| How To Select The Right Carpet For Your Home Consider each room individually and YOUR Lifestyle. Carpet is a remarkably durable and practical floor covering. However, carpet is not indestructible, and some styles are better suited than others for particular applications. Consider these details: Will it be in a formal or informal area? How much traffic will move over the carpet? For example – is it a family room where there will be lots of activity or a seldom used dining room? Will the carpet be near an entrance where dirt can be tracked in? What kind of look or feel do you want for this room? Keep the following general guidelines in mind. Darker carpets tend to show lint and dust, disguise dirt, and make a room seem smaller and cozier. Lighter carpets tend to disguise lint and dust, show dirt, and make a room seem larger. Middle tones and multicolored carpets disguise lint, dust, and dirt. Depending on your decor, there is no rule that carpet has to be uniform throughout a dwelling. CAUTION: The carpet color you see in the sample may not appear the same as the carpet color that gets installed in your home. This is because of dye lot variances and an entire room of carpet sometimes appears lighter than the swatches. If I had to pick one color to tell you to be leery of it would be Light or Sky Blue. This color tends to develop awful traffic lanes with “white” lines along the edge of the lanes. Face Weights The face weight is the amount of fiber per square yard of carpet. The heavier the face weight the more fiber is used, the higher the quality and the higher the cost. Most Common Types Of Carpet Fibers Most Carpets are made of one of the following four fiber types – CHOOSE CAREFULLY! Nylon – The most widely used carpet fiber today. (90% of residential carpets) Nylon is a good choice for traffic areas because it is durable, static free, and maintains it’s fiber height. Most styles receive a stain-resist treatment for protection against household spills and stains. This is a very durable and versatile fiber. Nylon fibers, which are dyed after production, maintain color but some nylon carpets fade with sunlight. Nylon carpets vary from $8 per square yard for cut piles to over $30 for multi-level loops. Nylon comes in continuous or spun fibers. Spun carpet is made of short lengths of fibers that are spun together, but continuous fibers are less likely to unravel. Olefin – Also called polypropylene. (Used in about 80% of commercial carpet) Olefin will not fade, is resistant to moisture, and to stains. BUT Olefin will CRUSH so not recommended for high traffic areas. If choosing Olefin I recommend a very short pile. Best use is Indoor/Outdoor applications. Many Berber carpets are made of olefin, but their fibers are pumped up with air and within 6 months may crush. These are generally the cheaper carpets. Price range is a round $5.00 per yard to $40.00 per yard. Polyester – This fiber is made from recycled plastic containers. Polyesters create a strong fiber and resists stains. It is luxurious and easy to clean, but can fade in the sunlight. Polyester, however, may not hold up well in high traffic areas. Price range from $7.00 sq. yd for lighter weights, to $30 sq. yd for heavier. Wool –Luxurious and MUCH more expensive than synthetic fibers. Natural soil resistance and maintains fiber height. Price range from $25 sq. yd. to $100.00 or more. Long Lasting Expensive Carpet. You will find it holds moisture and static. Types Of Carpet Cut Pile The best-selling type of carpet is textured cut pile. Cutting looped carpet fibers at the top creates cut pile with yarn bundles standing straight. The pile is sheared several times creating a luxurious appearance. Cut pile is less resistant to crushing than other types of carpet. #1 Saxony - Saxonies are tightly twisted cut piles that are heatset straight. Saxonies consist of two or more fibers twisted together in a yarn. They provide a soft texture. Saxonies show every footprint and vacuum-cleaner mark. It is a dense level-cut pile. Generally used for formal settings. #2 Texture and Textured Saxonies -Textures are the best-selling carpets and work well in informal areas (such as family rooms and bedrooms) because of its soft feel. Textures are tightly twisted and texture heatset. They have a multi-colored look that disguises foot prints.. #3 Velvet/Plush –Velvets/Plushes are lightly twisted and have a uniform color. They are softer and more level than textures. This type of carpet is ideal for formal areas (such as formal living rooms and master bedrooms) because of its luxurious appearance. Velvets/Plushes show every footprint and vacuum-cleaner mark. #4 Frieze -Frieze is a highly twisted cut pile carpet suited for high traffic areas. It has short fibers that tend to curl in different directions at the surface to hide footprints and vacuum marks. Cut And Loop Pile Cut and loop pile combines cut and looped fibers. It provides a variety of surface textures or sculptured effects. Cut and loop pile carpets are available in both solid and multi-colors. The different levels in this type of carpet can hide dirt and footprints. Suitable for more informal settings. Level Loop Pile Level loop pile is made by weaving even loops of yarn into carpet backing at both ends. This type of carpet is very strong and track resistant because of its strong loops. Higher loops create a more luxurious appearance. Level loop piles with short and densely packed loops are easy to clean. They prevent dirt from filtering into the carpet. This type of carpet is ideal for high traffic areas. #1 Berber – Larger level loops are characteristic of Berber carpeting and Berbers are increasing in popularity. Berbers often have thicker yarns than other level loop pile. These loops can retain dirt and be more difficult to clean and maintain. This type of carpet may also damage from snags. Berbers come in expensive wool fibers or less expensive nylon, olefin, or nylon-olefin blend. Use caution when choosing a Berber – it may look great in the showroom but may soon “ugly out” - due to crushing and matting. Additionally if choosing olefin fibers – dragging a piece of furniture across it can melt the fiber from the friction. The Rating System You may not know this, but there is a test for carpet called the “20,000 – Step Contract Walker Test”. People were hired to walk on carpets for extended periods of time to simulate years of wear. Although expensive and time consuming, the test did measure the durability of a particular carpet style under real conditions. This Icon will tell you the rating of the carpet. (Rating on back of carpet sample.) A rating below 2.5 should only be considered for light to moderate traffic, 2.5 or above will work for most uses – IF CARED FOR PROPERLY. A rating of 4.0 or above will perform very well in heavy traffic locations. Quality of Carpet Quality of construction is the major criterion for good carpet. It is the determining factor in the performance of the carpet. Tight twists, strong backing, yarn density, the latex used to hold the backing together, treatments for stain resistance, dye method, and heat setting are indicators of quality. Height or thickness of carpet fiber has nothing to do with quality. Tall and thick carpet may seem more luxurious, but is more likely to keep dirt. · Tightly twisted carpet is less likely to unravel and is more durable. A twist of 4 or more is good for most areas. (A Twist is the number of times a fiber is wrapped around itself.) · Good backing holds carpet fibers tightly. Most carpets have a primary backing (through which the carpet fibers are threaded) and a secondary backing that is glued to the primary backing. Latex glue holds these backings together to prevent fibers from getting loose. More often, the more expensive carpets use a better quality of latex glue, insuring a long lasting installation. If the latex fails, the two backings delaminate and the fiber starts to fall out. This cannot be seen at time of installation – only when the failure occurs – usually beyond warranty limits. · Carpet with denser yarn is better. Weight is usually measured in ounces. Density (or yarn count) is measured in tufts of yarn per square inch from 4 to 10 with increasing durability. Heat set fibers are less likely to unravel and are more durable. |
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