There’s a reason that, year after year, carpet remains the most popular choice of flooring shoppers. Carpet is soft, quiet, warm, easy to maintain, and relatively inexpensive compared to other flooring options.
STYLE:
Most carpet available will fall into one of these for groups. Each style is available in a wide range of costs and durability, making this part of the selection process mostly an aesthetic choice.
- Texture – Textured carpets, also known as "trackless" or "plush" carpets, feature a fairly level cut pile surface, with threads that are fairly straight. Textures can be formal looking, or a bit casual, but overall the look is very traditional and classic.
- Twist – Twist carpets featured an irregular cut pile surface with threads that are twisted and facing in different directions. Twists can be long or short, loose or dense. The overall appearance is usally very casual.
- Loop – Loop carpet, also known as berbers, have a surface composed mostly or entirely of loope pile, they can be level or unlevel, with or without a pattern, solid or multi-color.
- Pattern – Patterned carpets are commonly constructed of an arrangement of cut and uncut pile tufts, with the difference in texture and level creating the pattern. However; some patterned carpets may be printed on a solid colored base carpet, or woven together with various colors of fiber.
FIBER:
Today’s carpet shopper is not only presented with a dazzling array of carpet colors and construction, they also must choose from among several different fiber materials used to make the carpets. No one carpet fiber is perfect for every situation, they all have their unique advantages and disadvantages.
- Nylon – Nylon has been the dominant carpet fiber for many decades. It features excellent durabilty, high abrasion resistance, and good stain resistance properties to most common foods and beverages. It is suceptible to stains from non-food substances, and fading from sunlight.
- Triexta Polyester – Triexta polyester is the first new carpet fiber developed in decades, and it's popularity is growing by leaps and bounds. Triexta features good durability, good abrasion resistance and is impervious to most any household spill including many non-food substances. Triexta is also very resistant to fading from sunlight.
- PET Polyester – PET polyester is an excellent value. It is less durable than either nylon or Triexta fibers, but less expensive to produce, allowing for a heavier carpet at most any price point. Like Triexta, PET polyester carpets are very stain reistant to household spills including many non-food substances and not prone to fading from sunlight.
- Polypropylene – Polypropylene carpet fiber (a.k.a. olefin) has extraordinary stain and fade resistance, but is the least resilient of all fibers. It is commonly used in low pile loop carpets, or super high density woven carpets where pile crush is less likely to pose a problem than with looser plush carpet styles. Polypropylene also has a low melting point, so avoid dragging heavy furniture on carpets with it, or you may leave melted scorch marks on the pile surface.
- Wool - Wool carpet has a whole host of advantages, it is natural, renewable, biodegradable, naturally stain and soil resistant, highly durable, and luxurious. The only drawback wool fibers present is higher cost and the possibility of staining from some food and most non-food substances that man-made fibers are more reistant to.
FEATURED BRANDS:
- Beaulieu
- Bigelow
- Bliss
- Carpet One
- Concepts International
- Couristan
- Evans Black
- Godfrey Hirst
- J-Mish
- Karastan
- Kraus
- Lees
- Masland
- Milliken
- Mohawk
- Phenix
- Prestige Mills
- Resista
- Shaw
- Stainmaster
- Stanton
- Tigressa
- Unique Carpets Ltd.
- Weave-Tuft
