My cousin used to lay/install carpet. He always said get the best padding you can afford. It's the friction between the layers that seem to wear out the carpet when it's a combination. I have pets and will not have carpet. I have seen results of carpet replaced after 5 years being well cared for and it's still gross when removed. I have too many allergens for carpet. I can do throw rugs but only have 3 of those. One in the bathroom and 2 in our bedroom.

We bought carpet from Lowes 9 months ago. The padding is the highest grade that Lowes carries. The carpet is very stain resistant but the pile is now completely flat. I vacuum slowly to pull the pile back up, but one walk on it and it's completely flat again. This is not a high pile or "nap". The problem is called "matting". Really bad and I'm disappointed. When I complained at the store they told me that the warranty is against wear and stains. NOT MATTING. So beware.

I agree with those that said to get a good pad. We had two rooms in the basement that needed carpeting. The carpet is the same but the padding is not. The room with the cheaper thinner padding is definitely less comfortable to walk on. Never let the salesman talk you into a cheaper pad. Big mistake.

Thank you for the responses. We will make the trek to a few flooring stores other than big box stores...it just gets so confusing! I am ready to get this going so its installed beford thanksgiving...

I used an independent de

In the very worst time of our past housing recession, I lost my husband and thought I would be relocating. The house didn't sell and I wanted carpet in three large (16 X 20) bedrooms...Instead of having them installed I bought carpet only for what I thought was very reasonable, $100 each. They are so nice and dense and cushy. Wish my living area rugs were that nice. When I do move, I can take carpet with me. They are still like new after all this time. He even delivered them. BUT, all business was very slow at the time. And, I still have the option to have them installed. The real quality issue may be the density like threads per inch .... comparison shopping is valuable here. DDIL thought she had to have some tough high twist carpet and she had it replaced with hardwood because she hated the carpet. I forget the name of it but it was tough as nails. It looked good and wore extremely well but not at all soft. It was the trend then... now I hear there is another carpeting my DDIL's and DGD want for bedrooms. I can't keep up with them as I am nearly 80 and my carpets are all okay for me. just shop around for whats available and it will be apparent if the box store quality is what you want.

All I have now is hardwood floors. Vinyl in kitchen and Bath. I use carpet rugs next to the bed and throw rugs in several other areas. I have three cats and two small dogs. I love the hardwood.

I had laminate flooring priced at Lowes and a local guy - Lowes was $2000 more for a $4000 job, so be sure to compare!

We have lived in our house about 29 years. When we first bought it, we put in new carpet from Home Depot. Then we replaced it about 11 years later. We had 2 cats indoor and accidents cleaned up great, but young grandchildren were a little harder and also we had carpet in the bathroom that stained with lipstick. We replaced the carpet as I say about 11 years later and we got it at Home Depot. It was great too, and cats were mostly outdoor. Finally, in 2013, we felt we needed new carpet again. Just before Christmas, we got it from Home Depot again. We wanted to upgrade and the personnel at our store were so helpful. We chose the best padding and a little better grade of carpeting. We are really pleased with what we got. We decided not to carpet the bathrooms. My husband put down vinyl and I like it and we use throw rugs. If makeup slips out of hands, the floor is much easier to clean up.
We priced Lowe's, but we wanted a green color and their selection was smaller than Home Depot and they had no green. HD did have a couple of greens. They did a great job.
It might depend on the store and the installers, but we have been pleased each time.

I like to support local merchants so have used the local independent flooring stores for tile, hardwood and carpeting. It's all they do and they know their stuff. To stay in business and be competitive they need to offer top notch service and stand behind it. I haven't found they were more expensive when comparing apples to apples. I have also used remnants for smaller rooms at a considerable cost savings. The big box stores are probably fine but my preference is local.