Consumer Guide For Purchasing Carpet In Your Arizona Home The Most Common Situations And Questions Home Owners Ask When Purchasing Carpet For Their Homes. Questions You Should Ask Before Buying Carpet 1 What s The Right Carpet For Me When I m selling my house 3 I plan on living in my home for less than 3 years and I want to sell it or rent it 5 I love my home and I ll be here for the next 10 years or more 6 We have kids and we have a lot of action going on in the house 8 I Love my Dogs and I want to Love my Carpet too 10 I have a Rental House 12 Explanation Of Carpet Pad 14 What Is The Proper Way To Install Carpet? 16 What Is DUMMBO Spray? 18 A Quick Explanation Of How To Measure Carpet 20 Cleaning & Caring For Your New Carpet 22 Your Health 23 This Consumer Guide Only Contains 11 Grammatical and spelling errors. See if you can you find them all.
Hi I m Jerry Levinson, owner of Carpets of Arizona and author of the Consumer Guide for Purchasing Carpet in Arizona. In this guide you will find the most common questions and concerns that homeowners have when purchasing carpet for their floor. I hope you enjoy the way these questions are presented and answered. You won t find corporate stale information like you would on a manufacturers buyer guide. You won t get the scientific makeup of the fiber of the carpet. Really? Who Cares? But that s why I wrote this guide, with you in mind. What my team and I have found are homeowners who want carpet based on their situation. You ll find information based on your lifestyle and your circumstances. Everything from I m selling my house, to We are going to live hear the rest of our lives, kids, pets, rental houses, and more questions about you are answered in this guide. You ll find a very similar warm friendly style of shopping when you come to Carpets of Arizona. We will never push you into buying carpet now because of some made up special or sale. Our goal is that you love your carpet and we want you to love your whole shopping experience, from decorating to final installation it s very important to me that you have an excellent buying experience. If you have any questions or if you simply want to show me all my grammatical and spelling errors feel free to e-mail me at Jerry@CarpetsofArizona.com
BEFORE YOU BUY CARPET 12 Questions You Should Ask When Buying Carpet 1. What is the process for purchasing carpet? Are you going to pressure us to buy now because of some sale or will I get good information so I can make an informed decision. 2. Would you explain the installation process? Do you have an Installation system I can trust? Do you do floor prep, dispose of my old carpet, do you move furniture? Do you charge extra for these things? 3. What If I Don t Like The Carpet I Chose? It s hard to pick from small samples. Sometimes the carpet looks different then you expected. Ask if there is a guarantee that you will like the carpet you choose. 4. If there is a problem, like the installers don t show up on time or I have a question who is my contact person? Are they going to take care of me or shuffle me off to another department? 5. What is the real difference between nylon and polyester? 6. Can you explain the wear warranty and what my expectations should be for wear in heavy traffic areas? 7. Do you move furniture? What do you charge? Did you know some companies can charge an extra $150 per room just to move furniture. 1
8. What type of carpet pad do you use? Is there an upcharge for the better pad? Will better pad increase my warranty? 9. Is it better to spend more money on a thicker carpet or higher quality pad? 10. What do you charge to come in and measure my home? 11. Do you give expert In-Home advice on selecting carpet? Color? Style? Wear? 12. Do you tear out and haul off my old carpet & pad? Does that cost extra? 2
What is the right carpet for me when I m selling my house? Take Advantage of The Home Seller s Dream Program Exclusively at Carpets of Arizona Home Seller s And Relators Are Loving The Home Seller s Dream Program. You get brand new gorgeous carpet: Installed Free No Out of Pocket Cost No Credit Check Free Haul Off and Disposal of Your Old Carpet You don t pay anything until your house is sold. Most of the time you are able to recoup the cost of the Carpet by increasing the sales price of the home. It s much easier to sell a home with new carpet vs old dirty carpet or a carpet allowance. If you don t use The Home Seller s Dream Program When you are selling your house you want your flooring to look great. A good thick polyester carpet is perfect for selling the house. Polyester has great colors that tend to be brighter. Polyester is inexpensive. You should be able to get a good polyester carpet installed for around $3 per foot. Nylon is a better quality carpet but the goal is to put something down that looks good and helps you sell the house. A cheaper nylon just doesn t look as good as a thick bright polyester. 3
