How To Choose New Carpet Wisely 2021 Carpet Cost

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How To Choose New Carpet! Carpet Cost?

2021 by Alan Fletcher - Carpet Expert, Consumer Advocate

I don't sell or install Carpet anymore, I retired after 30+ years in the carpet business and now enjoy educating homeowners how to save time & money, avoid retail carpet scams, and make wise & informed Carpet buying choices. It doesn't get any better than that! Planning to buy new carpet soon? Let me help you make wise and informed choices and it's FREE! Read on...

Free Unbiased Carpet Information for Homeowners

First, never blindly trust anything you read on the internet because most of the Carpet Information I find posted online is either wrong, incomplete or misleading. There are dozens of websites that offer free information and advice. Of those I have read, very few offer much advice that could be helpful to you in the long run.

Websites that sell carpet or who are affiliated with a carpet manufacturer will only tell you the good qualities of their products and forget to mention any of the bad qualities that you really need to know about before you can make a wise carpet selection!

Learn more about Choosing Carpet Wisely
How much does Stainmaster® and other brands of Carpet Cost?
How much should I spend on new carpet, padding and installation?

What Are Carpet Specifications?

How well a Carpet is made plays a huge part in how long it can last and the materials used will determine its level of durability. Every carpet has it's own unique set of manufacturing specifications that determine the capabilities of that carpet.

Some carpets are very well made using the best materials available. Other carpets are made with poor quality materials. You need to select a carpet that is able to meet your needs and goals.

Take a look at my special Carpet Durability Guide Chart to see what I mean.

What Fibers Are Used to Make Carpet?

The most common carpet fibers today are Nylon, Olefin, Polyester, P.E.T., and Sorona (aka Smartstrand). Each Carpet fiber has its own good and not-so-good qualities, traits and benefits. This is key information you need to know. Learn what you need to know about Carpet Fibers

How do I Determine Carpet Durability?

How long do you want your new carpet to last? This is a very important question you need to be able to answer before you can choose the right grade of carpet for your home. Expect to spend more if you want your carpet to last longer or if you have heavy foot-traffic. You need to determine your level of foot traffic so you can select the correct carpet grade or level of durability.

Take My Free Carpet Foot-Traffic Test

The real secret to choosing new carpet for your home is to select a grade of carpet that is capable of meeting your needs, goals, and lifestyle. Take my free Carpet Foot Traffic Test to help determine What Grade of Carpet is capable to meet or exceed your needs and goals.

How To Avoid Common Retail Carpet Scams

There are literally dozens of common Carpet Scams and sneaky retailer Sales Gimmicks you need to watch out for. Make the wrong carpet and padding choices and you can easily overpay by hundreds or more. Even worse is when your new carpet does not last as long as you had hoped.

That's why it's so important that you take the time to learn how to choose new carpet wisely and then make sure you buy from an honest, reputable, and locally-owned Carpet Dealer. I never recommend buying carpet or flooring from a big box home improvement retailers like Lowe's or Home Depot, or from retail conglomerates like Empire Today or Costco.

Learn more about Common Carpet Scams

I have found that homeowners typically get the best service from locally-owned family-run carpet dealers. Over the past 10 years I have put together my own special hand-picked list of local Carpet Dealers who meet my criteria for inclusion. I have about 400 on my list so far and I may know of an Honest and Reputable Carpet Dealer Near You where you can get a free no-obligation in-home measure and estimate.

No matter who you buy from, you need to make sure to choose your new carpet wisely, select the correct padding and have your carpet installed properly. In addition to all that, you need to make sure you get a fair and square price AND maintain your new carpet within the strict guidelines required by the manufacturer's new carpet warranty.

Be On Guard for Shop-At-Home Carpet Scams!

There are plenty of unscrupulous Shop-at-home Carpet Retailers who are hoping for the chance to take advantage of you. Most of these advertise heavily on TV and offer special carpet deals that sound too good to be true. Their goal is to scam you out of your hard-earned money by selling you a low-quality carpet at a high-quality price. They don't care if your new carpet meets your needs or goals, they only care about making as much profit as possible. They tend to hire pushy sales people who specialize in closing the deal in the comfort of your home! There are many good shop-at-home carpet retailers too. Learn more about shop-at-home carpet retailers at: HomeCarpetShopping.com

Choosing New Carpet wisely and saving the most money possible requires that you learn a few important facts. So before you begin shopping for Carpet you need to learn a few things about how Carpet is made and a little bit about padding and installation too. I've posted dozens of web pages here for you to read and learn from, and it's all totally free. Read more about Carpet Prices

Carpet Fibers

Smartstrand vs. Stainmaster

Everyone wants to know about Carpets offered by Stainmaster, Shaw and Mohawk's Smartstrand products. Which brand is best? What Carpet Style should you choose?

