I despise my wool carpet and am replacing it now. We have no kids or pets. Spill anything and it's over. It stretches, ad infinitum

If you are looking to do a decorative carpet on the stairs (only) then one way to do it is to use the carpet as a RUNNER...not a stringer-stringer carpeting. The other thing to consider is normally the stairs should match "something". If you have different carpet at the top of the stairs that does not match the stair carpet, that NORMALLY means you have different carpet DOWN stairs. The stairs will match the carpeting on the MAIN floor. I'm not hearing that this is your scenario. What type of flooring do you have on the main floor? This is what the stairs will be MATCHING if you choose to go this route (stairs not matching carpet upstairs). The other way to do this is to use the decorative carpet on the stairs and then pay to have an area rug cut and bound in your chosen "stair" carpet. This area rug then sits in the entrance/bottom of the stairs. This is a quick, easy (slightly less expensive) way to get the stairs to match "something".....'cause they really should match something. Right now they match the upstairs carpet. Once you change this design feature, you need to REPLACE it with another version of "must match something". The bound area rug in the same carpet is one of the fastest ways to do this. Good luck. Remember to look at your main level flooring and decide whether or not you want to go forward with this concept.

I would replace carpet with carpet when asbestos (or possibility of asbestos) is present. Even though laminate floors float over top of a hard surface, the surface must be flat, smooth, and level. And most homes from 1904 do NOT match any of those requirements. To put a rigid floor over old vinyl tile, the surface/subfloor must be level. If it is not, you need to do some prep work. And prep work around asbestos based stuff is tricky/expensive. Which is why replacing carpet with carpet is the easiest thing. So long as the tiles are happy and well adhered, you don't have to worry about them. It is when they are ground up (asbestos fibres thrown into the air) that they become dangerous. And removing/adding more carpet will not do any of that.

I am redoing the carpet in my townhome. I got a quote for Shaw Anso BCF nylon carpet called “find your comfort” level one. I love the color and the softness of the sample. I was curious if anyone has chosen similar carpet? I went to a different carpet store and the man is trying to sell me DreamWeaver polyester carpet. It’s half the price and similar softness to the Shaw carpet I just don’t want to make a costly mistake. I have seen horrible reviews online about Dreamweaver carpet, but also not so great reviews on Shaw Anso Nylon carpet. I am single but have 2 elderly small dogs.