We do keep several rolls of in-stock polyester because customers usually want a quick turn-around because they are showing their house to potential buyers. Another excellent treatment when selling the house is Luxury Vinyl Planks. If you want a wood look that is easy to clean you can consider Luxury Vinyl Planks, especially in the Kitchen, Bathrooms, Formal Dinning Rooms, and other areas where carpet just isn t a good idea. The price for this treatment is about 20% more then carpet. It s something you might want to check out if you want to add a little something special to the flooring. Whenever we do flooring for someone who is selling their home we want to consider your main goal in mind. Sell the home and re coop as much profit out of the sale as you can. Sometimes you accomplish that with the cheapest product. Sometimes a more expensive product makes more sense. Let s work together to find the best solution for you to reach your goal and sell your home. 4
We Are Only Going To Live Here For 1-3 More Years Then We Are Going To Sell Or Rent Out Our Home Olympic Line - Gold This is a very common situation that we hear all the time. The best solution in this case is probably the Olympic Line. The Olympic Line is a good quality Nylon carpet that is one of the best values. Olympic Line comes in either Silver, Gold, or Platinum. I wouldn t do the Silver but Platinum is not necessary. You will get a solid 5 years out of the Gold and your carpet will clean up and look fantastic when it comes time to you re your home. There is a great color pallet to choose from where you can find a good neutral color that will work for you and the new homeowner or renter when the time comes. Tuftex & Smart Strand Both Tuftex & Mohawk s Smart Strand are great values as well. Your out the door price is around $5/Ft. for one of these great carpets. That comes with Free Tear Out & Haul Off Free Pad Upgrade to 8Ou. Pad Free Furniture Move + Free Snow Shoveling for all Carpets of Arizona customers in the Metro Phoenix Area. (Hey It Could Happen) Another Flooring to consider is Karndean s Waterproof Wood Style Flooring 5
We Plan On Living in This House Several More Years Maybe Even The Rest Of Our Lives Great News! There is a lot of very good quality carpets that will last 15, 20, 25 years or longer. Olympic Line is a Nylon Carpet that has an excellent color selection for you to choose from. It s called Olympic because it really has great performance. You can choose from: Silver A 35 Ounce Nylon. Not many people choose this carpet but it is a good value, and it s good quality. Gold A 45 Ounce Nylon that is a little thicker and softer on your feet. Platinum A 55 Ounce Nylon, which is our top seller. Very soft on your feet and it s a thicker more dense carpet that holds up very well. It s excellent for large rooms which require seams. The Seams will hide very well on any of the Olympic Carpets. Olympic Carpet comes in either a Twist or Texture finish. Twist is a little looser and Texture has tighter threads. We don t recommend one over the other because it really comes down to which look you prefer. Caress is one of America s Softest Carpets. This carpet is really good for you home bodies who like to take off your shoes and lounge around the house. It is so soft that many people lay down in the living room and comfortably fall asleep without going to bed. 6
There is a large selection of patterns in the Caress line as well. Like all of the Shaw AnsoNylon Carpets, Caress is very stain resistant and cleans up really well. You can get Caress as thick as 100 ounce, which we have in our showroom for you to experience. Life Happens is Shaw s Newest Addition It is a Waterproof backed carpet, so no liquids, urine, or really anything can penetrate thru to the pad. Life Happens is the easiest carpet to clean. It s perfect for busy households that have a lot of action going on. Pets, Kids, Party Guests BRING IT ON! Life Happens is also great for seniors because it has a very tight nap, which is great for vacuuming, less tripping, and it s good for walkers and strollers. This is just a few of your choices when it comes to carpet. We don t want to make it complicated on you. The important thing is for you to meet with one of our Flooring Experts who can help you choose the right carpet based on your lifestyle, décor, and the activity in your house. We also want to help you choose a carpet or other flooring based on how long you plan on living in the house. 7
We have kids, kids friends, friends of kids friends, there s a lot of small people running around this house. We also have a swimming pool, BBQ, and we like to have people over to the house often. What do you have that will hold up to a lot of Action? My 2 favorite holidays are Thanksgiving and Superbowl. Great food, family, friends, and fun, And yes the carpet can take a beating, with unexpected spills, dirty shoes, and the occasional dropped little hot dog with bbq sauce or worse the occasional dropped hot dog with mustard. Oi Va! Life Happens Waterproof Carpeting from Shaw floors is probably the best carpet to hold up against a lot of action. It s the hardest to stain and the easiest to clean up. Since the backing is 100% waterproof (No kidding, I even used this is a wagon and created an Ice Chest for our Grand Opening) you don t have to worry about spills running down into the pad. You will have an excellent selection of solids, textures, and patterns to choose from as well as great color selections within each style. Mohawk s Smart Strand is one of the toughest carpets I ve ever seen. They ve really put this one to the test by putting in Rikko the Rhino section of the zoo, where the Rhino is not the people. They ve laid it at the Tough Mudder event with thousands of contestants running through the obstacle course grinding mud into the carpet. 8
