‘Top Tips’ on buying new carpet

Thinking of buying a new carpet? The Carpet Foundation has the following tips for you:

Remember that you are going to walk on your carpet every day. Not many other items in your house take as much wear and tear daily. When selecting a carpet, consider the following:

How much wear will it receive? A hall, stairs and landing, for example, will need a heavier wearing carpet than a bedroom.

Are you matching the carpet to an existing scheme and what are your future decorating plans? Ideally you should choose the carpet first.

Style and design. Do you want a plain carpet, patterned carpet or one with texture.

How long do you reasonably expect it or want it to last?

Don’t forget to include the cost of fitting and new underlay.

Get your room professionally measured. It is a false economy to do it yourself as you could end up ordering too much, or too little.

Take a sample back home to see in ‘situ’ with natural light.

Buy new underlay. This is vital for a carpet to sit properly and wear evenly. You wouldn’t buy a new car with old tyres!

Always have your carpet fitted professionally. Fitting is a skill – and there is no such thing as free fitting!

Buy the best carpet you can afford. As with everything, you get what you pay for and carpet is no exception.

Choosing a carpet can be a minefield. On average, it is bought every seven years, so, understandably, product knowledge is limited and, when one walks into a carpet shop, one is confronted by a sea of similar products all making the same claims.

We would of course say this, but we also wouldn’t buy carpet online. It is fraught with dangers and you really are on your own if something goes wrong or you don’t like it.

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