How to buy new carpet

1. First thing you’ll need to do is measure the room (or rooms) in which you’ll be carpeting. Be sure you have an additional person handy to hold the other end of the tape measure when you do this! 2. Hit the carpet showrooms and stores in your town. You can find carpet showrooms and stores near you by simply picking up your local yellow pages and looking up the word “carpet.” Have a pencil and pad handy to record the names and addresses of showrooms near you. 3. Examine (i.e. feel) the carpets you see that you like. Talk to the salesperson about their durability and quality, and whether or not they’re good for high traffic areas (that is if you’re carpeting a high traffic area). 4. Take into consideration where you’ll be with your life a few years down the road. For instance, you don’t want to spend a lot of money on a carpet that has a 20-year life if you’re only going to be in your current home or apartment for another five years. Know that carpet by square yard usually costs about 15 dollars for basic carpet and around 30 dollars (or sometimes even more) for luxury carpeting. Try to get a good grip on what you can realistically spend before going shopping! 5. Don’t make a decision right then and there in the showroom. Ask for samples of the carpet you like to take home and examine. Doing this will allow you to see how the color of your walls and belongings will go with the color of the carpet. 6. After you’ve decided on what you want, think about the kind of padding you’d like to go under the carpet. Ask about whether or not the padding is included in the installation cost of your carpet. 7. Ask a salesperson at the place where you’re buying to send a vendor to your home to do expert measurements. 8. Before the carpet gets installed, do a THOROUGH cleaning of the area that’s going to be carpeted. 9. Stay out of the way of the professionals laying the carpet down in your house! DEFINITELY inspect the work they’ve done when finished, though. Make sure the carpet has been installed to your liking.

Shopping for carpet online is not advised. However, here are carpet manufacturer sites that have store locators in their menu:

Mohawk Carpet “Mohawk makes the room.” Browse the different brands Mohawk offers, and then use the store locator to find a shop near you. They also offer guides to taking care of carpets, too.

Shaw Floors Peruse the selection online of carpets and area rugs available, then use “where to buy flooring” shortcut to locate a store near you to make purchases.

Yahoo! Local: Carpet Dealers Wonderful feature on the Yahoo! search engine allows you to find carpet showrooms and dealers near you by simply entering your address or zip code in the allotted field and clicking on the “search” icon.