FREE Guide: 5 Things You Must Know Before Buying Carpets or Flooring

Are you thinking about upgrading your floors? Excited about the possibilities for your next renovation? The Longstaffes Team is here to help! Get your hands on our FREE guide that reveals the 5 essential things you need to know before choosing carpets or flooring.

In this guide, you’ll learn:

1. How to Choose the Right Flooring for Your Lifestyle
   Understand what works best for busy homes, pets, or quiet spaces. Carpet, vinyl, or LVT? We break it down simply.
2. The Secret to Flooring That Lasts
   Why choosing the right materials and underlay makes a world of difference (and saves you money in the long run).
3. How to Measure Like a Pro (and Avoid Overpaying!)
   Step-by-step guidance on how to calculate your flooring needs without costly mistakes.
4. Mistakes People Make When Buying Flooring
   Avoid common pitfalls that can lead to stress, poor quality, or hidden costs.
5. Why Fitting Matters Just as Much as Your Flooring
   Expert advice on ensuring your flooring looks stunning and stands the test of time.

5 Things You Must Know Before Buying Carpets or Flooring

Whether you’re choosing carpets, laminate, vinyl, LVT, or artificial grass, making the right decision can transform your home or business. Here’s what you need to know:

1. Choose the Right Flooring for Your Lifestyle

It’s crucial to consider how you want to use the space before making your product choice for each area. A top tip from interior designers that we work with is to ask yourself “what 3 words best describe what I want for this space?”

Then use these 3 words as a filter and ask – does the flooring I am looking at fit with this vision?

If you want low-maintenance, look for the easy to clean and more durable options.

Carpets: Ideal for bedrooms and living rooms, offering warmth and comfort. Stain-resistant carpets are great for busy homes, especially if you have kids or pets (or both!).
Laminate: Perfect for high-traffic areas. It’s durable, sleek and budget-friendly.
Vinyl Flooring: Waterproof, incredibly good value and low-maintenance, particularly popular in kitchens and bathrooms, we’re increasingly seeing our customers ask for it in other areas.
LVT (Luxury Vinyl Tiles): Stylish and highly resilient, LVT mimics wood or stone beautifully while offering a waterproof finish and superior durability.
Artificial Grass: A great outdoor solution for low-maintenance gardens and outdoor spaces.

2. Quality Underlay Makes All the Difference

The underlay you choose will determine how your carpet / flooring feels, sounds, and lasts:

Carpets: A thick, cushioned underlay extends carpet life and improves comfort.
Laminate: Use underlay for noise reduction, moisture protection, plus greater insulation and longevity.

Did You Know?
We follow the Consumer Code of Practice from the UK Carpet Foundation, which has been approved by the Office of Fair Trading, recommending that new underlay is bought with every new carpet.

The key reasons for this are:

• Underlay is vital for new carpet/flooring to sit properly and wear evenly. Your carpet and underlay can wear unevenly, particularly in areas of high traffic like on stairs and near doorways. Investing in quality underlay helps to avoid uneven surfaces and premature wear
• It improves heat and sound insulation, thereby reducing energy costs, studies have shown that new underlay increases the longevity of carpet by 40% (sound bite/ image to one side)
• It reduces pile compression and so enables a carpet to retain its appearance for longer
• Noise insulation: noise reduction and acoustics are considerably improved when the right underlay is installed
• Manufacturers may not accept a complaint if old underlay has been used

In short, you wouldn’t buy a new car with old tyres, so it’s best to install new carpet or flooring with new underlay!

3. Measure Accurately to Avoid Overpaying

Getting the right measurements saves money and headaches:

• Use a measuring tape and measure the longest and widest of your room, adding 3-6 inches (7 – 15cm) for cuts and awkward spaces.
• This includes measuring in to doorways! (The correct size is often bigger than measuring wall-to-wall).
• For carpets, vinyls and artificial grass, you need to buy the width of the roll that will cover the room / area size (for example, a room that is 3.4m x 3.7m you will need to buy 3.4m x 4m wide).
• If unsure, ask us for our free professional measuring service – accurate fitting starts with precision, and we pride ourselves on helping you get the job right first time.

4. Avoid Common Mistakes

Listening to our customers feedback over many years points to 3 frequent pitfalls to avoid:

1. Choosing style over practicality: Opt for flooring that suits the way you live in & use the space.
   Example 1: ensure you choose something durable & hard wearing for the high traffic areas like entrance-ways and kitchens.
   Example 2: carpets with a shorter, tighter pile are better on stairs/landings than longer-pile plush carpets which, as nice as they feel at first, are more prone to pile flattening.
2. Ignoring maintenance: Vinyl and laminate are easy to clean, while carpets need regular vacuuming to ensure proper maintenance and improve longevity.
3. Skipping professional fitting: Poor installation can lead to costly repairs later. Our advice is pay the price or pay it twice 🙂

5. Expert Fitting Guarantees Perfection

A stunning floor isn’t just about the product – expert installation ensures:

• A flawless finish, especially for LVT and carpets, where precision is crucial.
• Proper expansion gaps for laminates (laminate is a type of ‘floating floor’ so requires the right size gap around the edges to allow for expansion and contraction that comes with temperature changes)
• Long-term performance and reduced waste.

As always feel free to get in touch if you have any questions, or click below to request a free quote.