best & Worst Places to Buy New Carpet
Costly Carpet Buying Mistakes / Common Carpet Complaints...Here is 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! Here is a list of unfortunate homeowners who didn't do their carpet homework and have lost thousands! Read about how to avoid Costly Consumer Carpet Buying Mistakes
How To Avoid Common "Retailer" Carpet Scams! There are plenty of Carpet scams and rip-offs to watch out for. The best way to avoid scams is to buy from a reputable carpet dealer. Read more about Carpet Scams and how to avoid them.
How Much Carpet Do You Actually Need? Too many Carpet Salespeople are not proficient at measuring for carpet and that could spell bad news for you. It's easier for them to just add on a few extra yards of carpet to the estimate and not have worry about ordering too little material to do the job. Why should they take the time and effort to be spot-on accurate when adding a few extra yards of carpet and padding to your order will only increase their profits?
Homeowners Need Honest and Accurate Measuring
Over-measuring will cost you money and you may never know you have become a victim. Greedy salespeople might deliberately try to sell you more carpet than you actually need just to make more commissions from the sale. The more carpet material you need, the more you also pay for padding and installation fees too.
Under-measuring will cost you time, frustration and job completion delays. Inexperienced salespeople can easily under-measure your needs making it impossible to finish the job without having to order more carpet and make you wait another week or two before the job is finally completed. Sometimes they can't order more of the exact same carpet color (dye-lot) and then your carpet will not match.
About Carpet Salespeople
Some homes are simple or easy to measure because the rooms are small or square. While other homes have unusual shaped rooms with varied angles that can create more material waste. Unusual room dimensions and layout oddities can be very difficult and time consuming for inexperienced salespeople to measure up accurately. In many cases, it is beyond their capability to measure accurately in a way that will save you the most money on materials and labor costs.
An experienced salesperson can measure your home in such a way that will take advantage of waste materials from one room to help fill in the needs of other areas are such as stairs, landings, closets or seams for rooms that are wider than 12 feet. As long as the same carpet or flooring is used throughout the home, leftovers from one area can be used in other areas, thus saving you money.
If your carpet salesperson is not proficient at measuring or doesn't have your best interests in mind, they can easily add hundreds to your final bill by not fully utilizing your material waste in a useful manner. Inaccurate measuring can easily add hundreds to the total cost of your carpet job. You need to learn how to avoid this common carpet measuring problem which in some cases may be a deliberate carpet over-measuring scam to charge you more for materials and labor! Read on...
Learn more: How to Measure for Carpet Yourself!
How Much Should You $$$ Spend on New Carpet?
If you are just starting your journey to buy new carpet, you are going to find that new Carpet is more costly than you might expect. There are so many different factors to consider. Installation is almost always more costly than you might imagine. There are 3 questions you need to answer...
1. What grade of carpet do you require for your home? 2. How long do you want your new carpet to last? 3. How much money do you have to spend on this project?
There are no shortcuts and no specials to help you alter any of these three parameters. Don't fall for those home improvement store specials that advertise free or whole-house discounted carpet installation. If you do not have enough money, then consider doing your project in stages. Don't lower the carpet quality to meet your budget limitations. If funds are tight, either wait until you have more money or replace your carpet in two or more stages, for example: Do the downstairs this year and then do the upstairs areas next year.
Beware of Nationally Advertised Carpet Advertisements and Scams!
Most nationally advertised Carpet specials you see on TV are rarely as good as they appear to be. Don't fall for those offers to sell you three rooms of carpet for the price of just one room until you get a chance to read all the fine print. You don't need to buy from any carper\t or flooring dealer who advertises in this fashion. I truly believe you can get a much better deal buying from a local, family-run flooring dealer. Not only a better price, but better quality materials an more qualified installation too!
I never recommend buying from any nationally advertised carpet retailer. You would be amazed at the number of horror stories I've heard from unsuspecting homeowners since I started my first website back in 2000. If the price sounds too good to be true, then carefully read all the fine print.
Take a gander at this: Home Depot & Lowe's Carpet Installation TV sales gimmicks.
Never Pay for Your New Carpet "In-Full" Upfront!
It is customary for any reputable carpet dealer to ask that you pay up to 50% down before they will place your order for new carpet. You will be asked to pay the balance-due upon competition and upon your complete satisfaction of a job well-done. Never pay the balance due until you are completely satisfied. You should always do a walk-through with the installer to inspect the job before he leaves your home. Use my free Carpet Installation Inspection Checklist.
Carpet Buyers Beware!
Never pay a fee to have a salesperson measure your home, and never never buy from pushy salespeople who pressure you to buy right now or say the price is a "Today Only Price". Never sign any contract until you have received and reviewed at least three bids or estimates from several locally-owned carpet stores.
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. Why do most homeowners overpay for new Carpet and Flooring?
Next: How Much Does New Carpet Cost?
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