Have you noticed that your floors are starting to look worn, tired or outdated? You may know it’s time to upgrade your flooring, but you might be worried about how you can go about budgeting for new flooring. Here at Hereward Carpets and Flooring, we have a wide selection of new flooring options for your home, with prices for all budgets.
In this blog post, we share our tips for budgeting with new home flooring and some ways that you can minimise costs and areas where money can be saved if you’re on a tighter budget.
Get Measuring
If you don’t know how much flooring you need, you’ll never know how to budget for replacement flooring. Grab a tape measure, a piece of paper and a pen. Draw your room and write on the longest width and length. If you have large bay windows or alcoves in your room, don’t forget to measure into these as well. If your room is an L shape, you may want to pop a size on all sides of your sketch. This is especially useful when sketching your landing for example.
If you are interested in new carpet or sheet vinyl flooring, don’t forget that although your room may only be 10ft x 16ft (3.05m x 4.88m) for example, the flooring is manufactured in certain widths. If you are trying to estimate a new carpet, you would need to ask for a 4m x 5m piece. You have to purchase a 4m width, and we need a little fitting tolerance. This means you are buying 20sm (not 14.88sm)
Our professional estimator will measure your flooring properly, free of charge when you’re ready to proceed further with the project. Still, at least you’ll have a rough idea of the quantity of flooring you require for an estimated cost.
Get Picking
We have a wide range of flooring, all of which come at different price ranges. Have a think about what you need from your flooring as well as what you can afford. For example, carpet is one of the comfiest flooring options available. It adds warmth to a home and is ideal for almost every room in your home. Prices of a carpet floor can vary depending on the material, quality and type you choose.
If you have a busy household, you may want to opt for laminate flooring. It is very durable and stylish too. If you love the rustic look of wood flooring, for example, you can achieve this with laminate flooring, without the price tag of a real wood floor.
Vinyl and LVT flooring are great options if you are looking for waterproof and practical options. Great for rooms that are prone to moisture and spills, like the kitchen, bathroom and dining room. With many styles and designs to choose from, including stone, marble and ceramic tile-effect finishes, they require a lot less maintenance than the real deal and cost less too. However, the subfloor in your room needs to be perfectly smooth to lay these floorings. This would lead to an additional cost for the preparation. Take some photos to show us before our measuring service, and we can estimate the costs that would be involved.
Minimising costs
If you are working on a tighter budget, we have some cost-saving tips to help you stay on track.
If you’re looking for carpet or vinyl flooring, our most cost-effective tip is buying from our large showroom’s stock. We have carpet and vinyl flooring remnants as well as carpet roll stock. We buy in bulk and therefore, we can offer flooring at a better value than ordering in single cuts.
Our next tip is choosing some carpets are manufactured with a felt backing instead of fusion or hessian. The benefit of felt backing is having the option to lay and spray this straight to the subfloor without using underlay and grippers. Although this will not be as cosy underfoot as the latter, you would save approx £130 on a 12sm room for example.
Choosing from our varying grades of underlay can reduce the costs. Our best underlay would give the most durability and underfoot comfort, but our bronze underlay will still offer some comfort. Being able to pick the grade of underlay you require helps to keep you on budget.
Trying to recycle is a great way to save money when redecorating your room. We can often re-use the grippers in your room if they are the correct distance from the wall, and are still secure. We would not recommend re-using old underlay with a new carpet as it will not assist the durability of your new carpet, and your wear warranty provided by the manufacturer may be invalid if an old underlay is reused.
Lastly, if you are able to, save some costs incurred by uplifting and disposing of existing flooring yourself, and moving your furniture. If you have a carpet that needs uplifting, cut this into smaller and manageable strips and transport them to your local household recycling centre (Don’t forget your Peterborough City Council household e-permit). Our team of fitters can of course undertake this work, but there are additional costs incurred if you require this service.
Not sure where to start when budgeting for new home flooring? Call our flooring specialists in Peterborough or pop into our showroom in Werrington. We will happily show you some examples of the flooring that’s ideal for your home. Our team can give you a free, no-obligation quote for the flooring and fitting too.
