Buying Cheap Carpet in Melbourne – Carpet Tiles vs Carpet

Earlier this year I was looking at buying cheap carpet in Melbourne for an investment property. I was faced with the conundrum – if I buy too cheap the property will reflect that (along with whoever rents it), but if I pay too much then the tenants could equally stain or ruin the carpet within a few months. I was also worried that I would need to replace the carpet in five years time because it wouldn’t be durable enough.

These thoughts were running around in my head until I found an entirely better option – buying second hand commercial carpet. This turned out to be not only half the price of the cheap new carpet I was looking at, but it was better quality and to top it off I got greenie points (buying reused commercial carpet meant I wasn’t contributing to landfill!). It was a complete no brainer and I have never looked back.

Quick tip: if you need cheap carpet then I would always go for recycled office carpet. (The difference in quality between commercial and domestic carpet is enormous).

Since purchasing the property my circumstances have changed and I have been living there whilst we finish renovations. I work from home so this means I walk on and see my recycled carpet quite a lot and so really get to see its wear and tear in action.

Not to mention I have a dog (a beautiful schnauzer) with a bladder problem… she has chosen to let loose nightly (in my office by the way) so I am ever thankful that I scored cheap (recycled) carpet.

Having written all that, I recently found out about carpet tiles and if there was a battle between carpet and carpet tiles, carpet tiles would win hands down. Let me pit them against each other.

Carpet Tiles – (Industrial Carpet Tiles)

·      Easier to replace if you have an issue (stain, rip etc) on a small section. Why replace the whole carpet if you can just replace sections?

·      Quality is on par with carpet – you can still get commercial, heavy duty industrial tiles for a bargain and score the greenie points (they are reused also)

·      You can choose funky designs (ie. checker board patterns – red and dark grey or one lighter tile, one darker).

·      Commercial carpet tiles get better when they get older; because as the traffic areas become more walked on they start to blend in to each other.

·      Carpet tiles have been starting to make a large impact on floor coverings only in the last five to seven years. This is mostly due to the DIY market – you can install yourself – saving costs and also heavy labouring. Plus you don't need to use carpet underlay... thus getting more bang for your buck.

·      They work better in investment properties, offices, gyms, churches, houses where dogs, babies and kids live, houses where old people live (because the flat tile is easier to walk on), nursing homes, exhibition spaces, holiday homes, caravans and annexes

Carpet –

·      Simply, carpet is better than carpet tiles if you own your dream home and you don’t have pets or kids.