Last week I lamented about the pathetic state of the consumer carpet industry.

I happened to have a really good experience, and considering the lack of good experiences to be had out there, I feel compelled to share my experience.

First, it's probably important that you visit and encourage various companies to come out to your house and measure and give you estimates. Some will charge for moving furniture, some will not. Stairs might be extra, removal/disposal might be extra. Install might be included, flat price, or priced by the square foot. Having two estimates from the competition is generally a good idea since there's no way to tell if you're getting a good deal otherwise.

Now, if you care more about your time and care less about paying 10-20% more for your carpet install (and you might not if you're installing 200-400 sq. ft.) but at 1000 sq. ft. that our job will be, that's $750-$1500 that this research will cost you for the premium of your time.

Once you're educated about what your install will entail and how much the competition will charge, head on over to Abbey Carpets in Sammamish. Who knows, maybe their other franchise operations are good, but the franchise owner in Sammamish, Mike, knows his stuff.

Before we talked to Mike, we were staying away from the StainMaster-treated carpets because they are treated with a teflon material which contains PFCs (Perflourocarbons). However, the products he steered us toward apparently don't offgas because these products, namely "Tactesse" branded products, are extruded, which means the teflon stain resistance is mixed in the liquid nylon before its extruded into fiber, which means much less offgassing than an absorbent fiber that has been treated after-the-fact.

Secondly, Mike was the only person we spoke to in the slew of companies and salespeople we spoke to who knew what the CRI green label program was. The highest standard carpets tend to be commercial carpet-tile. Consumer carpets are generally not tested to that same standard (although I suppose it's possible some would pass if they were).

Third, Mike was the only person to inform us that the pad choices we have (Lowes doesn't even offer a choice, and neither did Costco) will have a huge impact on air quality and VOCs. The best choice is frothed foam padding because it is impermeable to dirt and grime and it can be taped together as opposed to foam which has to be glued. Glues have VOCs, and foam not only lets dirt and other microfibers through the pad into the underlayment, it's also absorbent of spills- so each step you take means you're re-releasing tiny dust particles into the air, and means you may spread or have to soak any spills you want to clean up. (Another reason frothed foam is better is that it is more resistant to denting from furniture-- it's like memory foam as opposed to mattress foam)

We were also able to compare against wool, and found that the BCF (Bulk Continuous Fiber) carpet we found we liked was more budget friendly than wool. Again, having a salesperson who was fully knowledgeable about all aspects of carpet like Mike was key to even being able to talk us out of considering wool. Nobody else would have had a chance because I was better informed than they were, just from a few web pages I read.

In the end, having seen and talked to the competition helped me appreciate the expertise that Mike provided. Having talked to the rest also helped me let Mike know where my budget should be, and he pointed us toward a responsible, quality product that will ensure the proper health, cleanliness, maintenance and quality of the flooring in my home for the years to come.

If it isn't obvious by now, if you're thinking about installing carpet in your house, I highly recommend you talk to Mike at the Sammamish Abbey Carpet location before you (nearly) abandon the project, like we almost did, in disgust.