You can see both these challenges on You Tube. Look up Mohawk Smart Strand Tough Mudder Challenge & Mohawk Smart Strand Rikko the Rhino Challenge. If Mohawk Smart Strand can hold up to these challenges I bet this carpet will look great for years to come in your home. Smart Strand is one of the softest fibers you ll enjoy in your home and Smart Strand comes in many different styles, colors, and patterns. Talk to one of our Flooring Experts to make sure you are getting the right carpet for your family. 9
I Love My Dog! I m not going to get rid of her. She s an old dog so she makes messes. I also want to keep carpet. I like the soft feel. It s frustrating, what should I do? You know, we actually hear this a lot. You shouldn t have to sacrifice with your flooring and get hard surface everywhere. Nothing beats the warmth of beautiful soft carpeting. And you certainly shouldn t have to get rid of your dog. There are so many great solutions so we think You Should Love Your Dog & Love Your Carpet Stainmaster with Pet Protect from Tuftex is the perfect carpet for Dog Lovers. This carpet has been designed with you in mind. Basically anything that comes out of an animal, will also come out of your carpet. Stainmaster PetProtect carpet has a built in stain resistance that won t wash off. You will have a lot of great colors and styles to choose from to fit your décor and you ll be really pleased at the cost of this great performing carpet. Mohawk Smart Strand will hold up to your pet bird, cat, dog, snake, and even Rhinoceros, as it held up to Ricko the Rhino when put to the test in his enclosure back in August 2009. Check out the YouTube video and you tell me if you think Smart Strand will hold up to your four legged family member, unless it s your bird, which is your two legged winged something or other friend. You get the point. 10
Life Happens from Shaw floors is one of the most durable carpets ever created. It s completely waterproof so nothing will ever get through to the pad. You don t have to worry about stains or odors that won t come out when you have Life Happens. The fibers are so tough in Life Happens that your dog or cat couldn t rip the fibers out even if there was a juicy bone installed underneath. You have an excellent selection of patterns, colors, and styles to choose from. Life Happens is only a little more expensive then most carpets but it s well worth it. This carpet is so easy to clean and maintain. It will also look great for many years to come. Come into the showroom and let one of our flooring experts help you decide the perfect carpet for you and your family. They will send you home with samples. Come out and measure and give you an estimate on your project. You re going to love your choices and your going to love your new Carpet & Your Dog 11
I Have a Rental House. What Is The Least Expensive Carpet I Can Get? We get this call all the time. I understand how frustrating it is when your renters ruin your new carpet and your forced to purchase more again after 1 or 2 years. It s crazy isn t it? Here s a couple solutions that might help. 1. Have you ever heard of Renter s Planks? Renter s Planks usually cost about 20% more then cheap carpet and they will last several years. Cleaning is much easier. You will save a ton of money because you won t need a professional Carpet Cleaner. If your renter does damage these planks replacing is real easy. Any handy do-it-yourselfer can replace planks in less then ½ an hour with no major labor involved. Renter Wood Style Planks are also waterproof. If your tenant floods the home on accident, or on purpose they won t damage your floors. BIGGEST MISTAKE MOST HOME OWNERS MAKE The biggest mistake that most people make is choosing cheap flooring with the idea that you are saving money but the goal with any rental house is to get the best R.O.I. on your investment. Furthermore the cost to install Carpet is the same no matter how much your material price is. 12
The Cost to install Tile is the same no matter what your material price is. The Cost to install Laminate or Waterproof Wood Style Planks is the same. My point is this. You could even get Good Quality Carpet for around $5/Ft installed and you will get several more years out of that carpet. You will have better warranties. It will be easier to clean, and it will wear better then putting in a cheap carpet. Here s the Math for you Average 3 bedroom rental house will use about 700 sq. Ft. 3.00/ft. polyester or cheap nylon will cost you $2,100 (Replacement 2-3 years) 5.00/yd Quality Nylon Smart Strand or Olympic Carpet will Cost you about $3,500. (Replacement 5 7 years) On average you will get 3 years more out of your investment. $1,400 Amortized over 36 months will only cost $38 per month. If you decide to sell this home within that 5 7 year period you will save $2,100 because you won t have to replace the Quality Nylon carpet. If you have a home that commands more rent then I would even recommend a $6.00 to $7.00/ft. Something softer and nicer looking. When your rent is over $1,700 per month the renters tend to take better care of the home as well. 13
