Will I save money doing the prep work for new tile and carpet?
Question:Hi all. My husband and I live in an 1100 sq/ft house with two bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 1 hallway, a laundry room, small kitchen and big living room. We want to have the whole house tiled with carpet in the two bedrooms. When our puppies were growing up they discovered the worn holes in the old carpet and decided to make them bigger, tearing into them like an Easter Ham. (The house is about 26 yrs old and the carpet is at least 10 yrs old)
We are on a budget and are looking for options to save money on installation and materials. We are looking at tile and carpet that costs about $1 per sq/ft and would like to get it installed by someone.
1) Would we really save money doing prep work ourselves? How much would this entail?: Im imagining pulling up the old carpet, pulling out the wood bits and nails, clearing out all the furniture, sweeping... cant think of what else. Is it worth the savings?
2) How much would it be to get it installed? We live in Bakersfield, CA.
Answers:
Unfortunately there isn't a whole lot of labor involved in pulling up carpet, so you really won't save much. If you do pull up the carpet leave the tack strips in the bedroom where you are having carpet put down. Also wear a mask old carpet can be bad when pulling up. I did it once in a rental house I was fixing up to sell, just to get rid of the smell. I saved a whole hundred bucks minus trip to dump. Depending on the quality you looking at 2-4 dollars a ft. for carpet and about the same for tile especially if you want a diamond or brick pattern laid down
doing the demo is about all i reconmend. The tile base, leave it up to the installer for warrent issue ( and thay know what the want to have as a backer ) Dont know abour Cali prices but nationaly about $ 8 to $10 per sq/ft. get three est imates and pick between the middle and top one.
I`m with Scooby, in that, you may not save much doing the prep yourself. Depends on the installer.
When I was laying carpet it was a "given" that I would do it All included in the price of the carpet. This is Not to say the Store did`nt charge for it `tho, so be careful of hiring an installer through a store. I Would however Go to a carpet store and ask them how much an installer gets for the work you mentioned. You can also get business cards of installers in your area at that time.
If you *Really* want to save a Bunch, why not Do-It-Yourself? I mean the installation...? If you find you just Can`t Do a step or three *Then* call in the Pros. As mentioned earlier, I have Years of experience installing both floor tile and carpet, as well as ceramic tile for baths etc. If you`d like to DIY I`ll be glad to share what I know. You can send me pics or diagrams to my email and I can help you step-by-step with it. I`m not sure if pics can be posted in here. Anybody?
Good Luck with it! I *Know* you will be proud of it.
RT
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