How
To Choose The Right Carpet for You
by
Alan
Fletcher - Carpet Expert and Consumer Advocate
What
Homeowners Need To Know First...
I
am glad to be able to provide free Carpet Buying Information for homeowners. I don't sell or install
Carpet anymore, I've retired after 30-years
in the carpet business and now enjoy helping homeowners learn how to make
wise and informed Carpet buying choices.
You
need to know that there
are literally dozens of common Carpet Scams and sneaky retailer Sales
Gimmicks to watch out for. Make the
wrong carpet choices and you can easily overpay by hundreds or more. Even worse is
when your new carpet may not last as long as you hope. 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.
Honest
Carpet Information for Homeowners
Let
me bring you up to speed and teach you the Carpet buying secrets I've learned
over the past 30 years that will help you save time & money on your next Carpet
purchase. First, don't blindly trust anything you read on the internet
because most of the Carpet Information I find posted online is either wrong, incomplete or misleading. Websites
that sell carpet or who are affiliated with a carpet manufacturer will only
tell you about the good qualities of their products and forget to mention any
of the bad qualities that you really need to know about before you make your
final choices!
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 made has it's own unique set of manufacturing
specifications that determine the capabilities of that carpet. Take
a look at my special Carpet
Durability Guide
Carpet
Fibers. 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
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 carpet for your home.
Expect to spend more if you want your carpet to last longer. You need to determine your level of foot traffic so you can select the
correct carpet grade or level of durability.
Free
Carpet Foot-Traffic
Test. The real secret to choosing the right 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
designed to meet or exceed your needs and goals.
Carpet
scams are everywhere and it's hard to avoid them!
The easiest way to avoid becoming the victim of a scam is to buy from an
honest and reputable flooring dealer.
I never recommend buying from a big box
home improvement retailer like Lowe's and Home Depot or from a nationally advertised retail
conglomerate like Empire Today or Costco. Find out why here
I
have found homeowners typically get the best service from locally owned
flooring dealers. I have gathered my own special list of flooring dealers that
I prefer, maybe I have a
carpet dealer near you who you can visit and get a free 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 of the manufacturer's limited carpet warranty.
Everyone
wants to know about Stainmaster and Mohawk Smartstrand Carpet Prices and although
these are just two of the many quality carpet brands on the market today, Stainmaster
and Mohawk do a lot of national advertising and their carpet prices are
typically a bit higher as a result of that.
Lowe's now carries Stainmaster
carpet and their prices are difficult to compare with locally owned carpet
retailers because they use private labels to prevent you from comparison
shopping. I have a list of over 60
carpet mill websites that you can contact.
The main three carpet
manufacturers today are Mohawk, Shaw and Beaulieu (pronounced Bowl-you). These
big three have bought up most of the smaller carpet mills in recent years.
Read more about Carpet
prices
Homeowners
Be On Guard! 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 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! Learn more: http://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.
The
Problem: 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. You must have unfettered access to the four main Carpet
Specifications to determine if the carpet has sufficient quality to meet
your needs, goals and lifestyle. Read more about Carpet
Fibers
Unfortunately,
unscrupulous carpet retailers often remove, alter or hide Carpet
Specifications so you don't have complete access to them. Without complete
access to the carpet specifications you cannot determine if the carpet is
capable of tolerating your level of foot traffic for the length of time you
require.
Read more about Carpet
Comparison
Carpet
Warranties...
Based
on what I've learned over the years, you should never choose a carpet based
solely on the warranty. The
"Wear Warranty" is not what you think it is, and I have never heard
of anyone getting a carpet replaced based on the "Wear Warranty".
Sadly, except for the "manufacturing defect" warranty, I think that
most new carpet warranties are practically worthless.
Carpet Manufacturers
know how to word them in such a way to make it nearly impossible for
homeowners to substantiate a valid claim. And even if you do, they seldom
replace the entire carpet, they usually replace only the affected areas only and
just give you a small in-store credit that is pro-rated based on the age of the
carpet.
Read more about the
Cost
to Buy Carpet.
Page
1 Q & A - Over 200 Common Carpet Questions & Answers!
Page
2
How visible should Carpet Seams be?
Page
3
Can I "Haggle" with Carpet Retailers?
Page
4
Does fiber face-weight have any bearing on the quality of a Carpet?
Page
5
What's the best Carpet for high traffic areas?
Page
6
Should I buy Berber Carpet if I have pets?
Page
7
My Carpet is matting down, what should I do now?
Page
8
What do you think about Empire Today?
Page
9
How do I select a durable, long-lasting Carpet?
Page
10 Should
I buy Carpet from Home Depot or Lowe's?
Carpet
Cost: Stainmaster®
and Smartstrand®
Carpet Cost and Prices?
Carpet Buying
Guide
by Alan Fletcher - The
Carpet Professor!