Carpet Pad Explained in Simple Terms There is base grade Carpet pad. 3/8 6lb The only time you should use this pad is when you are selling the home. For the difference in cost you may decide to upgrade to the better pad anyway. ½ 8lb Charity Pad from Shaw This is really the only pad we use at Carpets of Arizona. You will get this pad as a FREE Upgrade when purchasing Carpet from C of A. It s called Charity because a portion of the purchase goes to St. Jude s Children s Hospital. Shaw extends your wear warranty by 7 years when using Charity Pad. This cushion feels better under foot. Your carpet will wear better and last longer. There is an antimicrobial top on Charity Pad so any stains, spills, or pet accidents can t penetrate thru to the pad, which makes cleaning up stains easier and it helps kills odors faster. 5/8 10lb Courage Pad from Shaw If you would prefer the softest best cushion then Courage Pad would be for you. A Portion of your purchase will be donated to St. Jude s Children s Hospital Shaw extends your wear warranty by 10 years when you install new Shaw Carpet with Courage Pad 14
This cushion feels better under foot Your carpet will wear better and last longer. There is an antimicrobial top and bottom on Courage Pad so any stains, spills, or pet accidents can t penetrate thru to the pad, which makes cleaning up stains easier and it helps kills odors faster. Courage Pad also comes with a moisture barrier on the bottom so no water can come up from the concrete. (This is not a problem in AZ as it is in other States) There are a couple things to consider when choosing Carpet Pad. 1) How soft of a feel do you want when walking on your carpet? Is that important to you? 2) It also depends on the type of carpet you purchase. It may not make sense to have a thicker cushion. For Berber s and some pattern carpets a denser more firm pad may make more sense. It s important that you discuss the type of pad you will be using with your Flooring Professional. Let him or her guide you on the right pad to go with your carpet and your lifestyle. 15
Carpets of Arizona The Right Installation Process 1. FREE FURNITURE MOVE: First Step is to move furniture, which sounds obvious but it s your furniture and it s important to know that our installers will take special care in moving your furniture. We do ask you to move the small knick knacks and breakable items. If you need help please let us know. We want to help you get your new Carpet installed. 2. TEAR YOUR OLD CARPET AND PAD OUT FREE: Don t you worry, we are going to tear your old carpet out and haul it off and throw it away. 3. PREPARE YOUR FLOOR: We will sweep all the loose dust and dirt. Our certified installers will spray DUMMBO on your floors. DUMMBO kills Dog Urine, mold, mildew, bacteria, and odors out of your cement making it a clean healthy surface to lay your new carpet on. 4. INSTALL & GLUE DOWN YOUR NEW PAD: Many companies will skimp on glue or stretch the pad, which is the wrong thing to do. We will lay your pad down right so it doesn t cause unnecessary shifts in your carpet. 5. CUT YOUR CARPET TO FIT: Our installers are some of the best at the industry when it comes to laying out your carpet. Carpet has a nap, so you want to make sure that it is all running the same direction. You also want your seems to be in areas that don t get heavy traffic. 6. SEAL YOUR SEAMS: We use the best tape and latex seam sealer to seal your carpet seams. You have a Lifetime Guarantee that your carpet seams will never come apart. If they 16
do we will come out and fix those seams at no charge to you. 7. POWER STRETCH YOUR CARPET: In order to avoid loose and buckled carpet it needs to be Power Stretched properly. This will also help cleaning and wear and tear on your carpet. Carpets of Arizona will Power Stretch your carpet EVERYTIME!!! 8. VACUUM NEW CARPET: After your carpet is Professionally installed and stretched we vacuum your carpet so you have a new clean freshly vacuumed carpet. 9. REPLACE YOUR FURNITURE: Your furniture will be put right back where it belongs. Now we may ask your help since we threw out your old carpet with all the furniture indentations in it. Our GOAL is that that you have an excellent experience getting new carpet. We want you to love your new carpet, think of us when you are ready for more, and tell your friends. 17
What Is Dummbo Spray? This is a Spray and treatment that you will only find at Carpets of Arizona. After we remove your carpet our installers will treat your floors with Dummbo Spray before installing your new flooring. We don t charge extra for this because it s The Right Thing To Do! D.U.M.M.B.O. KILLS!!! And you thought it was just a loveable elephant with big floppy ears. (Shhhh, Don t tell Disney) Dummbo Kills Dog Urine : If you don t pretreat the floors then other dogs or cats will spot where they previously or another animal previously urinated. We don t want them going on the new carpet now do we? Yes your new carpet will probably clean up just fine but I m sure you would rather not try. Mold & Mildew: There is moisture in the concrete or there could have been some spills or liquids that may cause Mold or Mildew to form so Dummbo will kill that. Bacteria: Bacteria can form in the most unusual places. We want to kill it why we are working with a bare concrete floor. 18
