Flooring Question

[Lacuna]

Hi! I have filthy ruined carpet that needs to be torn out and replaced. I am on a very very tight budget, but the condition of the carpet depresses me. I could start with the living room and the rest could be deep cleaned and would be find I think. I live in a mobile home, so the living room isn't huge. I am thinking since I am desperate I'll need to get vinyl, it is usually the cheapest, right? Does anyone have any tips on how to do this cheaply?

[MoonKnight]

Check out Home Depot, Lowes or any place that sells carpet for remnants. You'll be surprised at what you can get and how cheap it is.

[Yvonne Belisle]

Also check freecycle since sometimes people are getting rid of surplus that they bought or changing a color. If you can get carpet from an older person's home a lot of times it is in really good shape they just got tired of the color. www.freecycle.org

[-Ember]

Things to consider:

1) Is carpet the option you want?
2a) Who is installing? Figure that into your budget... a free carpet is not a good deal if it costs more to get installed than some installation/purchase combo special.
2b) If you are thinking of installing it yourself, research it well first and be sure you are willing to take the chance of doing it less than well... and have a good idea of what you would need to have to do it. It is mostly grunt work, but still something you want someone skilled overseeing.
3) Does the padding need to be replaced?

[LadyTrinity]

Yes! I know what you mean. The last place I was in had gross pink carpet and It literally looked like it was lived in by horses or something. Very dirty and smelly. So what did I do? Ripped it out! Took a while with a pry bar and a utility knife to get all the staples out and the under carpet foam but it was worth it. Under neath were really nice hard wood floors. The last people must have covered them to save on their gas bill or something :noway:
If you want to re carpet, I would go to Thrift shops or auctions. Sometimes you can get nice carpet for nothing, or look in the paper or put an ad, sometimes rich people want a new look so they will get rid of their existing nice carpet.
Good Luck!

[GwenOfTheHeathens]

You can get great carpet remenants of all sizes at Home Depot and Menards. Measure out your space-go shopping and have fun. Two sided tape would work good at the edges to hold it down.

[fangedeshana]

Yuck. Not a huge fan of carpet. I'd rip it up, and get someone in to polish up the floorboards - assuming you have wooden, not cement floor underneath.

But that's just my personal preference! :P

[~*Ginger*~]

Most floors in a trailer are either, plywood, or particle board.
Do not use the carpet cleaner that puts water on your carpet to clean it, eventually you'll be having to replace the floor itself, if it's made of particle board.

They also make floor paint.
Or outdoor paint.

*just a thought*

[Zoritsa_Nepenthe]

There are so many options out there now,definately check out Home Depot,Lowes,Menards and price everything.You can do carpet remnants or carpet tiles(two types now,peel and stick or ones you just lay down),you can do the vinyl peel and stick floorings....in either sqaures or they have the long wood looking boards that are peel and stick(my friends did that and it looked pretty good).There is also the hardwood look,if done yourself is alot less expensive,but can still get pricey.

I've also seen someone get a nice large area rug,and do a boarder of tiles around the room and tack down the area rug over that.So it appears that the room is tiled,but in actuality there are only tiles along the border of the room and the rug in the center.

[DarkWaltz]

Get 2 cheap lovely fluffy rugs...Thats what I am doing I just pulled up my old filthy carpet...damn good for anger management too ;) But decided I have more furniture than floor so a rug is a good option