What are Carpet Remnants and Should You Even Bother?

Based on the name, some people might make the assumption that carpet remnants are carpets that have seen extensive use but are now being resold upon removal. However, that isn’t the case. Instead, carpet remnants are smaller carpet pieces that are sold to interested individuals at discounted prices because of their issues compared to their full-sized counterparts. In some cases, carpet remnants are the consequences of carpet manufacturing. In other cases, carpet remnants are the inevitable result of retailers cutting carpets from carpet rolls. Whatever their exact origin, carpet remnants are a potential option for carpet buyers that come with both upsides and downsides, meaning that they are something that interested individuals might want to look into even if they think that they won’t be buying them. After all, even if they aren’t interested in carpet remnants at the moment, who is to say that said interest won’t come up at some point in the future?

What Are the Upsides and Downsides to Using Carpet Remnants?

The single biggest upside to buying carpet remnants is the reduced cost. Simply put, most carpet consumers have either no or next to no interest in carpet remnants, meaning that there is a much reduced demand for them. However, retailers still want to make the most of their purchased inventories by making sure that even the carpet remnants are sold, meaning that they tend to be willing to incentivize buyers by reducing prices. Due to this, so long as someone has a real purpose in mind for a carpet remnant, buying one can enable them to get what they want at a price that they will love. With that said, estimating the exact size of the cost reduction can be rather challenging to say the least because it involves numerous factors such as the size of the carpet remnant, the style of the carpet remnant, the price that the retailer paid for the carpet remnant, and the strength of their desire to get it off of their hands so that they can use that inventory space for something more valuable. Due to this, Carpet Captain claims that the size of the cost reduction can range from 10 percent to 90 percent, which seems like a potential complicating factor for people searching for a good buy.

Moving on, there is the matter of convenience as well. In short, when people want to buy carpet remnants, they can head into a carpet retailer for the buy before leaving with the carpet remnant in their possession within a matter of mere minutes. There is no need for them to wait for the product to come in. Furthermore, there is no need for them to wait for the carpet retailer to make the cut off of a carpet roll. As such, interested individuals can get what they want when they want it with minimal fuss and hassle. Something that can be very appealing for people who want their carpeting sooner rather than later.

Unfortunately, the choice to use carpet remnants comes with some serious downsides as well. For example, interested individuals don’t have much of a choice in regards to either the size, the style, or the color of their carpet remnants. Theoretically, they might still be able to find something that is perfectly suited to their personal preferences by looking through a wide range of carpet retailers. However, the number of coincidences that will need to line up for that to happen means that interested individuals can expect to have to search for a very long time without expectation of success. Unsurprisingly, this means that this can be a deal-breaker for people with exacting requirements when it comes to their carpeting. Luckily, it is possible that a carpet retailer will be willing to sell a piece of the carpet remnant that they have on hand rather than insist on selling the whole thing, though this tends to be limited when the remnant of the remnant will still be big enough to sell on its own. As such, while finding the perfect carpet remnant will still be a considerable drain on time and effort, it might be a little bit less terrible than it seems on initial consideration.

Besides this, interested individuals might not be able to get a good idea of exactly what they are buying when they look through examples of carpet remnants. Certainly, there are carpet retailers that can match their carpet remnants to specific colors and styles by looking through their sales records to see what has and hasn’t been sold out of their inventories. However, there are plenty of carpet retailers that don’t bother to keep perfect records about the exact specifications of their carpet remnants, not least because they might not have had that kind of information in the first place. After all, as stated earlier, some carpet retailers get their carpet remnants by buying them from the carpet manufacturers, which might not have been particularly keen on maintaining such detailed records themselves.

Finally, it must be mentioned that carpet retailers tend to sell carpet remnants without warranties, which is perhaps unsurprising when so many cases without interested individuals even knowing exactly what they are supposed to be as well as exactly where they are supposed to have come from. Due to this, while carpet remnants might be fine for place that don’t see a lot of traffic that causes wear and tear, interested individuals might want to be more cautious when it comes to anyplace that sees more people coming in and out because they will have less recourse if problems pop up.

Should You Use Carpet Remnants?

There is no right or wrong answer when it comes to the use of carpet remnants. Under certain circumstances, they can be very useful; under other circumstances, not so much. However, whatever it is that interested individuals have in mind when it comes to carpet remnants, they should always look in as many places that sell carpet remnants as possible because that maximizes their chances of getting either exactly what they want or the next best thing to it.