Odors: Ever have that mysterious smell that you can t get rid of? Dummbo will get rid of odors so all you have is that new carpet smell, which also goes away but it s a good smell after you have your new carpets laid. Very few companies will take the time to treat the floors. In fact most won t even sweep up the floors knowing that you will never see the mess underneath. We insist our installers use The Right Installation Process so our customers get a great quality installation every time. 19
How to Measure Carpet 1 st thing you need to do when measuring carpet is Call 480-558-9777 and have one of our Professional Flooring Experts measure your floors. I wish everyone in Arizona would do this but I understand you would like to have an idea of how much carpet you need and what the cost is. The Biggest Mistakes Most People Make When Measuring Their Own Carpet You can t just measure the width x length and come up with the right square footage. Remember Carpet Comes 12 Feet Wide. For Example: If a bedroom is 10 x 10 then you will need 120 of carpet. You will have to order a 10 x 12 because carpet comes in 12 foot widths. If your great room is 15 x 20 then I would figure 2 12 pieces of carpet 15 long. You will have one seam in the middle. So you need a piece 30 x 12 or 360. You will have a piece 3.5 x 15 left over that you can use elsewhere. Also Keep In Mind To Over measure About 4 On Each Side 20
Your installer will need to make his cuts about 4 wide on each side so he has room to stretch. They aren t going to get perfect cuts out on your driveway so having extra carpet will save you a lot more then it will cost you. Don t BE SHORT! You have a project that is $3,000. It would be much better to pay $3,100 then to be short carpet and have to order more which cost shipping, time, money, and hassle getting the installer back out to do more work. If you ordered too much you can keep it for repairs or have it bound for an area rug. Another Example: Your Room is 26 long by 15 wide. It s to long for just 2 pieces and to wide to get good cuts. If we are doing another room we can grab pieces from the other room to make this work. ROC Rules state that we can have a maximum of 3 seams so you can t just have a bunch of cuts. We also want to keep our seams away from heavy traffic if we can. What I would do in this case is a 26 piece and divide 26 by 3 = 8.6 so we would make that 9 + 26 = 35 x 12 = 420 If you multiplied 26 x 15 you would get 390 so you can see you would be 30 sq. feet short. See that s why I said to call 480-558-9777. Confusing Ain t It? 21
Care & Cleaning Of Your Carpet Vacuuming: Frequent vacuuming will prolong the life of your carpet. You Can Never Over-Vacuum Carpet Shaw Floors Shaw also recommends things like the proper vacuum cleaner with adjustable heads for the plushness of the carpet and changing the bags. Carpets of Arizona recommends that you vacuum wearing nothing but a string of pearls. Hey, it worked for June Cleaver & Martha Stewart. Professional Cleaning: In order to maintain your manufacturers warranty you should have your carpets professionally cleaned every 12 to 18 months. Keep your receipts. Stain Removal: Carpet isn t Stain Resistant, Customers Are Most carpets have excellent stain resistant fibers but it s important that you get to the stain or the spill quickly to completely remove most stains. Absorb as much liquid as you can quickly by blotting with paper towels. Use a blotting action, never a scrubbing motion, to prevent fuzzing of the carpet surface. 22
Your Carpet Your Health All Shaw & Mohawk Carpets meet or exceed the CRI Green Label Plus Certification IAQ testing have shown all Mohawk and Shaw Carpets meet responsible environmental health standards set by the EPA. Odor in new carpet comes from 4-phenycyclohexene, a byproduct of the latex used to hold the fibers together. Some people won t even notice, others may find it pleasant. Either way the odor will dissipate within a week. A Little Misnomer about Carpet and Allergies. People believe allergens come from carpet when the facts are Carpets do a better job at keeping common allergens such as mold, animal dander, dust mites and other bio pollutants out of the air you breath. Carpet traps these pollutants allowing you to vacuum them up and therefore you aren t breathing them. Hard surfaces will have more of a tendency to allow you to kick up dust and allergens. Research has shown that there is no correlation between allergen contained in carpet and allergen in the air in the carpeted room. For additional information contact The Carpet and Rug Institute at www.carpet-rug.org or call 706-278-3176. 23
If you like the back cover you are going to love what s in this consumer guide! of Arizona 480-558-9777 480 E. Warner Road #4 Chandler, AZ 85225 www.carpetsofarizona.com 24 Small Family Owned Business No One Over 5'6"