The measure first shop may require “the man of the house, or someone who can authorize the purchase” be present.

Measure first is often a high pressure sales technique.

Re what to buy, depends on your lifestyle, usage to cleaning.

Nylon is the very best. Tufttex is a very good brand, and is now owned by Shaw. It’s also a little pricey, but you don’t need to spend that much to get good carpeting. I do however, think you should stick with nylon.

I'm about to buy new carpet. I've learned more about carpet in the last two months than I ever thought I'd need to know.

I've heard that SmartStrand is great for stain resistance, but awful for texture retention. If you look for reviews for SmartStrand, there are a ton of people complaining about the carpet looking horrible only a few months after an install. Of course, every carpet shop I've been to seems completely shocked at this, and swears it's the best stuff on the market. However, these same people had no clue what I was talking about when I asked for the face weight and density of carpets, so I assume they get most of their info from sales meetings with the rep or manager.

Nylon is still the best (well, after wool) in carpet. If you can get info on face weight and/or density, look at those numbers to compare things. Most carpet places (esp big box stores) private label carpet, meaning they give it their own fancy name so you can't compare carpet X between three stores, even though it's actually all the same.

Depending on your market, (starter home or $$$ neighborhood, etc.) and when you plan to move, you could probably do a really nice polyester carpet, but it's definitely a step below nylon.

One last consideration is installation. My research has had me on flooring pro message boards where the talk of carpet install techniques has led me to look up an installer that's CFI certified, and to ensure that they powerstretch their carpet (not just knee-kick it in! That's really only supposed to be for closets and small spaces, but plenty of places use only that method to install) and use good seam tape and seam sealing techniques. I'm spending somewhere between 7-9K on new carpet, and I'll be damned if someone's going to install it in such a way that it wears faster or needs to be "restretched" in a few years.

I'm sorry if that's more than you needed to know! I can't believe how much is involved with buying carpet and how convoluted the process is!

We are selling our home in about a year. We just finished the basement and put in 100% Nylon. Our dog has been difficult to potty train. The new stains have come right up. The same length new stains on my 4 year old high end carpet are very difficult to remove. We will be building, so I am also curious if there is really a better product than 100% Nylon for carpet. Ours has an awesome texture and is soft also.

I wouldn't have the patience for a measure appointment before seeing if I even liked their options. I went to about 9 stores though to pick my favorite carpet in my pricepoint. I also don't fall for high pressure salespeople. I have had to turn away window companies as they "want both souses there," Why would we both waste our time? My bank only requires one of our signatures on a check...haha

Nylon has memory and is best for high traffic areas. Polyester is slightly better at stain resistance but does not have memory and will crush or mat down in high traffic areas. Polyester is horrific for stairs. -- If you're planning to sell the home, have a builders grade carpet installed. Less $$ from your pocket and it gives the new owners the ability to change the carpet if they desire.