Carpet buying...

[Robbox]

I am looking around for carpet to do the stairs and whole upstairs floor, about 50sqm.

Where we are, Weymouth, there are not that many carpet retailers, we have a Carpetright a couple of independent guys and John Lewis in Poole.

It seems there are so many manufacturers of carpets, which doesn't seem right. So my guess is that there a perhaps a handful of big companies who simply churn out all the permutations and the retailers/wholesalers simply brand as their own, giving the product a nice markup.

How do I find my way around this apparent maze and get a good quality carpet, or is the price the final arbiter?

For example, one local independent, has 50oz wool blend for 21.50sqm, and it seems a nice carpet, but only about 12 colour-ways. His samples are only little squares so no way to feel the carpet through the backing. Then in JLewis they have their own 50oz wool blend and the price is a lot more, I couldn't tell the difference, apart from the JL stuff had a lot more colour choice

It all feels like a maze for the unwary.

 

[foxhole]

Try social media, someone local may know cheaper supplier. Personally I use my son-in-law for carpet as he works in a trade carpet warehouse and he gets friends and family carpet at wholesale price .

 

[dazlight]

Have a look at penthouse for wool carpet. All price points and top quality.

 

[endecotp]

I’d like to imagine you could take a day trip to Axminster and buy something straight off the loom! - but I bet you can’t. The Axminster website does have a map with 3 stockists in Weymouth and others on Portland and in Dorchester.

My understanding is that you will find re-branded products in John Lewis; independent retailers don’t do that. Don’t know about Carpetright.

 

[crazydaze]

I'd speak to the independents and ask them why you can buy 80/20 Twist 50oz at £25m2 and £50m2 and ask them the differences. You will more likely get better advice from those that have been in the trade decades.

There are, like many things in life, different qualities of materials (in this case different grades of wool and man-made fibre) that will make a difference to how the carpet looks, feels, how it wears, and how it retains it 's appearance in the longer term. There are different ways (machines) of making a carpet (Secondary Backed or Woven Wilton/Axminster for example) as well as different ply's of yarn and gauge of looms also. If you find a carpet with Nylon in it, it will be a premium carpet for example, most man made and wool/man made mix's will be predominently Poly Prop based on the man made fibre side.

All of this will make a difference to cost and performance. And that's just on twist pile carpets although broadly similar differences in yarn quality, spinning and yarn amount will apply to all carpeting.

Budget will of course dictate what you lean towards, but rest assured, look at the price you are paying and the specification you are buying and don't be swayed so much by the amount you are saving.

I'd hazard a guess that one of those independents will outshine the 'big names' when it comes to advice, product and price and service.

 

[Robbox]

I'd speak to the independents and ask them why you can buy 80/20 Twist 50oz at £25m2 and £50m2 and ask them the differences. You will more likely get better advice from those that have been in the trade decades.

There are, like many things in life, different qualities of materials (in this case different grades of wool and man-made fibre) that will make a difference to how the carpet looks, feels, how it wears, and how it retains it 's appearance in the longer term. There are different ways (machines) of making a carpet (Secondary Backed or Woven Wilton/Axminster for example) as well as different ply's of yarn and gauge of looms also. If you find a carpet with Nylon in it, it will be a premium carpet for example, most man made and wool/man made mix's will be predominently Poly Prop based on the man made fibre side.

All of this will make a difference to cost and performance. And that's just on twist pile carpets although broadly similar differences in yarn quality, spinning and yarn amount will apply to all carpeting.

Budget will of course dictate what you lean towards, but rest assured, look at the price you are paying and the specification you are buying and don't be swayed so much by the amount you are saving.

I'd hazard a guess that one of those independents will outshine the 'big names' when it comes to advice, product and price and service.

Thanks for the advice, in the end I went to an independent who had an offer going on underlay. He also was a distributor for the UK Penthouse brand someone here recommended. It's only upstairs and there is only me in the house, so I chose their 20/80 40oz range with a high performance 9mm underlay.
He explained that a good underlay will make the carpet last longer. I also didn't realise that with some thicker underlays that are less resilient, that carpet stretches over time in the traffic areas. So this underlay is less squidgy than others I looked at, my thing is that this will help the carpet last longer.
All I need to do now is chose the shade!!!