On Aug 12, 2:15*pm, mm wrote:
On Thu, 12 Aug 2010 06:05:20 -0700 (PDT), RicodJour wrote:
On Aug 12, 8:57*am, keith wrote:
On Aug 12, 3:58*am, mike wrote:

I need to carpet my house. *I went to a few stores
today and talked with the sales guys.
The price of carpet seems to be related more to the
store image than the quality of the carpet.
One guy emphasized the stain repellent.
Other guy emphasized the importance of high density pad.
One emphasized the tightness of the weave on the backside.

Quotes ranged from $3k to $7K installed for about 100 square yards
of relatively ordinary carpet.
I don't mind paying more for better product. *I don't want
to pay more for the same or inferior product.

So, what are the features/specs to look for in residential
carpet?
My original shag made it 38 years. *I'll be dead in another 25.
Don't necessarily want the cheapest crap.
Just need to figure out how to read thru the salesspeak and get the most
bang for the buck.

One test I've done is to "pet" the carpet, trying to get it to
"shed". *Some stores will brush their samples so they won't shed, so
if you can try it on a roll. *All carpet will shed some when new but
some is really bad. *$3K is on the low side. *There is a *lot* of
waste in carpeting, perhaps 30% or even 50%. *$3K may be $20/yd
carpeting which is pretty low-end.

I'm not sure what carpet would have a match requiring that much waste,
and if the installer has that much waste he's doing something very
wrong - like gouging the crap out of the homeowner. *Usually the waste
allowance is 10% unless there are odd layouts and restrictions.

So it seems like what one should do is measure the yardage needed for
the actual floor, not counting waste, and then he'll have a decent
idea of how much is absolutely needed, and then add to that how much
be used to because of necessary waste. * Dont' forget the halls, the
inside of closets, etc.

Even if all the vendors are honest and competent except one, it would
be worth measureing on one's own for the sake of that one.

If one does want to sell more yards, he might be able to explain while
more is needed.

I measure for my own information, yes, but I make sure to tell the
contractor guy that he's responsible for his own measurements and for
allowing for wastage.

A carpet guy told me a story about what he did when measuring. Owners
would ask him for the measurements, then go to somebody else who, of
course, could do it for $100 less when the dimensions were faxed to
him, or the owner bought the carpet online and just hired a
moonlighting carpet guy. So this carpet guy starting taking a foot
off of each measurement. He'd know the right dimensions, simple
addition and easy to remember the offset, so it didn't affect him at
all, but the homeowner who was trying to use the carpet guy as a free
measuring service would order the carpet and get a big surprise! I
thought that was pretty funny.

R