Help with house carpet

[memphislawyer]

My wife tells me our carpet is over 15 years old. We have a dog, Cavalier King Charles, and though we have pee-pee pads, he misses at times. Carpet stains show through.

We had berber, but wife likes a texture carpert from Lowes called Stainmaster Perpetual, model 2416. 20 year warranty and it sowed a BEF nylon 6249. $4.16 a square foot with the premium pad, a 21 pound pad that was 98 cents a square foot, the 8 lbs pad was $89.

Anyway, we have a 2600 square foot home, and I estimate 1700 to be carpetable (kitchen has pergo, bathroom and half in tile, entry way has tile).

Two adults, pool.

Lowes has smartstrand and stainmaster. Perpetual seems to be a medium color tan/khaki, which is many degree darker than what seems to be a very taupe or offwhite berber we are replacing.

I read that warranties dont matter as much as how the color is and style. My main concerns are durability and ability to withstand the dog soiling. We dont drink wine, and dont really eat in our dining room, and maybe we spill a diet coke in our living room.

I have an insurance claim for leaking in my entry hall and while they are here to do that work (and replace a parquet floor with tile) I can get them to quote me a carpet job. Lowes will send someone over to measure and they will also give free basic installation (and the other stuff, carpet removal, furniture moval they said would run about $580 for 1800 square feet).

So if the line in Stainmaster we are looking at is good, great, I can compare apples to apples with the contractor. I am having Empire Carpets come out this week to give us a quote, and we are going to have the contractor send out who he uses so we have three quotes to choose from.

I feel that while softness is a desired quality, I have read some posts here today, the day I joined, that say that all carpet is going to feel kinda soft anyway. If anyone has a suggestion to make, I am all ears. I understand the maxim you get what you pay for, but I don't need a Mercedes when a good reliable American car will do, if that makes sense.

I could go with a laminate for downstairs but wife thinks it is more work to use a swiffer on that, and then she has to get a rug and dog could pee on that and we still have to get carpet upstairs

We have a bathroom over the garage and garage is not insulated and she was thinking of tile for that room with a heating system under it and keeping dog in that room when we are gone.

 

[tonyb]

I have no expertise in this matter whatsoever, counselor, so take that into account here.

But I have been around for a few years now, and I've had several homes, both as a renter and a homeowner, and based on that wholly anecdotal experience I can offer that cheap carpet is false economy.

The bedroom carpet in a place the lovely missus and I lived in for a few months shy of five years, and which was brand-spankin' new when we moved in, was essentially worn out when we moved out. And it wasn't that we subjected it to anything that might be considered more than normal wear and tear.

Contrast that with the carpeting that my niece recently pulled up in her "new" house -- the house her mother grew up in, and where her grandmother resided until she croaked, 15 or so years ago, and where her uncle Michael lived until he joined his mother, in January of last year. The carpeting was new back in 1970-something. The grandma bought that carpeting from my brother, when he and his then wife owned a floor coverings business. She wanted good rug, and that's what she got. Frankly, it was still in decent shape when she pulled it up. But she wanted those oak floors underneath it.

 

[LoveMyHats2]

I can advise you to clean the actual floor before you allow any new carpets to be installed as they take up the old carpet, (unless you are removing that yourself)...but clean. If there is any place the floors may have animal "pee" stains, you can use some mixture of vinegar and Borax to clean. Aside from that, I would look at reviews at products you are thinking of having installed and see what other people have to say about them. I would stay away from nylon or any cheap nap carpets. For wood floors, Brucewood makes a good variety of flooring. Not knowing what you can purchase in your area, but your having a relative to ask can more than not give you answers for what you are looking for and within what your budget would be.

 

[memphislawyer]

I read reviews on Stain master and very favorable and it is nylon?

 

[LoveMyHats2]

Sorry I am just now posting about my advice. A wool blend carpet will shed less, has less "static", breathes better, has a better life span, traps less dirt and bacteria.