On Aug 13, 12:55*pm, Cindy Hamilton
wrote:
On Aug 13, 1:47*pm, keith wrote:



On Aug 13, 10:32*am, Cindy Hamilton
wrote:

On Aug 12, 7:15*pm, (Malcolm Hoar) wrote:

In article , wrote:
The price of carpet seems to be related more to the
store image than the quality of the carpet.

Yup.

One guy emphasized the stain repellent.

It helps. But it's not magic.

Other guy emphasized the importance of high density pad.

Good pad matters.

One emphasized the tightness of the weave on the backside.

Look at the overall density of the carpet; back and pile.

Just need to figure out how to read thru the salesspeak and get the most
bang for the buck.

Consider installing it yourself. It's not nearly as hard
as it's made out to be, especially if you can avoid
seams.

Renting or buying a kicker is essential. Plus an iron if
you'll need to seam. I've always been able to get away
without a stretcher in normal residential sized rooms.
Shears are nice but you can do it all with a utility
knife and *lot* of blades.

Best tip I picked up while working as a professional
carpet fitter...

Never use regular carpet in bathrooms/toilets. Carpet
hates water.

If you (or SWMBO) demands the warmth and softness of
carpet, look for waterproof (wet area rated) carpet
tiles. They work quite well.

Tile and stone can hold up better but they are cold,
potentially slippery, and hard (if any members of the
household are susceptible to a fall).

If it is, the wrong tile was used.

But regular carpet is a big no-no. The stuff I've had
to remove from old bathrooms was absolutely disgusting!

Our master bath in the previous house was carpeted. *It actually
wasn't bad when I ripped it out. *It was there at least fifteen years
when I did it. *Carpet in the bathroom is still a dumb idea.

I simply bought two big rubber-backed bath rugs at
Bedbugs Beyond. *Once a week I throw them in
the washer and dryer. *(Actually, I have two sets, so
each set is washed every other week.)

That's what we do. *One in front of the shower and each sink, and a
shaped one under the commode ; where the feet go.

Of course, it helps that the bathroom is only 5' by 10'.
The vanity, tub, and toilet take up most of the floor,
so those two rugs cover almost all of what's left.

One of the advantages of owning a modest post-war
ranch: *less to clean.

Tile is easy. *Less isn't less work. *The additional sink, tub, and
shower are.

Less floor area is less to clean. *Why should I clean a 10' x 10'
bathroom with a vanity, tub, and toilet when I can clean a 5x10
one? *(Additional?) *Shoot, come to think of it, it's probably
5x9, not 5x10, since it's no deeper than the kitchen.

The point is that a 10x15 bathroom floor is no more difficult to clean
than a 5x10. The tools are the same (better/professional tools are
actually easier to use) and the obstacles are the same. Open floor
space is *easy* to clean. The commode and other obstacles (heaven
forbid, a pedestal sink) that takes the work and the overhead of
getting the cleaning supplies out and put back away is pretty much a
constant.

Here's a pictuhttp://www.adi.com/~hamilton/house/insidepix/bath.html
(by the way, that's not our stuff; we took this picture when
walking through it prior to buying)

Same holds for the 9x9 kitchen (which, frankly, I wish was a
little larger), the 9x9 dining room, and the relatively modest
14x23 living room (no family room). *Overall, I like a small
house.

I don't. We like space (3BR - 3.5Bath - 2600ft^2 - 2 people).

It's cheap to heat, too.

Heat is cheap.