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If you’re reading this page, you’re probably about to buy a new carpet. Congrats! Having a new carpet is awesome, and it makes a home look so much better.
However! Buying a carpet might be somewhat complicated. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you could end up buying a super expensive carpet that won’t last that long.
Don’t worry! That won’t happen to you. That’s why I wrote this ULTIMATE GUIDE. In this guide we’ll be covering many topics. The most important of which are: the 5 Things You Must Know Before Buying a Carpet, Best Carpet Brands & Types of Shops, How to Find the Best Carpet Installers and How to Take Care of Your Carpet.
All of them are very important topics! But since I don’t want to make this guide extremely lengthly, I’m linking to the main pages of this website where you’ll find all the information.
1. The 5 Things You Must Know Before Buying a Carpet
First things first, you need to know what carpet you want. And in order to know what carpet you want, you need to know a little bit about carpets. If not, the carpet dealer will sell you whatever carpet it is they make more money with. Trust me, I’ve seen it in the past.
But carpets aren’t really that complicated! You only have to worry about 5 things. Just 5 things and you’re done! Trust me, if you know these 5 concepts before you set foot in the carpet store, your buying experience will be completely different.
These are the concepts:
- 1. Carpet Styles: You need to know about the different Carpet Styles. I’m sure you’ve heard about Saxony, Berber, Frieze, Cut and Loop… These are the styles you’ll be choosing from!
- 2. Carpet Fibers: There are many different types of carpet materials. Most people are familiar with the difference between natural and synthetic, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. You’ll have to be familiar with terms such as Polypropylene, Plefin, Polyester, the different types of Nylon, etc.
- 3. Carpet Padding: You need to know about Carpet Padding or backing. Padding is what goes under the carpet, and it makes a huge difference in the carpet’s lifespan. There are many types (like Urethane foam, Rebond pad, waffle rubber pad, memory rubber pad, etc.) and specifications you should know about (like thickness, density, etc.). Trust me, choosing the wrong padding is the biggest mistake carpet buyers make. Click here to learn everything about carpet padding!
- 4. Carpet Pile: Carpet Pile is the same as saying carpet fibers. But it has nothing to do with materials! It’s about how high the fibers are (high pile, medium pile, and low pile) and it’s about the fiber’s style (cut vs loop pile). There are a couple of concepts you must be familiar with (carpet pile height, carpet face-weight, and carpet density) to make the right decision. Click here to learn more about carpet pile!
- 5. Carpet Tuft: And last but not least, you have to know about Carpet Tuft. Carpet tuft is how many times the fibers twist. This is very important to make sure that you’re buying a high quality carpet.
To help you get to know these concepts, we have 5 posts that explain each one of them in depth. I would strongly recommend that you need them:
The Most Comprehensive Guide to All Types of Carpets!
A comprehensive look into the world of carpets. The different styles categorised on the basis of material, construction, and pile height, their advantages and limitations.
Carpet Styles. Everything you can choose from!
A detailed guide into carpet styles, differentiated on the basis of material, construction and pile height. The post also includes the things you need to keep in mind before buying a carpet.
9 Carpet Materials and How to Choose the Right One for You
If you’re about to buy a carpet you need to know about the different fiber materials. They all have their pros and cons, so read this to choose wisely!
Carpet Padding Buying Guide: Everything in 1 HUGE Guide.
Padding is a huge part of buying a carpet. But it’s not easy to understand and many salespeople make it hard on purpose. This Ultimate Guide covers everything you need to make a buying decision.
What is Carpet Pile and Why Should You Care?
Carpet Pile and its height can be very important when it comes to buying a carpet. Learn about the different types and heights in this Ultimate Guide!
What is Carpet Tuft? Most Comprehensive Guide EVER
Carpe tuft or Carpet Twist is a very important Carpet Specification and not many people know about it! Read this before buying your carpet.
2. Best Carpet Brands & Types of Shops
Now that you know enough about carpets, it’s time to go and buy a carpet! But where should you go? There are many types of shops, which one is best?
We wrote a post on the 8 best (and worst) places to buy a carpet. They go from Home Depot and other big-box stores, to franchises, and locally-owned stores. Everything you want to know about is in that post! I would strongly encourage you to read that post before you go buy a carpet.
We also added a new post on the best carpet brands. I honestly think it’s not as important as knowing where to buy the carpet, but since that is something our readers wanted to know, we added it to this section.
These are the 2 guides if you want to check them out:
The 8 Best and Worst Places to Buy a New (and Cheap) Carpet.
There are many places near you that offer carpets. And you want to get a good deal and fair installation prices, right? This guide will help you decide where you should buy your carpet.
What Carpet Brands are the Best? 6 Best Choices!
Are you at crossroads in deciding the best carpet brand for your home décor? This post will point you in the right direction. It provides a list of the 6 best and trustworthy carpet brands to choose from.
3. How to Find The Best Carpet Installers?
This is the most important question you can ask yourself if you want to save money. Most people don’t change their carpet very often, so it’s unlikely that you’ll “have a guy” that will install your carpet perfectly.
In order to find the best carpet installer, the best thing you can do is request multiple carpet installers for a quote. You’ll find the best carpet installers and at a very good price!
How to request for multiple quotes?
You can either loose a lot of time googleing for carpet installers near you, or you could use an online service that will do it for you. You’ll get the best possible price and you’ll be able to see reviews from other clients. It’s the absolute best way to find carpet installers anywhere!
The 2 platforms that I would recommend are Thumbtack and Homeadvisor. I like Thumbtack a little better, because it’s easier to use and the pros seem like they care about every client more. On Homeadvisor, it’s more about the numbers (the more jobs you do, the more you get paid). But you can use either of them! They’re excellent services.
How to Find the Best Carpet Installers in Your Area?
A lousy installation severely reduces the lifespan of your carpets. To avoid such a fiasco, you must learn how to find the best carpet installers in town!
4. How To Take Care of Your New Carpet?
Last, but not least, you need to learn how to take care of you new carpet. If you know how to take care of it, it will last a lot longer! We have a whole section on the ULTIMATE CARPET CLEANING GUIDE. But in case you just want to take a sneak peak, these are some of the posts:
How often you should clean your carpets for perfect results?
Some professionals exaggerate (A LOT!) when talking about how often you should clean your carpet. Take a look at the real frequencies certifying entities recommend!
Why Does My Carpet Look Worse After Cleaning? The 3 Most common reasons!
Are you wondering why your carpet seems to look worse right after cleaning? This guide covers the 3 most common reasons why that might be happening and the 3 most common cleaning mistakes you should avoid.
10 Benefits of Professional Carpet Cleaning
Carpet cleaning has a lot of benefits. And having your carpet cleaned by a professional has even more! Check the 10 benefits of professional carpet cleaning.
How to get out Stains in Carpet (8 methods for 32 types of stains)
Have you ever wondered how to get out stains in a carpet? This guide covers everything… coffee, wine, dirt, pee, food, nail polish or even glue!
Conclusion
And that’s it! I really hope you found this guide helpful.
And if you’d like to see more, we also have similar guides on: Carpet Cleaning, Hiring a Carpet Installer, Vacuum Cleaners or Buying a Rug.