Take for example my current home. Part of the unfinished basement consisted of an area 8 feet wide by 20 feet long. We found a Coliseum Deep Waters quality carpet 12 x 21’10″ and almost 30 square yards online for $194.61. This was enough to carpet our entire area and works great now as our workout room. At around $8 a square yard by the roll, this would have run roughly $240 to purchase outright. A pretty substantial savings.

The key to finding quality carpet remnants is simple knowing where to look. The best place to start is by calling around to all your local carpet dealers and searching for carpet remnants online. The deals are out there, you just have to be patient and know where to look.

Let’s talk a little about quality and what that means. The cheesy easy way out answer would be, quality is objective and depends on what you are looking for. With that said, quality carpet is different depending on what your specific needs are for the carpet. How do you expect it to perform?

Synthetic Type Carpets

Nylon is the most common and preferred synthetic type carpet and can run anywhere from $10 to $35 a square yard. For mildew and more stain resistant, Olefin or Polypropylene is another common synthetic type. Although oil based stains are still more difficult to remove as with most carpet types. This costs from $8 to around $25 a square yard. Polyester is the lower end of synthetic and works good for low traffic areas but is not as durable as the nylon carpet. The price range for Polyester is around $8 to $18 a sq/yard. Since most carpet remnants are used for non-critical areas, some of the cheaper synthetic carpets work great for remnant use.

Natural Fiber Carpets

Some people may prefer natural fibers. There are some pro’s and con’s of both types of carpets however. Natural fibers are attractive to people looking into the new “green” crave! But they are much more expensive. However, they are quite resilient. Wool carpet for example is resistant to stains naturally and is highly durable. It is harder to maintain however and is really expensive ranging from $24 to $60 and up a square yard. Another popular and sort of exotic natural fibered carpet is Coir/Sisal. Starting at $27 and running up to around $40, this fiber is from coconut coir and Mexican sisal agave is good as a dirt repellant fiber but on the down side it also is good at hiding it as well. Seagrass is something that just sounds cool. Most often used for area rugs once bound, it maintains its color natural brown color since it is incapable of holding dye. This runs anywhere from $16 to over $50 a sq/yard.

No matter what your quality carpet remnant needs are, there is a type out there for your needs. You just have to be patient and know where to look. Finding carpet online can be a good source of information, but most often the shipping charges can be quite expensive as well. There are many exceptions to this however, so it never hurts to shop around for carpet remnants, especially online. The best place to start however is calling around to all your local carpet stores, armed with the specific quality and type of remnant you’re looking for, and simple ask if they have that type of remnant in stock.

First off, when most people hear the term “carpet remnant,” they immediately think it is discarded or a defective product. This is usually NOT the case. There are two ways in which carpet can become a remnant product. One is as the end of the original roll of carpet from the carpet mill and/or manufacturer. Many times the mill will cut off the last 5 to 30 feet of carpet in order to insure solid ends to the customer who ordered it, or they run past the length to make sure they have enough for the order. The carpet is simply left over and is as good as new. Many carpet warehouses bulk order this from the mill for extremely low prices and that is where we get it for a great deal!

The other scenario is pretty much the same in that the remnant carpet is left over from a large carpeting job or from a huge custom order in which all the carpet was simply not needed. The installer or carpet company usually offloads this again for a discounted price—sometimes called bound carpet remnants which basically means they’re already bound—and is still basically brand new. Additionally, many of these carpets are of extremely high quality. Most often the best deals you’ll find are on shorter length or more rugged typed carpets. This is due to the large amount of retail office space that is carpeted and the large amount of left-over remnants from these large jobs. Even if you have several rooms you want to carpet, often times you can get enough remnants to cover complete rooms with the same or complimentary carpet colors. And remember, most of the carpets are designed for commercial use so they are high quality and will stand up to high traffic.

Even if you’re not necessarily looking for office style carpet, you can still find some great deals on more luxurious styles as well, you just have to be a little more patient and know where to look. We’ve found the best way is to call a local carpet shop and ask if they have carpet remnants, then go look for yourself first hand. Although we’ve found some of the best deals are online. Many online carpet retailers will actually send you a sample of their remnants so be sure to ask. The trick in getting cheap carpet, or any cheap flooring for that matter, is not being afraid to ask questions and keep shopping until you get the size, style, and price that will fit within your budget.

Not only are carpet remnants as good as new, most often they will still have the manufacturers original warranty attached. But this is something you’ll want to make sure and check for as some do not extend their warranties to remnants, especially if they were bulk sold to wholesalers. There are also many good resources for finding carpet remnants online, so be sure to check that out and be aware of all your options for finding the best deals.

So the next time you need to carpet or re-carpet a room or small area, consider carpet remnants!