From luxurious plush to rugged berber tweeds, carpet is a universally popular floor covering. Carpeting has long been synonymous with comfort and luxury. Even in today's eclectic room schemes, carpeting has remained the number one option for a high fashion floor.
Before purchasing a new carpet there are a number of questions that you need to consider. While your answers to these questions may change during the selection process, these questions will certainly help to point you in the right direction.
What effect am I trying to create in the room?
This will vary depending on the style, color and design you are looking for.
How long do I want my carpet to last?
Everybody wants their carpet to last for a long time, but how long they actually last for depends upon both the style of carpet and your answer to the following question.
How much use will my carpet be subjected to?
Is your new carpet going into a room with heavy wear (like the stairs or living room) or light wear (such as a spare bedroom)? How many people live in the house? Have you any children or pets? All these factors will affect how much use the carpet receives and therefore how long it is likely to last. Even the shoes you wear in your home or the amount that you vacuum can affect the life of your carpet.
How much do I want to spend?
If you want a carpet that will look good for many years in an area of very high wear then the simple truth is you will have to spend more money than if you are happy to change your carpet more frequently.
Styles and Carpet Construction
Traditional, contemporary, classic, post-modern, with carpet, the choice is yours. Sophisticated patterns, luxurious textures, captivating colors, and the ability to coordinate with a variety of unique carpet choices. Making statements about your own personal style and reflecting that style in every room in your house. Your home.
The style of construction or the way in which a carpet is made will add to the effect you are trying to achieve by introducing different textures of pile. Each method of construction has its own characteristics that make it more suitable than others for certain locations. The way in which a carpet is constructed also dictates the manner in which they perform during their life span.
As well as the style of construction, the way in which a carpet will perform is also related to pile height, pile weight, pile density and the carpet fibers used. It is ultimately the combination of these factors that will determine how a carpet will perform in any given location.
Carpets with longer pile heights generally feel more luxurious, but are also more prone to flattening. Shorter denser piles often retain their appearance better, but can feel less comfortable. The texture, colors and pattern of a carpet can be made to complement or contrast with patterns of your furniture and window treatments.
Today’s carpeting offers much more than a conventional loop pile. To add to a room’s sophistication and interest, consider choosing a textured pattern. Textured styles also fit well with today’s active and casual lifestyles and many of these styles are known for their soil-hiding ability.
Styles and Texture
Cut Pile, Loop Pile, Cut & Loop Pile Carpet
Cut Pile Carpet
An underfoot favorite, cut pile carpet is noted for its elegance and array of solid hues. This versatile tufted carpet features clipped yarn loops. Cut pile carpet has soft, dense cut pile with well-defined individual tuft tips. New generation cut pile carpet resists stains and is less susceptible to traffic wear. It is the most widely used type of residential carpet.
Cut Pile is created by cutting looped carpet fibers at the top, leaving yarn bundles standing straight. Preshearing cut pile several times creates a luxurious appearance. Cut pile is less resistant to crushing than other types of carpet.
The three main types of Cut Pile Carpets are Saxony, Texture and Frieze.
Saxony
Saxony is a popular cut pile carpet of dense, level-cut pile with loops clipped to about 1/2" high. The closely packed yarns give a soft smooth surface which is perfect in formal settings. A smooth-finished saxony is sometimes referred to as plush. This carpet has a formal look, features velvety even cut pile, and shows footprint shading easily. This type of carpet is ideal for formal areas such as formal living rooms and master bedrooms because of its luxurious appearance.
Texture and Textured Saxonies
The best-selling type of carpet is textured cut pile. Textures can work beautifully with any décor, from casual to formal. The pattern is created out of a single color by giving some of the tufts added twist, causing them to curl back on themselves in random directions. These tufts then reflect light differently than the straight tufts. When the additional twist is given to all tufts, the style is called a textured saxony. This added twist can help reduce the appearance of footprints and vacuum cleaner marks. Textures work well in informal areas such as family rooms and children's bedrooms because of their soft feel, but can be used anywhere in the home.
