Choosing Carpeting For Your Home.
by
Catherine Olivia
When
selecting carpeting for your home you have many things
to consider and many options to weigh. Carpets come in
a vast array of colors and styles, textures and fibers
and there are many different qualities of carpets to
choose from.
One of the first things to consider when purchasing a
carpet is how much traffic will it receive? If you
have a high traffic area, then nylon would be a good
choice due to it's durability. Nylon is also stain
resistant and repels mildew. A carpet of Olefin would
also be a good choice for heavy traffic areas as it is
strong and easy to clean. Olefin is used in some
artificial sports turf. Polyester is also excellent in
high traffic areas as it is easy to clean and resists
water based stains. Polyester has the look and feel of
wool, which would be the finest quality fiber, but
polyester is much less expensive than wool. There are
also some blends of the above fibers available which
are long lasting and durable. Some carpet
manufacturers supply performance rating guidelines,
ask to see these.
Another consideration would be the density of the
carpet. You want a high number of fibers per square
inch. A closely packed pile is an indication of a well
made carpet. Check the carpet backing closely to make
sure you don't see any bare areas.
The two most popular types of carpeting today are loop
pile and cut pile. Loop pile has individual strands of
yarn pulled through the carpet backing twice, creating
a small loop. Cut pile has the loop cut at the top,
leaving tufts of yarn that stand straight up. A cut
pile carpet is generally more durable than a looped
pile carpet. Cut pile carpets come in a variety of
styles such as shag, textured, saxony and velvet or
plush. Loop pile carpets would be a berber, cable or
sisal. Loop pile carpets are a good choice for high
traffic areas.
If you are looking to carpet a high traffic area, or
have a limited budget, carpet tiles are another
option. Carpet tiles can be purchased for around $1.00
per square foot. Carpet tiles usually come in 18 inch
squares and are made of a tough nylon loop that will
not unravel. They don't require padding as normal
carpeting does, although some do come with a padded
underside. Carpet tiles are an easy do-it-yourself
project for any homeowner.
The next consideration would be color and/or pattern
of carpeting. Light carpeting colors create a spacious
effect, making a room seem larger. Light color carpets
of course show soil much more easily than dark.
However, most stain and soil treatments put on
carpeting today do help to prevent this problem. Dark
or dull carpet colors will absorb light giving the
room what some call a "cozy" feeling. Rugs with
patterns will make a space seem smaller. Your color
choice could be based on the paint color used on your
walls. It is suggested that if you do this, the color
of the carpet be darker than the color on the walls.
Also, when choosing your carpet remember that the
carpet installed on your floor will appear darker than
the small sample you see in the store. Ask to take
carpet samples home so that you can see how they
actually appear in daylight and at night.
This
article provided courtest of
www.carpet-shopper.com
What To Look For When Picking Out A
Carpet.
by Lee
Dobbins
Carpets
are available in all styles and colors, but when
shopping for carpeting, you should try to buy the best
quality carpet for the money. Even if you are on a
tight budget, don’t skimp on your carpeting or your
carpet pad as quality products will last longer, wear
better and even save you money in the long run!
Most modern carpets are made from either nylon,
polyester or olefin. The nylon is the strongest and
also the most widely used. While nylon will never
actually wear down to the treads, it can fade and get
scrubby looking. Buying the proper padding for your
carpet and having it treated with a stain resistant
treatment will help it to last longer.
So how do you tell if a rug is of good quality?
One easy test is to look at the density of the rug.
This means the thickness and closeness of the pile or
each strand of fiber. The closer the fibers, the
better the quality. Stick your finger into the rug or
bend it to see if you can feel or see the mesh – the
less you can feel or see, the better the rug! Another
factor in a quality rug is the twist level or the
number of twists in 1 inch length of fiber. The more
twists the better.
Where the density of the pile affects how it will
wear, the cut of the pile affects in how it looks. A
plush cut carpet looks like a field of velvet with
very even color and is great for a formal look. A
Saxony cut has irregular cuts of pile, and is great
for an everyday look. Frieze is a nubby twisted pile,
less formal looking but will wear well.
When buying carpet, don’t ignore the carpet pad. In
addition to going for the best quality carpet you can
afford, you should also buy the best quality pad. The
padding will cut down on noise and act as a cushion so
it is as important as the carpet. Make sure, however
that you get the right pad for the type of carpet you
are buying as thicker is not always better.
Lee
Dobbins is contributing writer at
www.flooring-info-online.com where you can find
out more about how to choose flooring for your home.
