Carpet is traditionally the most popular choice
of flooring in the home with good reason. It comes in numerous colors and
designs to fit your home décor and lifestyle. It makes your home more comfortable
because it is soft on your feet, provides insulation, and absorption of sound.
It is generally priced less per square foot than other floor covering surfaces.
Carpets come in various fiber types, twist,
colors, density, textures, and patterns. So many choices can be confusing.
Before we get into specifics here are some things to keep in mind when selecting
the right carpet:
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Fiber Type
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Nylon offers the best performance value, especially
brands like Stainmaster
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Carpet Type
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Different carpet types match different lifestyles
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Degree of Twist
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More twist means better resistance against
matting
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Density
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Carpets with higher face weights tend to perform
better
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Backing
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A stronger backing provides more stability
and comfort
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Padding
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Regardless of the carpet, better padding means
more comfort underfoot
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FIBER TYPES
Nylon – The most popular carpet
fiber used today. It offers excellent value, performance, and ease of maintenance.
It comes in brilliant colors and hides traffic well.
Nylon 66 – Nylon 66
is the best performing type of nylon out of the 200 varieties used in carpet fibers.
It is fade resistant and wears better. Only Wear Dated, Stainmaster, and Tactesse
use nylon 66.
Olefin/Polypropylene – Highly
stain, static, mold, and mildew resistant. Commonly found in Berber and level-loop
carpets.
Polyester – Similar to nylon,
polyester offers great color and feels great under foot, however its resilience
is generally not as strong as nylon.
Wool – The most luxurious
fiber type around with an elegant look, soft wool feel, and great performance with
a relatively expensive price point.
We recommend continuous filament fibers for
the best performance.
CARPET TYPES
We recommend that you choose a carpet type
that best matches your lifestyle and provides you maximum performance. Here
is a brief description of the common carpet types we carry:
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Textured
Saxony
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Great for casual rooms also due to its design
possibilities and it shows fewer footprints. This highly popular carpet type performs
well in moderate to medium traffic areas.
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Saxony
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Great for formal rooms because of its versatility
in design and smooth cut-pile construction.
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Frieze
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Perfect for active rooms and high-traffic areas
due to its durability.
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Velvet
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Makes your room more elegant through a fine-tip
sheared signature surface.
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Cut & Un-Cut
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Works in a variety of room settings to provide
warmth through a great textured feel and patterned design.
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Multi Level Loop
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Also works in a variety of room setting to
provide a highly casual yet durable performance.
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Level Loop
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Works for highly active rooms and basements
because of its durability.
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Berbers
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Provides a great look for active rooms with
a high loop construction that more resembles wool with large bulky durable yarns.
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DEGREE OF TWIST
All carpet yarns are twisted together to form
lengths of yarn, but the degree of twisting varies. Carpets with a tighter
twist perform better – hands down. Although the degree of twist is less critical
with level loop and Berber carpet types because the fibers are looped in and can't
unravel.
DENSITY
Traditionally, carpets with a higher face weight
perform better and provide great comfort underfoot. Performance wise, it is
density that matters. Advances in technology have increased the density of
modern carpets so that face weight is not as important as it used to be.
As far as comfort goes, it is the padding underneath the carpet that is the most
important.
BACKING
Backing is the technical term for the bottom
side of the carpet. It provides the carpet dimensional stability and allows
it to be stretched over a backing. Higher quality carpets employ high pic
packing, such as Lees for Living carpets. The better the backing, the more
stable and comfortable a carpet is.
PADDING
Choosing the right padding is just like upgrading
the quality of the carpet itself. Density is the most important factors in
choosing the right padding. With modern technology, density matters more
than the thickness of the padding. As such, most padding is measured by poundage.
Watchout because many companies will describe rebond padding by the thickness, however
again only density is of concern when it comes to padding.
Most padding is called Rebond padding.
It is the most widely used padding in the floor covering consists of high density
recycled foam and comes in various densities. The most typical are 6 lbs and
8 lbs padding. Although the best rebond padding is memory foam rebond padding
which is as dense as 10lbs.
The top of the line rebond padding include
antimicrobial product protection built-in during manufacturing to prohibit the growth
of bacteria that cause stains, odors, and wear of your carpet cushion.
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