How To Choose The Right Carpet Type For Your Home
Carpet types may look very similar, but understanding the differences will help you make the right choice for your home. To make your selection process a little easier, we’ve put together our ultimate guide to carpet types.
Wool carpet is warm, luxurious and has a long-lasting beauty that will stand the test of time. It is naturally stain resistant and has significantly better soil release than any other fibre – but you’ll need to make sure you clean up spills quickly.
Nylon is the most popular carpet in Australian homes. Ultra soft, durable and stain resistant, it’s ideal for high-traffic areas, families or pets. It’s also a cheaper alternative to traditional wool.
Solution Dyed Nylon (SDN) is the next generation of nylon carpet. It has colour added to the fibre during the production process, rather than applied to the surface afterwards, making it colourfast against cleaning and sunlight.
Polypropylene is a synthetic fibre that is a great option if you’re working to a budget. Anti-static plus fade and stain resistant, it is often used in rental properties, garages and playrooms.
How to Choose a Carpet that is Beautiful & Durable
Flooring can add beauty and style to your home. From beautiful, natural hardwood to soft luxurious carpet, a floor provides the backdrop for the rest of your room. You floor also gets a lot of wear and tear. Pets, guests, family, kids – your carpet literally gets walked all over every day. Choosing a floor that can take the abuse is important in having the beautiful backdrop that lets your home shine. When you’re choosing a floor, arm yourself with this information and you won’t be disappointed with the beautiful floors you’ll have for many years to come.
NYLON
Durable, versatile, wear-resistant and easy to clean, nylon is a great fiber choice for all areas of the home. Nylon is also soft to the touch and some new nylon yarns can be exceptionally soft. Nylon is not inherently stain-resistant, however, most nylon carpets are treated to protect against spills and stains
POLYESTER
Exceptionally soft, polyester also has natural stain resistant qualities. Polyester is not as resilient as nylon but thanks to advancements in yarn processing, polyester carpets now perform much better than older polyester carpets.
POLYPROPYLEN (OLEFIN)
Polypropylene, while not as resilient as nylon or polyester will not absorb water making it more stain and fade resistant. Polypropylene is usually found in loop pile carpets where the lack of resiliency is not an issue.
BERBER
Berber is a looped carpet tufted with thick yarn. It often has random specks of color in contrast to a base hue. It is great for any areas that must endure lots of traffic, such and entryways and hallways. This floor covering has a rich, textured feel, while maintaining an informal, casual look.
Carpet Selection: Things You Must Know
Carpet dealers usually carry samples of many carpet lines from multiple mills and manufacturers in their showrooms. You’ll see a range of quality when you begin your carpet search. Your best bet is to educate yourself and research your options before you head to the store. Then, you’re sure to get a quality carpet that provides comfort, durability and beauty far into the future.
What You Should Know:
By asking these questions, the dealer is trying to gauge which grade and style of carpet would work best for your home.
How much use will the room get? (This is a consideration because a heavily used room may not be the best place to install white or very light-colored carpet.)
Are kids going to be playing down on the floor? Or is it a formal room that doesn’t get much use? (Again, lighter colors my create more maintenance but another factor the dealer is trying to consider is whether you should choose carpet made with BCF fiber like STAINMASTER® so that children playing on the floor will not find themselves covered in loose fibers shed from staple products.)
What You Should Know:
You should always remember to bring swatches of fabric from drapes and furniture, wallpaper samples, and paint chips with you when you are selecting carpet. That way you can consider a range of colors that will match your existing décor. Remember that color can also affect your mood. Warmer colors often make you feel energized while cooler tones provide a sense of calm.
Wall-to-Wall Carpet Buying Guide
On the Carpet
Buying the right type of carpet for a room in your home involves more than finding a style in the color you like. You first will need to consider your lifestyle—what you typically do in that room—location, material, construction, and upkeep. Carpet manufacturers have responded to homeowners’ desire for great looks, value, and easy maintenance with many innovations and options in recent years.
Selection
When shopping, think function first
Fiber Facts
The type of fiber used determines the basic performance and appearance of the carpet. The biggest trend today is: soft. Homeowners seek comfort, and carpet offers a cushion underfoot. It also suppresses noise. The fiber content is usually listed on a specification sheet on the back of the sample. While names may differ among manufacturers, products still fall within one of five basic categories.
Wool
Wool, the granddaddy of all soft floorcoverings, retains its legacy of luxury. Natural and made from woven construction, it offers a greater range of designs, detail, and color than a traditional tufted carpet. Expect good stain resistance as long as you treat it as soon as something is dropped on it. It also has inherent flame retardant characteristics.
Nylon
Nylon comes a close second to wool in terms of performance and feel, but on average it costs less. This versatile fiber offers plenty of variety in styles and construction: frieze, textured, shag, loop cut loop (LCL) all can be made from nylon. It has excellent soil resistance, colorfastness and resilience, which allows it to bounce back, making it a suitable just about anywhere. Some of it can be recycled once into another nylon carpet if the manufacturer so chooses.
Selecting the Right Carpet
From the Store to Your Floor
You’ve decided that carpet is the best flooring choice for your home. Now what? There’s a lot to consider and many great options from which to choose. Today’s carpet offers a wide variety of choices in style, fiber composition, and color.
A Rainbow of Choices
If a room is your interior design canvas, carpet is your paintbrush. It can be neutral, complementing the other visual elements in the room. It can also be a bold, focal point of the room. Because carpet comes in nearly every color imaginable, the choice is yours
Types of Carpet
Carpet is constructed in several different ways, along with a variety of fibers. Understanding the strengths and differences of each will help you make the right choices for your lifestyle, home, and budget.
Cut Pile: One of the most popular constructions, cut pile achieves its durability through the type of fiber used, density of tufts, and the amount of twist in the yarn. Highly twisted yarn will hold its shape longer, making it a smart choice for high-traffic areas.
Textured Plush – Decorative and versatile. Textured surfaces help hide footprints and vacuum marks. Add causal beauty to any room. The preferred style for busy households. A great carpet for the entire home.
Saxony – Refined surface. Works well with traditional interiors. Ideal for living and dining rooms.
Friezé – Forms a “curly” textured surface because yarns are extremely twisted. Has an informal look. Helps minimize footprints and vacuum marks.
Plush (Velvet) – Dense, luxurious feel. Shows footprints and vacuum marks easily. Best for low traffic areas and formal rooms.
Loop Pile: Here loops are the same height, creating a uniform look. This style generally lasts a long time in high-traffic areas. Many of today’s popular Berber styles are level loop styles with flecks of a darker color on a lighter background.