Need carpet advice...

[The Loveable Losers]

This one's completely out of left field but since this is pretty much the only board I frequent it's as good a place as any.

My family's getting ready to move into a new house with an unfinished basement. We really could care less that it's unfinished as we plan on making it into a playroom for the kids. However, kids don't tend to enjoy playing on concrete slabs so we'd like to find some type of carpeting or other solution to make it more comfortable for the kids.

Our main concern on the project is cost. We really could care less what it loos like since the kids will do a number on it and destroy it anyways. I'm also willing to think a bit outside the box if it saves a bit of money. Total square footage to carpet will be somewhere in the neighborhood of 700-800 square feet...the entire space is 800 square feet but there's a large area where the steps come down from the first floor right smack in the middle that won't need carpeted. We wouldn't even be putting the carpet down as we don't really care what the basement looks like so this is 100% for the kids to not have to play on a concrete slab. Nothing other than their comfort and the cost matter at all.

[Pablo975]

A few ideas:

Check out craiglist, the local paper, etc to see if anyone is throwing out old carpet and will let you have it and use what you need or what will work.

Check with apartment complexes/property management places too as they replace perfectly good carpet a LOT. A lot of it is crap, but a lot is still good too.

Search the area carpet stores for the ugliest carpet design you can find around and offer to take it off their hands. Do the same at the carpet distributors too. They're usually in an industrial part of town and don't even look like a store. They may have a roll or two that got damaged or was refused by a customer. I used to work in one of these places so I know it happens.

As far as pad goes, you'll probably have to pay full price for it, but it's relatively cheap compared to the carpet itself. You won't find free pad as if the pad is being replaced, it's because it's ruined.

[knapplc]

I strongly recommend getting a Berber weave.

[Old_Style]

I don't know, I sure had fun playing on the concrete slab we had for our basement floor when I was a kid.

Seriously, check out some ads in the paper, you can find some good deals on half decent carpet.

[The Artful Dodger]

Funny that you bring this up. Last Saturday, I had to have the carpet in my apartment changed. Needless to say, it was a hassle to move things around, but glad I got help. Unfortunately, the carpet has this gravel look and texture to it that I'm not too fond about. So, my first tip of advice would not be to get a carpet that looks like rough beach sand, unless you're really into that.

I'd try looking up local ads on carpet stores in your area and see what kind of estimate you can get.