Any recommendations on where to buy decent quality carpet in the Dsm metro area? Also a place that has decent installers?
Carpet
- Thread starter jeff0514
- Start date
Did home depot last year and wasn't all that impressed with the install or knowledge of the sellers. I am not sure if it was that much cheaper than what I could have got at a regular carpet store. If I did it again I would probably go to a regular carpet store. My other advice is to spend a little extra and get the better carpet pad.
Decent quality carpet can be purchased most anywhere, you just have to know what you're looking for. The most important part of the product is the backing as far as durability goes. A good quality carpet should have a "high-pick back". That is the amount of nylon wires running across the width of the backing on the carpet. For instance a 10-pick back would have 10 nylon rows within one inch of each other going across the weft (width) of the carpet backing. I would recommend at least a 7-pick back. "Softback" is another type of carpet backing that is pretty resiliant. Back when I was installing carpet, it was fairly new to the market, and the manufactures claimed that softback carpets would never develop wrinkles. Look for a good quality backing and the (pile) face of the carpet should follow. If you have kids, I would obviously stay away from the higher quality products, just fro the face that kids and carpet do not go together well. But, you also want to stay away from builder-grade carpet, which is what most developers put in their new homes. It looks nice, but that's about it. Some of the low-end stuff, we used to refer to as "Sunny-D", because you could hold it up to the sunlight and almost be blinded from all the light coming through that stuff.
As far as installers go, I can tell you that there are lots and lots of bad ones out there, that will take shortcut after shortcut, so they can sub the next job from the contractor. However, there are a lot of good ones too. Do your homework. Ask the merchant for a list of numbers of their contractors. Contact each and ask for website info, reviews, if they are licensed, and, or insured, if they have a warranty on their installation, and for how long. One year installation warranty, imo, is very short. Mine was a three year warranty. Ask them if they use a power stretcher, if you have ceramic tile, or hardwood floors, ask them if they use any type of shim to create a nice, level transition surface in between the two.
You're almost making me want to get back into installing after talking about all of this. :smile:
I know that there are a lot of people out there that discredit the big box stores claiming that they get second hand goods. In my experience, this is not true. They get all their goods from the exact same mills as the flooring specialty stores, so don't be afraid to shop at any of these either. Lowe's and Home Depot provide a 10% veteran's discount on all of the merchandise as well. However, if the product has to be special ordered, Home Depot does not honor their veteran's discount, but Lowe's still does. If you are not a veteran, but know somebody that is, maybe you can persuade them with a case of beer or what not to help you out with some savings.
Good luck in your search. If you have additional questions don't hesitate to ask.
Sherwin Williams Flooring
515-266-4290
Ask for Steve their rep to meet you at your house to measure and show you some samples. He can get you a bid within a couple of days.
Oh yeah, thank you for mentioning pad. Get a high density pad as well, and both you and your carpet will thank yourself later. :wink:
If you're going to skimp, skimp on carpet and not pad. I've got some $.99/sf stuff from menard's in the basement living room that's been great for 7 yrs now. But I put high density 1/2 inch pad under it. If you get great pad, the quality of carpet is much less relevant.
Thanks for all the input so far. This carpet will be going in our basement and the stairs leading to the basement. Any particular kinds of carpet that work better for basements? Also, we do have small kids, so I don't want to spend a ton on the carpet only for it to be stained by the kids.
Our basement is projected to be finished by the end of January, so I'd like to have the carpet scheduled for installation around that time.
Our basement is projected to be finished by the end of January, so I'd like to have the carpet scheduled for installation around that time.
I will echo what others have been saying. We got carpet at our old house 3-4 years ago. Once you get the nice carpet pad you really notice at other people's houses that do not have it. Nebraska Furniture Mart in Clive had a pretty good deal on their flooring when we got ours. I would check for sales there frequently. They are pretty good to work with. Chris Williams is not even paying me to say that.
Carpet's going out? Sell the house with Mark Charter, and buy your new house with Mark Charter. (Do I get anything Mark?)
In all honesty, I've replaced all of my house's carpet within the last 2 years. I used Homemakers for a living room and bought Menards for bedrooms. I went cheaper with bedrooms since we are a 2 story and only really upstairs at night and in the morning.
Homemakers install themselves and we found a guy, Ron Haines (lives in Polk City) to install the Menards. He did a great job.
In all honesty, I've replaced all of my house's carpet within the last 2 years. I used Homemakers for a living room and bought Menards for bedrooms. I went cheaper with bedrooms since we are a 2 story and only really upstairs at night and in the morning.
Homemakers install themselves and we found a guy, Ron Haines (lives in Polk City) to install the Menards. He did a great job.
When we were selling a house, we went inexpensive with Carpet One. I would say it was "decent," it looked and felt great and the installation went smoothly.
Basements in January are generally chilly places in a house. On the day of the install, make sure to turn your thermostat up, I mean way up, preferably between 85-90 degrees. This will help relax the product to the point to where it will be at its most pliable state for stretching. As an installer, if the customer was home I would kindly ask them to turn up the thermostat in the winter, and turn off the ac in the summer. Yeah it sucks to work in, but it also sucks to work with a product that is too cold to work with. By doing this combined with "properly" using a power stretcher, an installer is increasing his percentage that he likely will not be called back to do a re-stretch.
Berber carpets are popular for basements, because it tends to keep the area warmer due to its construction. I am not a fan of berber just because it really isn't that comfortable, and it's threaded in one single loop, meaning that if you get a snag and pull on it, you will be pulling it down the whole length of the carpet. Also, berber products require a pad that is less thick, but more dense, or else it will void the manufacturer's warranty. However, any type carpet is suitable for a basement. Ask questions and choose something that you and your family like.