Carpeting: Square Yard vs Square Foot

[Shooby]

  OK, i am looking at some carpeting for the bedrooms upstairs.  Some of them are priced per square foot and some priced per square yard.  Am i correct or not correct in looking at the square foot price and multiplying it by 9?  

[bean29]

That is my understanding also.

You may want to look only at places that do installation.  Also ask how long out their install dates are running. A few years ago I was shopping around Memorial Day and could not get a guaranteed install date in August from Home Depot.

Periodically Lowes and HD run "specials" that are "whole house install" for 100 or whatever. Depending on how much you need installed, it may or may not be worth it to wait for that. I have had good luck with both HD and Lowes (and one of those Outlet Stores too).

If your carpet has a 10 or more year guarantee, you probably have to show professional cleaning receipts in order to claim the warranty.

ETA:  Your room size is not 100% of the determining factor in the price of your carpet.  Most rolls of carpet are 12 ft wide.  Some are 15 ft wide.  If your room is wider than that, you need to think where you want the seam to land.  You have to buy the whole width of carpet, you can't just buy the sq ft you need.  Also the tack strips that hold the carpet down are $X.XX per carpet strip to install.  So, if you have them already, and they are not damaged, you want to make sure you leave them in place when you remove the old carpet.  If they need to install them, make sure all quotes include the price of installing them.

Often they try to lay it out so that the "extra" carpet is going in the closet or used for a hallway or stairs etc.  They will also try to avoid seaming in a high traffic area, a desirable place to have a seam is in a closet or other low traffic area.

[alabamagal]

9 square feet in a square yard

[Shooby]

Ok Lowes is pricing per sq ft. Say $5.97 sq ft. The local carpet store is like $18 sq yard!

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Aug 18, 2017 17:14:09 GMT -5 Shooby said:

Ok Lowes is pricing per sq ft. Say $5.97 sq ft. The local carpet store is like $18 sq yard!

Depends on quality of carpet.  Does Lowe's include the pad and installation and the other is just the carpet price?

[Shooby]

Not sure yet. Still looking to pick something out

[Tiny]

Aug 18, 2017 17:14:09 GMT -5 Shooby said:

Ok Lowes is pricing per sq ft. Say $5.97 sq ft. The local carpet store is like $18 sq yard!

You should make sure you know what is included in each price - Is lowes including padding and installation in the price per sq ft?    What is included in the local carpet store price?  

My sibling just carpeted a basement - and  he realized he had to break out the cost of the ENTIRE job to figure out what was the best deal - he couldn't just buy inexpensive carpet and assume the end cost would be less than what appeared to be expensive carpet. 

[countrygirl2]

I think they started doing that because people are so math challenged they have no idea of the real price that way.
Also they don't know how to figure it.

[zibazinski]

Square foot is put in to be sneaky with the pricing.

[Shooby]

  I agree, that really ticked me off at Lowe's.  

[Shooby]

Aug 18, 2017 17:36:21 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

Aug 18, 2017 17:14:09 GMT -5 Shooby said:

Ok Lowes is pricing per sq ft. Say $5.97 sq ft. The local carpet store is like $18 sq yard!

Depends on quality of carpet.  Does Lowe's include the pad and installation and the other is just the carpet price?

Yes, but even if it did, would the $18 a yard amount to over $45 a sq yard with the installation and pad?  I don't think so.

[Rob Base 2.0]

The square yard price is highly subjective.

My backyard is small. My neighbor's yard is way bigger. If you square my yard and if you square my neighbor's yard you will get different results. Better to use pictures when talking about yards, or better yet, go visit the yards yourself.  

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Aug 20, 2017 10:39:42 GMT -5 Shooby said:

Aug 18, 2017 17:36:21 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

Depends on quality of carpet.  Does Lowe's include the pad and installation and the other is just the carpet price?

Yes, but even if it did, would the $18 a yard amount to over $45 a sq yard with the installation and pad?  I don't think so.

It depends upon what the pad and installation costs are of what the other business quoted.  It also depends upon the quality differences.  You really cannot compare the 2 directly until you have all the info.  I imagine that the pad and installation is going to add another $15-20/yard, minimum.  There are varying qualities of pads too.

[resolution]

I think Lowe's has a process where you can pick out some carpet and someone will come out to look at your house and give you a bid for the carpet and installation, so you can compare the total price against a carpet company bid. We recently replaced the carpet in our rental.  The property manager arranged for a few places to come out and bid on the total job and I picked between the bids.

[dee27]

When we replaced flooring in the condo, the price installed was better than HD or Lowes. Also, the local flooring stores we dealt with will only hired experienced installers. If you are replacing an area that was already carpeted, invest in a new pad because pads trap a lot of dirt and dust mites.

[Shooby]

Lowes will come out for an estimate for $35 here.  The carpet store does free estimates.  So, probably worth doing.

[dee27]

Aug 20, 2017 15:31:22 GMT -5 Shooby said:

Lowes will come out for an estimate for $35 here.  The carpet store does free estimates.  So, probably worth doing.

When Lowes did an estimate for the size of our shower door, the estimate of $35 was credited back to our CC if we scheduled the installation. I assume Lowes would do the same for the carpet estimate. I think Lowes charges for the estimate so that customers keep the scheduled appointments.

[hoops902]

Aug 20, 2017 9:10:44 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

Square foot is put in to be sneaky with the pricing.

I would have said square yard is put in to be sneaky, pretty much everyone knows the square footage, fewer people know the square yardage.

Also keep in mind that if it doesn't say "square foot" and just says "foot" or "yard"...sometimes that's the price for that length of carpet, because the width of the carpet is already predetermined on the roll. That's not particularly common because people get even more confused, but you're more likely to see that in-store and not in an ad (and more likely to see it on something in-stock since that's where the width is already predetermined).

[countrygirl2]

I believe they apply the measuring costs to the payment on the carpet at Lowes, seems like they do.

[countrygirl2]

I went to a local carpet store in Conroe, better service, better price then Lowes.