What's a typical carpet installation rate per sq.ft.?

[blurredvision]

The wife and I looked at a home earlier tonight, and are seriously considering it. It's been hard to find a decent home in our budget, but this house has a great location (for us), seemingly great neighborhood, and the owner is willing to work with the price because she's been sitting on it for so long. Unfortunately, two of the things we didn't like, and are trying to negotiate into a possible deal is installation of a heat pump (currently heated by propane) and new carpeting throughout the entire house.

We hope that installation of a heat pump will be negotiated into the price, as that's basically a deal breaker for us. On the carpet, however, we're not so sure we can squeeze in. Now I can't give an accurate estimate on current coverage of the carpet to be replaced, but I'd guess about 600-700 sq.ft of coverage. We're in good shape, though, as the padding (we're told) was replaced with a high-quality, stain proof just a few short years ago (4-5), so we'd only need new carpeting. We also have no problem with cheap carpet.

Since we may have to end up paying this ourselves, in your estimation, what kind of price range are we looking at for cheap carpet per sq.ft and installation of said carpet? I'm mainly trying to get an idea of what we're looking at, and will not take any estimate here given as fact. But I do appreciate any numbers you guys could throw my way from your experiences.

Thanks.

 

[spidey07]

Tagging along for others more knowledgable than I.

But I can offer this. do not get cheap carpet/pad

I have 16 dollar a yard carpet with $8/yd pad and it's pretty much done after 5 years.

 

[mugs]

Skip the carpet, get hardwood floors. Installation of a rug is free.

 

[ruffilb]

About 2000 yen.

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: mugs
Skip the carpet, get hardwood floors. Installation of a rug is free.

This definitely preferred by the wife and I, but not sure we could afford it. I'm told by others that carpet is cheaper, although I'd like to be proven wrong.

 

[blurredvision]

Anyone else?

 

[Homerboy]

This definitely preferred by the wife and I, but not sure we could afford it. I'm told by others that carpet is cheaper, although I'd like to be proven wrong.

Hardwood or Engineered florring can be just as cheap if not MUCH cheaper than installed carpeting. That is if you installed the wood flooring yourself which is not overly difficult; just time patience and measure twice, cut once.


As far as your original question is concerned, I'm honestly not sure, but as spidey said, you can't go cheap and thats the burn with carpet. Even a cheap engineered floor, in moderate traffic areas, will outlast cheap carpet 10:1. Your best bet is to call, or pop into a carpet store, pick their brains and get the REAL data that you need... not off a forum board for a decision of this size.

GL!

 

[wyvrn]

I know a guy in my area who will do it for me cheap, but that's because I give him a lot of business. Average rates are probably $2 per foot for labor, and starting at $3/ft for the carpeting (minimum for good stuff). That's 5/square foot minimum if you go to your typical home depot or call your typical yellow pages contractor. I've seen installation costs go much higher than that though.

OTOH, if you go out and buy your own engineered hardwood and put it in, you can get out for as little as $2.50/square foot with something that will last MUCH longer, look much better, and make the house easier to sell later.

 

[Stuxnet]

I want to get some hardwood in, too. I've bought the best carpet money can buy before, and in the high traffic areas it still only lasts ~5 years. Good hardwood with basic care will last indefinitely. It can be cheaper if you know how to install it, and it will really boost the value of your home.

I'm trying to figure how to remove the old (linoleum and carpet) and install the new (top shelf hardwood).

 

[Nik]

Call a local carpet installer and find out.

http://www.dexonline.com

 

[jupiter57]

It has always been my experience that as a rule, carpet is priced to include installation.
If you price or purchase the carpet seperately, the installation may likely cost you considerably more.
Most carpet installers have special deals with the sellers, and if you call an installer on your own, they will most likely give you a higher estimate because you will be a one-time customer, versus the carpet store, who usually keeps them busy.
YMMV, though.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: jbourne77
I want to get some hardwood in, too. I've bought the best carpet money can buy before, and in the high traffic areas it still only lasts ~5 years. Good hardwood with basic care will last indefinitely. It can be cheaper if you know how to install it, and it will really boost the value of your home.

I'm trying to figure how to remove the old (linoleum and carpet) and install the new (top shelf hardwood).

Take your shoes off in the house. The carpet in my parents' house is over 20 years old and still looking good (it's only in the upstairs though).

 

[Stuxnet]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: jbourne77
I want to get some hardwood in, too. I've bought the best carpet money can buy before, and in the high traffic areas it still only lasts ~5 years. Good hardwood with basic care will last indefinitely. It can be cheaper if you know how to install it, and it will really boost the value of your home.

I'm trying to figure how to remove the old (linoleum and carpet) and install the new (top shelf hardwood).

