On July 26 I purchased carpet for the first floor of the house. I have allergies and timed the purchase for the summer so the house could be opened and aired out. And my son is getting married October 7 so I had that event in mind. I was to have the carpet in 3 weeks.
In the middle of August, they called and said there was a production delay and it would be shipped on September 1. I called at the beginning of September, it was being manufactured and it will be here in a week. Called on September 19 and the dye was being put on and it will be here in a week. Today I stopped in the store and the manufacturer had a delay on the backing machine and it will be here in a week and a half.
I in no way blame the carpet store. I bought from a local store and that have been upfront and honest with me through the entire debacle.
I have 3 options that I can see.
wait for the carpet I ordered. The owner is going to call the manufacturer on Friday. I heard him on the phone today and he gave them heck.
pick our another carpet, and the owner will make sure that it’s in stock. But still that will take 3 weeks.
get a refund. The owner told me I could do that.
I am leaning towards the refund. The window for opening up my house and airing it out is closing very fast. Even if I get the carpet soon, we just don’t have many more nice days. Then I would buy carpet in the spring.
What would you do? I really need new carpet! And we have an aquarium that H spent a weekend tearing down in anticipation of getting new carpet. And the house is torn up so that when we got the call, we could get our stuff moved. We’ve had a lot going on with the wedding so we wanted to be ready.
Unless you want the house assembled back to almost original state by the wedding date, I would go with option 2 if you can find something you like. That way, you will have new carpet and will not have to live with a partially torn apart house all winter long (or spend energy on putting it all back together and tearing down again next spring).
I had the long delay from both a local,store and HD. I don’t think the manufacturers will make the carpet until there is quantity. Looking back, I should have shifted color.
When HD had a 6 week delay and counting, I took the refund I went to a local store, ordered a Karastan, and it was installed in 3 days. So, I’d go back to local store and find something you like. If it is more costly, ask for a small discount.
Are you sure you want carpet as opposed to hardwood? Carpet seems to be viewed kind of negatively these days. Selling in the next year or so and our agent requested we replace living room carpet with hardwood, saying most buyers do not want carpet. I see the same reaction on the HGTV shows.
I agree that hardwood is really seen as preferably by large number of folks these days, with so many of us having allergies. My sister put in hardwood floors when she built her house and my brother ripped the carpet out of his son’s room and put in hardwood because his allergies were driving everyone crazy. The son is doing much better with the hardwood floor than he was with the carpet!
Folks…it’s not going to take one day for this poster to find someone to install hardwood floors in her house. That could easily take weeks…I know…we have done that rodeo more than one time.
I’d go with picking out a different carpet at this point.
I assume you decided carpet instead of hardwood before you even ordered the first carpet!
Understood, but I’d rethink the carpet - particularly with the allergy issues mentioned by the OP. If she is leaning towards a refund and delaying new carpet until the spring due to the weather and the need to air out the house - IMO it makes sense to consider hardwood instead.
re hardwood floors. there are reasons to go with carpet- softness and warmth in winter, plus typically lower costs. We chose carpet for bedrooms and living/family rooms because of people sitting on the floor. Makes a difference in comfort for winters even here. Also avoided hardwood because of potential water problems- neighbor’s floors were ruined with a toilet filling tube malfunction (we made sure we replaced that part when we got new toilets). Used tile, harder than I like but also not as slippery as wood.
We heard good things about the local Lowes and used them, in retrospect I would not have- would have gone with a better carpet, plus they forgot to measure one bedroom and the same carpet had to ordered for that room which turned out to be a bit thicker and closer to what we thought we were getting.
I would be tempted to look at other options for installation in 3 weeks. Sounds like your local store in in your corner. There is still time to air out a northern house during October. You would have nice carpet for this important event plus throughout the winter.
Regarding hardwood, we have carpet I plan to replace in the next 6 months. Like @wis75, it’s in the family room and upstairs in the bedrooms for similar reasoning. Rest of downstairs and the stairs themselves are hardwood. For those of you who have hardwood upstairs, isn’t it louder when folks are tromping around upstairs? Love to hear your thoughts. Sorry if I am hijacking.
But- some of us go barefoot unless it is cold weather. Yuck to wearing socks et al. Socks would be slippery. H’s slippers have a hard sole- clomping on tile despite his slight build.
We are a no shoes house but 98% of the time, no socks, too. I would still imagine footsteps would be louder on wood than carpet/padding. I know I hear it much more in our finished lower level than I do from the second floor into the main floor. I guess I answered my own question, then.
There are millions of carpet styles and colors in stock. At worse, 3 days from regional distributorship. Then install the next day. Ask the local store to show you everything in stock that can be installed by Mon or Tues next week
If you decide to stay with this carpet order, I would really seek a discount for the waiting time, poor communication (always you calling, no one calling you), house disarray, etc.
(and for the record we have no carpet in a full two story house. Some rooms have an area rug. We have lived this way 20 years here and 10 years previously in another house with all hardwood - I never give any “noise” a second thought). Our home was built in 1925 so it’s going to creak some anyway!!)
Re hardwood upstairs: We have floating engineered hardwood from Home Depot in the upstairs. Stomping not noticeable for folks downstairs. As warm underfoot as carpet (but not as soft of course). Some of that may be due to the choice of under layer material.
I have a three story home. When we moved in, there was carpeting on the staircase, which I hated. I left it until my youngest child went to K, at which time he was proficient at going up and down steps (he had hip dysplasia and needed PT for quite awhile). I now have hardwood floors everywhere except the kitchen. I ripped up the who knows how old linoleum and replaced it with inexpensive self-adhering tile-looking flooring from HD. I personally hate carpets and with pets, I absolutely refuse to have any. My house was also built in the 1920’s and there’s really no noise except when my sons run up or down the steps. They each have a different tread, so I always knows who coming at me.
Hardwoods throughout here in a 100 year old house. Everybody has allergies and really the wood is beautiful. There is some creaking but it’s an old house. No walking around noise that I’m aware of.
