What the evidence says about allergies
The review
Becher and colleagues reviewed the research on carpet and indoor air quality in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health in 2018. The authors concluded that carpet flooring acts as a reservoir for accumulation of dust, indoor contaminants and microbiological material. The authors found no clear evidence in peer-reviewed journals that carpet flooring in general has dust-reducing capacity.
The studies it cites
The review cites van Strien and colleagues (1994), who found mite allergen 6 to 14 times higher in carpeted floor dust than in smooth-floor dust in dwellings. The review cites Matheson and colleagues (2003), who found that installing carpets increased mite allergen exposure and removing them reduced it. The review cites Causer and colleagues (2006), who found significantly higher mite allergen in carpeted rooms whatever the carpet construction.
Cleaning
The review also cites Tranter (2005), who found that vacuuming carpet seems to remove larger particles but not the smaller, allergen-associated ones. Smooth-floor cleaning was judged more efficient at removing those particles. The review says carpets need much more comprehensive cleaning procedures than hard floors, with higher costs.
The limit of this evidence
The page cites one review and did not assess carpet-industry research. The review does not run its own cleaning experiments, and its cleaning conclusions come from the studies it cites. A person with asthma or an allergy should ask a GP, not rely on a flooring guide.
Noise and warmth
Carpet is often described as warmer and quieter, but the sources found for those points were carpet retailers, and this page does not rate carpet on either. For hard floors, Factory Direct Flooring says LVT is a lot quieter underfoot than laminate. The guide to LVT, laminate and vinyl compares the hard options.
How to test it yourself
Stand on a sample in the shop and walk across it in the shoes you wear at home. Ask to see the underlay that will go below it, because the underlay and the base change how a floor sounds.
Leasehold flats and carpet clauses
Check the lease first
Some leases require the floors to be kept carpeted. A solicitor writing in 2012 about the Court of Appeal case Faidi v Elliot Corporation [2012] EWCA Civ 287 describes a lease that required the tenant to keep the floors covered with carpet and underlay, except in the kitchen and bathroom.
What the court did
The Court of Appeal treated the carpet clause as all or nothing. The court held that the landlord's licence for specific works, including timber floors and underfloor heating, waived the carpet requirement, because the licence addressed those works expressly. The works in that case included sound-resisting material under the new floor, which the consent required.
What to do
Read the lease for a carpet or floor-covering covenant, get written consent from the freeholder or managing agent that names the new floor, and speak to affected neighbours before work begins. The case post notes the dispute cost £140,134 in costs, and the judge suggested mediation as the constructive way forward. The post is not advice on any individual lease, so ask a solicitor about yours.
Why the review matters for cleaning
The review also cites Ashley and colleagues (2007), who found the lowest recovery of standardised dust from carpets. If you choose carpet in a home with allergy concerns, you can ask a GP or allergy service how to clean it, because the sources checked here give no cleaning programme.
Mediation in the carpet case
In the Court of Appeal case, Lord Justice Jackson wrote that if negotiation fails, mediation is the obvious and constructive way forward. You should read your lease and talk to your neighbour before you spend money on a new floor.
What each costs to fit
Checkatrade gives carpet underlay and fitting at £8 to £12 per square metre and professional fitting alone at roughly £7 to £10. Hard-floor fitting prices are in the costs guide.
A like-for-like comparison
You should ask for quotes from fitters of each type, not just two carpet quotes. For a 15m² bedroom, Checkatrade's underlay and fitting range gives £120 to £180 before the carpet itself, by simple arithmetic. A hard floor adds the board or plank, the underlay and any levelling, so compare the whole job.
What carpet costs by home size
Checkatrade's carpet guide gives whole-home ranges in a price table dated March 2025. The figures cover carpet, underlay and fitting in the rooms of a typical home of that size.
| Home | Checkatrade range |
|---|---|
| One-bedroom house | £400 to £800 |
| Two-bedroom house | £700 to £1,400 |
| Three-bedroom house | £1,000 to £2,000 and over |
| Four-bedroom house | £1,200 to £2,500 and over |
| Single straight staircase | £150 to £250 plus VAT |
Hourly and day rates
The same guide gives an installer hourly rate of £20 to £35 and a day rate of £150 to £250. Checkatrade prices carpet alone, excluding fitting, at £6 to £60 per square metre, with premium carpet at £80 and over, and a standard bedroom or lounge at £550 to £650 plus VAT.
A worked example: a 12 by 12 foot room
Checkatrade gives £300 to £800 for a 12 by 12 foot room, about 14m², and a delivery charge of about £30. Underlay and fitting at £8 to £12 per square metre comes to £112 to £168 for 14m² by arithmetic, so most of the range is the carpet you choose. The figures are from a table dated March 2025.
A caution about the date
The price table is dated March 2025 and the page's update stamp reads 06/25, so you should expect current Welsh quotes to differ. Use the table to check that a quote is in the right region, not to predict the total.
What the table leaves out
Checkatrade lists gripper rods, stair rods and threshold strips as extras and gives no price for them. The page gives no price for moving furniture or disposing of the old carpet either, so you should ask the fitter for both in writing.
Doors and levelling
Adjusting a door frame is £20 to £30 per door, and floor levelling is £10 to £15 per square metre. If the fitter has to trim doors to clear a thicker carpet, you will see the line on the quote.
What to ask a carpet fitter
- Are underlay, gripper rods and threshold strips in the price, or extras?
- Is moving furniture included, and is the old carpet taken away?
- Will doors need trimming, and what does each one cost?
Finding fitters in Wales
The directory lists 86 carpet fitters, 74 vinyl, LVT and laminate fitters and 63 wood and parquet floor fitters. Use the hiring guide before you book any of them, and the subfloor guide to understand the preparation lines.
What this page does not cover
The page cites one peer-reviewed review and one blog post about a court case. The page does not cover Approved Document E sound limits for flats, because the figures were not found in a readable primary source. The page gives no medical advice. Carpet and underlay types, wool versus synthetic and stair carpet were not researched, and the Checkatrade carpet price table is dated March 2025.