Take your shoes off in the house. The carpet in my parents' house is over 20 years old and still looking good (it's only in the upstairs though).

We do. Upstairs carpet is easy to keep looking nice; it's not very high traffic. I'm talking about main walkways (room transitions, door to the deck, etc). In our last house we had premium padding with the best burber you could buy, and the foyer still went to hell after about 4 years. We always left our shoes at the door, which helped, but still...

 

[JoLLyRoGer]

We just did about 1900 Sq/Ft. Cost about $5500.00

 

[NissanGurl]

Alright, as far as the rate for installation you are probably just going to have to call around and get some estimates. As far as the choice of carpet to install, my parents chose to install a highly dense carpet. I believe it is a type of indoor/outdoor carpet. The carpet has been installed for at least 7-8 years now and there are very few signs of wear. Keep in mind there are only three rooms in their house (log cabin home) that have carpet...the bedrooms (all other rooms are hardwood). If you are really that insterested, the next time I talk to my stepdad I can ask what kind of carpet it is (I just can't say for sure when the next time I get a chance to talk to him will be). He owned his own carpet cleaning/installation company for a long time and so knows all about that kind of stuff (fiber density of the carpet and how it affects wear, cleaning, etc.). The biggest key is to make sure you have quality padding underneath, which it sounds like you do.

 

[SampSon]

Mine was around $4/sqft.

 

[TheSlamma]

I got a berber with premium padding installed in my basement from lowes for $900 for about 700sq ft.

As NissanGurl stated, padding is most important, this sealed stuff is awesome, no worries of a spill being absorbed into the padding.

 

[NissanGurl]

Originally posted by: jbourne77

We do. Upstairs carpet is easy to keep looking nice; it's not very high traffic. I'm talking about main walkways (room transitions, door to the deck, etc). In our last house we had premium padding with the best burber you could buy, and the foyer still went to hell after about 4 years. We always left our shoes at the door, which helped, but still...

There is something you can do to help prevent the wear in high traffic areas on carpet. The first line of defense is to vacum it regularly (the beater bar fluffs the carpet). The other thing you can do is to purchase a carpet rake. It's pretty much exactly what it sounds like except the teeth on the rake are only about 3-4 inches long and are usually made of plastic. Anytime we cleaned carpet in an apartment we used the carpet rake to get rid of the pattern the carpet wand made and all of our footprints.

You can get as aggressive as you want with a carpet rake. The harder you press it into the carpet the better and deeper it will fluff the fibers (to a point). I don't think they would be that expensive either...maybe $30 (wag there at the price).

 

[K1052]

Cheap carpet goes to sh!t after a couple years.

My entire condo has an engineered floor except for the bedroom/closet which got some cheap builder's carpet and it looks like ass (only 3 years old in a low traffic area). I'm thinking about ripping up the carpet/pad and extending the wood into the bedroom.

 

[Stuxnet]

Originally posted by: K1052
Cheap carpet goes to sh!t after a couple years.

My entire condo has an engineered floor except for the bedroom/closet which got some cheap builder's carpet and it looks like ass (only 3 years old in a low traffic area). I'm thinking about ripping up the carpet/pad and extending the wood into the bedroom.

How do you like the engineered flooring? That's the wood-type I was considering.

 

[Old Hippie]

this sealed stuff is awesome, no worries of a spill being absorbed into the padding.

I'd never heard of this stuff. It looks like its called frothed foam.

 

[T9D]

I buy and sell places. I always go to home depot. They give you really good pad (sometimes for free even) and they carpet thats in store is cheaper but great quality.

for 700 sq feet installed from home depot some nice carpet (berber even) should run around $800 - $1000.

 

[K1052]

Originally posted by: jbourne77

Originally posted by: K1052
Cheap carpet goes to sh!t after a couple years.

My entire condo has an engineered floor except for the bedroom/closet which got some cheap builder's carpet and it looks like ass (only 3 years old in a low traffic area). I'm thinking about ripping up the carpet/pad and extending the wood into the bedroom.

How do you like the engineered flooring? That's the wood-type I was considering.

No complaints so far, pretty happy with it.

 

[lokiju]

I've heard it's about $5 a square foot for carpet and about $12 per square foot for hard wood floors.

Haven't put it to use myself so don't know how accurate that is.

 

[lokiju]

Originally posted by: blurredvision

Originally posted by: mugs
Skip the carpet, get hardwood floors. Installation of a rug is free.

This definitely preferred by the wife and I, but not sure we could afford it. I'm told by others that carpet is cheaper, although I'd like to be proven wrong.

Well if you're somewhat handy then laying the snap together hard wood flooring isn't really that bad, I helped my buddy do that for two rooms of his house, it's just time consuming and hard of the back more than anything else but you can get the wood from places like Sams Club or Costco for pretty cheap.