Ten tips to ensure that you choose the
right carpet for your home or office.
by Des
Nangle
Buying
a new carpet for your home or business is a decision
that should not be taken lightly.
The
right choices will ensure that your chosen carpet not
only looks great but also proves to be a wise
investment.
The
wrong choices however can be costly in terms of money
and time wasted.
The
following ten tips should give you a head start when
it comes to buying the best carpet for your home or
office.
Top Ten
Buying Tips
1)
Suitability - Ensure that your carpet supplier
understands how the carpet will be used in terms of
location and potential for wear and tear. Carpeting
for your stairs for example may well need to be
different from that used for your bedroom. Ensure that
you discuss how your chosen flooring will cope with
the demands placed upon it with your carpet retailer.
2)
Decoration - Your carpet should be a fundamental
element of any interior decorating scheme and as such
chose your carpet before you start decorating and
install it after all the decorating has finished!
3)
Style and Design - Carpet offers great versatility in
terms of styling, colours and design. Ensure that you
have really exhausted all options in terms of colour,
style and design before finally picking your chosen
carpet.
4)
Longevity - What are your expectations of how long
your carpet is expected to last? Different carpets
will have differing levels of resilience to wear and
tear so ensure that you have fully explored all of the
options if your carpet is to match your expectations.
5)
Budget - Budget is key. Buying a carpet involves
additional costs such as getting it fitted, laying
underlay and perhaps paying for furniture and other
items to be moved or stored. Dont forget to factor all
of these elements into your financial plans.
6)
Professionally Measurement - Buying a new carpet is a
big investment and as such having your home or office
professionally measured will ensure that firstly you
buy the correct amount of carpet and secondly that the
carpet purchased is suited to the role that it is
being asked to perform. Good carpet retailers will
offer this service for free!
7) Get
a Sample - Samples allow you to judge how your carpet
will fit into your home or office and should be viewed
in natural and artificial light at differing times of
the day. Again good carpet retailers will offer
samples for free and ensure that you have the sample
to hand when the carpet arrives and is being fitted to
ensure that it is exactly what you have ordered!
8) Buy
New Underlay - New underlay will extend the life of
your carpet by up to 40%. For any size project,
fitting new underlay will return the cost invested
into it, many times over.
9)
Employ a Professional Carpet Fitter - Fitting carpets
is a skilled craft and offers of "free fitting" may
well come back to haunt you. A well fitted carpet
should be seamless and tightly stretched and only
professional carpet fitters will achieve the maximum
potential from your carpeting investment.
10) You
Get What You Pay For - As with most things in life you
really do get what you pay for with regard to carpets.
Whilst cheap carpeting with recycled underlay and a
non professional fitting may save you money initially,
the rapid degeneration that you see with regard to
your carpeting will soon ensure that more time and
money is wasted on rectifying earlier mistakes.
Buy
wisely, buy well, seek out professional retailers and
fitters and your new carpet will return the
investments that you have made into it many times
over.
Des
Nangle is a director of Gilt Edge Carpets at
www.giltedgecarpets.co.uk , a London Carpet Shop
that supplies high quality wool and natural carpets to
beautiful homes and stylish offices in West and South
West London. Gilt Edge Carpets provide a full sales
and fitting service to ensure that your London home or
office is fitted with the best looking and most
appropriate carpeting
Selecting Your Carpet.
by
Sintilia Miecevole
Weve
all done it. Every time we invest in new carpet, we
take an internal oath and solemnly swear we will take
care of this brand new carpet, and rightfully so. It
doesnt take a mathematical genius to know that for
most folks, the third largest investment after the
purchase of our home and cars is the homes interior.
So we
read the manufacturers warranty and notice that it
says to vacuum often. Daily might be the frequency in
the high traffic areas. But who has time any more to
spend maintaining carpets on a daily basis? The only
time you see people vacuum that frequently is in the
hotel and motel industry.
Rarely
does one actually see the carpets being replaced at
the hotel and motel industry unless there is a major
remodeling project happening with new color schemes to
match. So it would serve one well to learn from the
hospitality business.
How do
we usually buy carpet? In most cases it comes with the
home already installed. It will either be a newly
built or a previously owned re-sale home. If a new
home was built, if you are in the beginning stages of
construction, you have a choice to upgrade to the
better carpet and padding offered. Or you can choose
the cheapest carpet known to mankind commonly referred
to as builders grade materials which also includes the
cheapest, thinnest carpet pad also known as FHA grade
2 lb. rebond.