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.
Loop Pile Carpet
As opposed to cut pile carpets, loop pile carpets are not cut or sheared - the loops themselves form the carpet's surface. This makes them extremely durable as well as beautiful and their ability to hide traffic wear makes them perfect for high-traffic areas such as great rooms, kids' rooms and recreation rooms.
The two main types of Loop Pile Carpets are Level Loop Pile and Berbers.
Level Loop Pile
The pile loops are of equal height and uncut, creating a smooth level surface that offers excellent wearing qualities, making it ideal for the commercial market. This type of carpet is very strong and track resistance because of its stronger loops. Higher loops create a more luxurious and elegant appearance. Level loop piles with short and densely packed loops are extremely easy to clean as they prevent dirt from filtering into carpet. This type of carpet is also ideal for high traffic areas.
Berber
Berber features large, uncut loops of natural-tone fibers, usually of olefin. Berber is very durable and a good choice for high-traffic areas. Berber's warm and casual appearance is perfect for rooms with high activity and is frequently found in today's hottest designs.
Cut & Loop Pile Carpet
Cut & Loop pile carpets offer a combination of the above, allowing more textures and patterns. Cut and loop achieves a sculptured pattern with varied levels of uncut low loops and sheared top loops. The pattern looks as if it's been cut into the carpet and usually features several tones from the same color family. The change in color also helps disguise wear and soiling.
The illustrations below detail the differences between the various types of carpet styles.
Carpet Fibers
Carpet fiber is the carpet material itself. Single fibers are spun together to create two, three or four-ply yarn, which is then attached to a woven backing. Carpet fibers are either natural or synthetic. Wool and cotton are natural fibers used in carpet. The major synthetic yarns are nylon, olefin and polyester.
Nylon
Nylon is the most popular fiber (about 90% of residential carpets and 65% of all carpets). Nylon is a good choice for all traffic areas because it is durable and static free, maintains fiber height, and resists soiling, staining, and mildew. Nylon fibers, which are dyed after production, maintain color. Nylon is wear resistant, resilient, withstands the weight and movement of furniture and provides brilliant color. Generally good for all traffic areas.
Olefin (Polypropylene)
Olefin (polypropylene) is the next-best seller after nylon (about 80% of commercial carpet). Polypropylene is being used more and more widely in the manufacture of carpeting due to its high resilience to wear and stain proof properties. During manufacture of the yarn it is dyed to the color required; this is locked in and cannot be removed. It can also not be re-dyed, consequently it is stain proof and all marks can be removed. In extreme cases a dilute bleach solution can be used to remove stains. This is possibly the best choice for families where stain resistance is an important consideration.
Polyester
Polyester is not so widely used as the previous products, namely due to its cost. Polyester does not hold its fiber height under traffic and shifting weight as well as other carpet fibers. Polyester is luxurious, durable against abrasions, easy to clean, and resistant to water soluble stains. However, polyester can fade with sunlight.
Wool
Wool is still regarded by most to be the best fiber used in carpet manufacture for the simple reason that in most cases it will look better for longer than equivalent carpets made out of other fibers. With its natural resilience it recovers quickly from compression. It takes dye very well which enables many variations of shades to be produced and is very soft to touch, making it warm and comfortable to walk on. However, wool also has its weaknesses. It can maintain static and moisture, tends to fray, and is expensive.
Carpet Padding
Carpet padding should be used unless the carpet is foam backed. Padding is the cushion that creates a softer walking surface, insulates cold floors, absorbs noise, and prevents carpet from slipping and shifting. Quality padding not only adds to your comfort, it also adds to the life of your new carpet and area rugs. It improves noise and thermal insulation as well as cleanability.
Choosing a carpet is a diffucult decision with many variables to take into account. Contact Jo's Carpet Binding for our personalized service and expert advice to help you make the right choice for your next carpet.