What are the current Carpet Prices? Although these are just a few of the many quality carpet brands on the market today, Stainmaster, Shaw and Mohawk do a lot of national advertising and their carpet prices are typically a bit higher as a result of that. All manufacturers have their low-end grades, medium and high-end products to suit all homeowners needs and goals.

Learn more about Smartstrand and Stainmaster Carpet Fibers.

Lowe's now carries Stainmaster Carpet and their prices are difficult to compare with other locally-owned carpet retailers because they use private labels to prevent you from comparison shopping. They purposely change the style name and color name on their samples to make comparison shopping difficult for you. Learn more about Carpet Fibers

The main three carpet manufacturers today are Mohawk, Shaw and Beaulieu (pronounced Bowl-you). These big three mills have bought up most of the smaller carpet mills in recent years. This makes for a less competitive marketplace and increases carpet prices for the consumer. See my List of Over 60 Carpet Mill Websites and their phone numbers

The #1 Problem with Choosing New Carpet

It can be quite difficult for homeowners to tell the difference between a cheaply made carpet and a well-made carpet. You can't always tell just by looking at the carpet or by feeling the top surface of the carpet. Some carpet salespeople will tell you to rub your hand across the surface of the carpet to feel how soft it is. Yes it is soft, however this softness has little to do with the grade level or quality of the carpet in question. Learn more about Carpet Comparison

Carpet Specifications

Some carpet salespeople may tell you they cannot obtain or have access the carpet specifications you want or say that they are not available anymore. This is total nonsense! Carpet specifications are readily available from most carpet mills or from the manufacturers sales reps. It may take a couple of days to get them, but they are available if the salesperson is willing to take the time to help you obtain them. Learn more about Carpet Specifications

The only carpet mill I know of that does not freely provide specs to consumers is Karastan. They make mostly high-end carpets and I guess they think you shouldn't need to ask for their carpet specs since they claim to only make the highest quality carpets. They also have the highest carpet prices too!

Buy Karastan carpets at your own risk, but don't expect to get any help if you want to know anything about their carpet specifications. Call them, maybe this has changed since I wrote this article. Doubtful.

Here is their number... 1-800-234-1120 or visit their website at www.karastan.com/contact-us

Every homeowner must have free and unfettered access to Carpet Specifications in order to help determine if the carpet in question has sufficient quality to meet your needs, goals and lifestyle. Unfortunately, way too many unscrupulous carpet retailers often remove, alter or hide the Carpet Specifications so you don't have complete access to them.

Without complete access to all the carpet specifications it is very difficult for you to determine if the carpet in question is capable of tolerating your level of foot-traffic for the length of time you require. There are some ways to help you with this...

Learn more about Carpet Specifications

New Carpet Warranties are Practically Worthless!

Based on what I've learned over my 30+ years in the Carpet business, My advice is that you should never choose a carpet based solely on the new carpet warranty or the Manufacturer's Wear Rating.

Commonly advertised carpet "Wear Warranties" or "PAR Ratings" or something similar are not as accurate or beneficial as you might hope it is, and in my 30+ years, I have never heard of any homeowner getting their carpet replaced due to a discrepancy with a carpet "Wear Warranty".

Sadly, except for the "manufacturing defect" part of the warranty, where an obvious manufacturing defect is blatantly obvious, my personal experience has shown time and again that most new carpet warranties are rarely worth the paper they are written on and are practically worthless.

Carpet Manufacturers know how to "legally" word their new carpet warranties in such a way to make it nearly impossible for homeowners to substantiate a valid claim. Even if you manage to prove your claim, they seldom replace the entire carpet, they usually replace only the affected areas and just give you a small in-store credit that is pro-rated based on the size and age of the affected carpet. You may also be responsible for moving your furniture and paying for some additional carpet installation fees and charges. Yikes!

Here is what you need to know: Learn about Carpet Stain Warranties

Learn more about Carpet Installation Cost