Sure
the carpet is fuzzy and comes in a light color and the
padding might as well be called foam because it easily
crushes to the sub-floor when any weight is applied on
the carpets surface. After all, carpet is just carpet
and pad is just pad, right? WRONG. Once again the old
adage "You get what you pay for" still rings true.
DuPont,
one of the top four major fiber producers, conducted a
study years ago about the behaviors of the consumer as
related to the way they make a purchase decision when
it comes to picking carpet. I suppose human behavior
still has not evolved that much since. Please note
that the following results are not a misprint.
They
rank from number one to number five in order:
1.
Color 2. Color 3. Color 4. Texture 5. Price
While
not disclosed, the first three might have been trying
to color match the hard surface flooring like tile,
hardwood flooring or stone. The second might be for
the paint in a given room and the last color match to
compliment the homes other furnishings such as window
treatments, and furniture.
Texture
refers to the feel also known as the hand of the
carpet referring to how it feels when you touch the
carpet by hand. It would also take into account the
weight of carpet measured in ounces. For example, a
carpet weighing 32 oz. per square inch has more carpet
fibers then say a 16 ounce carpet. A good way to test
this principle is to go to carpet a retailer and ask
to see two different swatches.
For
example with all things being equal, such as the same
Carpet Fiber Producer manufactured by DuPont, same
carpet fibers milled at Shaw Industries, same color
dye lot, etcetera, you can perform this simple
comparison test side by side.
Simply
form your fingers like a claw and push directly
straight down from top to the bottom of the fibers
using your fingertips only. You should notice an
immediate difference in carpet density. It will also
reflect in the price per square yard. The difference
is the number of stitches per square inch. On a much
more dense carpet, it will be difficult to see down to
the primary backing where the carpet is stitched in.
Heres
the benefit: If there are more carpet pile fibers,
then each carpet fiber actually supports one another
side by side on all four corners of the fiber forming
a nap. The less pile there is opens up the potential
damage for gritty soil to cut the fibers at the base
of the pile where the primary backing is. This cutting
effect comes with every step, pivot and turn on the
carpet naps surface. This also causes thinning,
pitting and marring of fibers making carpets dull in
appearance even after restorative cleaning.
It is
also worth mentioning that 60 percent of the soil that
falls into the carpet can be removed safely and
effectively with routine dry vacuuming of high traffic
areas such as halls, stairs, entry ways and traffic
paths in front of furniture. This single process alone
can greatly extend the performance and life use of the
carpet. Remember the hospitality industry
housekeepers?
The
second most fatal mistake a carpet purchaser can make
is ignoring the quality of the carpet pad. Padding for
the subfloor is like the spine of the carpet. It
provides support to aid in preventing indentations
left by heavy furniture legs after re-arranging a
room.
It also
has the job of holding water like a sponge whenever a
copious amount water floods the room such as a broken
water pipe. It provides the comfort under our footing
so our feet and backs dont ache. This is the one place
you dont have to worry about the color matching as the
carpet will cover all the pad.
Pad is
also measured in ounces and pounds. Once again, the
higher the number, the more dense the pad. The density
can range in feeling. By using a pinch test between
the top and bottom of the pad you can compare
densities. There is foam all the way up to feeling
like a large pencil eraser. The higher the better.
Try to
stay away from rubber based products like a waffle
print as they have been known to dry rot where hot
water pipes run through the concrete subflooring. They
also dont provide any absorption for collecting water
spills. In fact in a typical flood scenario, the water
just continues to migrate further by saturating a
greater area of carpet space.
It
would also be wise to choose the right carpet for the
right application. If you were born during Baby Boomer
era, you would have ran into carpets that were made
from polyester. Those fibers were dyed first before
they were extruded as fiber. They never faded from the
sun or bleach spills and lasted forever but were
harder to clean.
Nylon
came around and was softer to the hand and cleaned up
better but spills could permanently stain the fibers
and due to costs, generally come in lighter colors.
Almost all darker colors will be more expensive to
produce due to more dye in the process. More dyes
prevented stains due to the lack of dye sites
available.
Fourth
Generation carpets removed the nuisance of static
electricity when walking across a room and touching
anything conductive to release a jolting shock.
Fifth
Generation carpets involved the incorporation of stain
resist carpets. The key to this technology was to
create a transparent dye. Normally after dyeing half
of the carpets dye sites in a light color the
remaining dye sites would be open for stains once
installed. The solution was solved by re-dyeing the
remaining dye sites with a transparent dye. Dye sites
are like skin pores on your arm.
