Need new carpet, advise?

[lovin2shop]

I need to replace a substantial amount of carpet, well all of it actually. Aging cat with failing health, you get the idea. I've never shopped for carpet before, so I could use any and all advice about kind, where o buy, etc. I like the look of frieze, but not sure how this wears with kids? Also, I'm concerned about off gassing, is there anything that can be done to minimize this? Anyone bought carpet at Costco? Have lots of questions, but that's the start of them.

Happy New Year everyone, by the way!

ETA: The aforementioned cat is sadly no longer an issue.

[brittone2]

I'm sorry about your cat :hug:

For carpet, I don't know how practical it is, but I've read cranking up the heat a bit, opening windows and leaving the house for a while helps speed up some of the off gassing.

This site also suggests asking the carpet people to open up the carpet and let it offgass for a week or so off-site if possible. It might be worth asking?

http://www.eons.com/groups/topic/990011-carpet-that-has-no-off-gassing
http://www.amitymama.com/vb/archive/t-311900.html
http://www.thegreenguide.com/greenguide/buying-guide/carpets

[lisams]

We replaced our upstairs carpet just before Summer. For the off gassing, we ran the whole house fan 24 hours and left all windows open for a few days. I would say it took about a week for the fumes to not be so strong. We also have air purifiers for all the bedrooms and ran those on high all day.

We got frieze and really like it so far. We got the higher end, so very plush and thick which I like (the lower end looked like it would smoosh easily and look worn very quickly). We got ours through Lowes when they were having their installation sale. It was like $100 for installation (plus extra for the stairs). We were very pleased with the istallation - they were on time, did a great job, and were pretty quick (it took about 6 hours). They moved furniture, ripped out the old carpet and took it with them, installed and vacuumed/replaced furniture.

The one thing I wasn't prepared for was all of the dust from when they ripped the old carpet out. There was dust all over the house and I ended up having to do a huge deep clean. I suppose it was great to have the motivation. I couldn't believe how much dust was in the old carpet pad.

I'm sorry to hear about your cat :( Good luck in your carpet search.

[lovin2shop]

Thanks Beth and Lisa. I will definitely try the heat/open windows idea as it certainly cannot hurt. I'll check out Lowes, it is good to know that you are happy with your service from them. I didn't think about the dust, that is good to know. I'm not looking forward to seeing how dirty it is under the carpet. Thinking about it makes me want to do hardwood instead, but the carpet is mainly upstairs and on the stairs themselves and I want some softer areas for the kids rooms. Thanks again for the info.