carpet recommendations?

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Carpet is quoted/sold by the square yard most often. Some shops will have some carpets quoted by sq. yd., others by sq ft and all in the same showroom! Anything to make it more difficult to decipher I sometimes think. If I remember correctly, Smartstrand comes in a standard 12' width. How much you need vs how much waste there will be will be determined by which direction the carpet is put down and whether or not your carpet guy finds places to use what would otherwise be "waste". This can figure into the price greatly as some dealers will figure the amount of carpet needed without any regard to efficient use of the material. (i.e. for easy use of round numbers, lets say the carpet is $5 sqft & you have 2 closets that are 5'x7' that need carpeting--he can price you out 7' of 12' wide carpet that he will split between the 2 closets and have 2'x7' of waste for the most efficient use of the material @ cost of $420, or he could decide to quote you 7' of 12' wide carpet for each closet for the most inefficient use of carpet, but most efficient twisting of sales numbers @ cost of $840). We had ~1000 square feet of carpet and a local dealer that gave us contractor pricing and was really into using the material in the most efficient manner possible--what would have been waste from the bedrooms was used in the closets. It ran us right around $3500 including pad, installation and taxes. So that's right at $3.50 sqft. As far as Stainmaster goes, we had it in our last house. In most areas it was not a problem, however, we had 1 spot in DS1's room where the dog had an accident and in DS2's room where he threw his bottle out of the crib and formula leaked onto the carpet. In both rooms, the stains would appear to be gone after a pretreat and steam cleaning, but then a few days later they would reappear--never could get rid of them. Not saying SS wouldn't do the same, but that was my experience with SM. Also, here's an excerpt from an earlier post of mine on our carpet choice of SS vs other similar competitor carpets w/ SM-- "When we were looking, no other carpet compared--even the Shaw carpet that is supposed to be the direct competition for the Smartstrand. Nothing was as soft. I remembered what it was like as a kid playing on the stiff scratchy carpet and decided that since it was available, I wanted a soft carpet for my kids to play on and for my feet to walk on at the end of a long day in the hated high heels. Even DH was surprised by how soft it was--he thought carpet was carpet was carpet & as he said those exact words, he ran his hand across the Smartstrand sample and then said, "Ooooooh!?!". Then he understood. I still close my eyes in pure pleasure when I step into my bedroom and onto the carpet at the end of a long day." I've posted a link below to a thread off the Flooring forum on price comparisons. Check out the 1st response by Floortech... Hope this helps! Here is a link that might be useful: Smartstrand Pricing @ Lowe's

Need carpet recommendations for beach house.

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You don't say if you house is on or near the beach, but if it is, carpet is a nightmare. What I have learned in my beach house is to avoid wood and carpet. I replaced my downstairs carpet with wood shortly after I moved in because it got musty (from the moisture) and no amount of vacuuming could bring up all the sand that got ground deep into it. Wood was problematic too with moisture and sand, so after a few years it was looking dull, scratched and pitted from the moisture. I sanded and refinished it, but within a year it started looking bad again, so eventually I gave up and now, downstairs I have wood look ceramic tile (which I love) and an area rug around the couch. I may repeat the tile upstairs, but I am seriously considering Luxury Vinyl Tile (which is an amazing water resistant product that looks great - not like the vinyl of my youth). The great thing about LVT it doesn't require as much labor or prep to install as porcelain tile so the cost is considerably less. You still need to sweep the sand everyday, but the stuff is bulletproof against the sand and moisture.

Need Carpet Recommendations--we have cats and a child!

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The last time I shopped for carpet Nylon was the preferred material. I like either flooring and have had both hardwood and wall to wall, but I found covering my hardwood with rugs to be more work than having wall to wall since I'd have to take them in for cleaning and also have a separate vacuum for the 2 different surfaces. There are pros and cons with both.......just depends on your life style, and age. You didn't ask, but I suggest you look elsewhere besides Home Depot for carpet. Some of their prices may look great but by the time they're thru with up-charging for everything you'll pay more than if you bought a quality carpet from a retail carpet store. We recently priced having one room done by HD and the salesman told us they add an extra 10% of carpet to cover any unseen problems in layout. That can add up to a costly amount! I've 'never' had a carpet store do an add-on in the amount of carpet since a good installer will use nearly every sq ft you purchased.