Benefit: If all dye sites on a fiber are filled, then
no stains could penetrate immediately. This would give
the end user time to remove the stain later even if it
dried on in many cases.
The
last point to consider is the primary backing of
carpets. For a number of years, India exported to the
United States jute which is what ropes are made of. An
unfortunate deadly industrial accident involving
chemicals at Union Carbides battery plant, cause
strained relations between both countries and jute
stopped being exported.
Jute
backed carpets also occurred when they became wet from
flooding. The natural fiber made of plant (organically)based
material released a tannin dye similar to coffee and
bled into the carpets surface; thereby causing it to
permanently discolor the carpet and ruin it.
It was
also a food source for mold and mildew and if not
treated quickly, it would dry rot causing the primary
and secondary backing to delaminate and destroy the
carpet.
Since
the mid 1980s polypropylene backing has become the
norm. Its a tough as fishing line and can hold up to
most abuse end users give it. Its also cheaper to
produce. In fact, 70 percent of all carpets involved
in a clear water food damage loss can be dried,
cleaned and re-engaged with no evidence of a pre-loss
condition.
Good
luck on your next carpet purchase as you now possess
more knowledge than most of the carpet cleaners and
retailers in the industry. And dont forget to vacuum!
Sintilia Miecevole, host has a keen interest in
carpets as you can see on
http://www.iwantcarpet.com. This is an excellent
resource site including discount, area rugs,
commercial, installation, cleaning, custom, oriental,
persian and outdoor carpets to wall to wall, marine,
wholesale and more. Visit
http://www.iwantcarpet.com to find your carpet.
Choosing the Right Carpet Cleaner.
by
Rodel Garcia
How can
you choose the most effective carpet cleaner out
there? Lets face it. There are many carpet cleaners
and they all claim to be the best. So, what can you to
do make sure that the carpet cleaner you choose is the
right one for your needs? We have put together some
things that you should consider no matter which carpet
cleaner you are planning to use. If you are the type
of person to look for the best price, you may want to
read on. If you think that paying a huge sum is going
to buy you a cleaner carpet, well, you need to read on
as well. Here are some tips on how to choose a carpet
cleaner.
* First and foremost, you should know what your
choices are in carpet cleaning methods and know which
one is the one you want to choose. There are several
ways to consider. A dry extraction type of cleaning
will use a compound that has detergents in it that
will literally free stains and dirt to allow them to
be vacuumed up. There are absorbent pads which will
rub into the carpet through a spinning action. A dry
foam may be used by applying foam to the carpet and
then vacuumed up with a wet vacuum. You can also
choose carpet cleaner that uses chemicals and strong
vacuums to get dirt out. Choose the method that is
more right for your needs.
* Once you know what your options are, you can begin
to talk to friends and family for recommendations.
There are places on the web that offer consumer
reviews for local as well as nationwide carpet
cleaners. Make sure to check with the Better Business
Bureau to make sure the company is legitimate as well.
* Get some estimates! Find out the overall price and
what is extra. What chemicals will be used? Will they
use deodorizers for homes with pets? How long does the
process take and to dry? Will they move the furniture?
* You will want to insure that the chemicals that are
used are safe for you, your children and your pets.
Also, you will want to tell the company what type of
carpeting you have. If you do not, and you have a type
that will shrink or change color through the cleaning
process, you may be in trouble. Most companies will
ask you.
* It is very important to know who is coming into your
home. Make sure that you know the history of the
carpet cleaner as well as to ask if background checks
are done on the employees. Take steps to keep you and
your loved ones safe.
So,
Take these tips to heart and make sure to get the
information you need to make a good, solid decision
about the carpet cleaner you will choose. You will
then be able to compare services to prices and to find
the right overall solution for you.
If you
are considering whether or not you need to use a
professional carpet cleaner, consider the
alternatives. First off, spot removal is not the only
necessary carpet cleaning that you need to do, nor is
vacuuming. Even home carpet cleaning machines will not
do as good of a job as a professional can do. And,
when you use these carpet cleaners you can help to
preserve your carpeting for many years to come.
Lastly, it can help many individuals who have
allergies to feel better when they have clean
carpeting. So, it just makes sense to have your
carpets professionally cleaned. When you follow these
tips to getting the right carpet cleaner, you will be
well on your way to having a clean carpet!
Rodel Garcia is a cleaner for 3 years and currently
working @ BC Childrens and Womens Hospital in
Vancouver, B.C. and webmaster of this website about
Carpet Cleaning Tips. For complete details of this
article click
Carpet Cleaner .
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