Carpet Flooring

Here is some information that you’ll find helpful while researching a carpet that will be best suited for your home & family.

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Please remember that no matter what carpet you choose, all carpets are simply fabrics that are installed on the floor. They start to soil and crush the same day that they are installed. Proper maintenance, including frequent vacuuming and professional cleaning is very important and influences the life of the carpet and the perception of how well a carpet “wears”.

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Carpet Fibers

For a home that you are planning to stay put for a while (not sell in the immediate future), our advice is to purchase a nylon carpet. All else being equal, we recommend NOT purchasing a carpet that is made from the following fibers: Polyester (PET), SmartStrand (Triexta), or Olefin.

 

Resilience

Within the industry, nylon is generally accepted to be the premium synthetic carpet fiber. Nylon is treated to be very stain resistant, it tends to release soils well, and it is considered to be the most resilient. By resilient, we mean that compared to other synthetic fibers, nylon has a better memory and “bounces back”. Its resilience makes it more resistant to matting and crushing. This is why it is almost unheard of to find non-nylon carpets specified for the commercial/contract market for areas that are expected to receive high foot traffic.

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Price

However, compared to other synthetic fibers, nylon is more expensive for the mills to produce. As a result, the carpet mills are able to produce heavier & thicker non-nylon carpets and sell them at the same price as their nylon counterparts. Often, when a customer touches non-nylon carpets and compares the feel to an equivalently priced and comparable nylon carpet, the non-nylon carpets may likely be perceived to be a better value because it may have a “better hand” and feel thicker.

 

In summary, although the nylon carpet will likely perform better, the non-nylon carpets often have a higher “perceived value” when compared to an equally priced nylon carpet. 

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Carpet Construction

All else being equal, short, tight and dense carpets will usually perform better than tall, loose and fluffy carpets. However, as is usually the case in life, there are tradeoffs. Short, tight and dense carpets do not feel as soft and nice as tall and fluffy carpets. The carpet manufacturers seem to be in a race to see who can produce the softest carpet. Although the “super” soft carpets have not been in the marketplace for an extended period of time, I have concerns about them. The super soft carpets tend to show shading from footprints and vacuum marks more, and I believe that over time, the super soft carpets will “lay down” more quickly than their “regular soft” counterparts.

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Twist

The amount of twist on the carpet yarn is a very important factor. All else being equal, the higher the twist on the yarn, the longer it will take for the carpet to look matted and crushed. Sometimes the twist level is printed on the samples. However, usually it is necessary to look at the side of the yarn and the yarn tips to observe the twist level. When a yarn is tightly twisted, the yarn usually becomes “skinny” and the yarn tips become more defined. Sometimes twisting the yarn very tight makes the yarn thinner and the carpet looser. When the tips of the yarn become untwisted (called tip bursting), the fibers become entangled with each other, and the carpet looks matted and crushed. The higher the twist of the yarn, the longer it will take for the tips to become untwisted, and the longer the carpet will resist matting and crushing.

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Density

The density of a carpet is also an important thing to consider when evaluating carpet quality. The denser a carpet is, the more the individual pieces of yarn support each other and the longer it takes for a carpet to matt down. Density combined with short pile height and a level of yarn twist enhances the performance of a carpet. 

Loop Pile, Cut Pile, and L/C/L (Loop/Cut/Loop) are the 3 primary types of carpet construction.

• Looped carpet (often referred to as “Berber”) is typically a low-profile carpet that often lends a “clean” look to a room. Looped carpets are typically easy to vacuum, have a firm walk, and are available with almost no patterns, geometric patterns, or flowing patterns. If constructed properly, this type of carpet can perform well. As a rule, the seams in looped carpets are often more noticeable compared to seams in cut pile carpet. Also, if a loop was to get snagged, and then pulled, the snag could turn into a “runner”.

• Cut pile (“regular”) carpets are carpets without any loops. A textured carpet (sometimes referred to as “trackless”) is probably the most popular style of carpet. Frieze (shag) carpets are highly twisted carpets that add texture to a room. If a Frieze carpet is too loose and tall, it often will lay down more quickly on stairs compared to a carpet that is shorter, tighter and denser. A third type of cut pile is called a Saxony. Saxony carpets often go by the names of “Plush” and “Velvet”. Saxony carpets convey a very rich and formal look. Although all cut pile carpet will show the shading caused by footprints and vacuums, Saxony’s tend to show these types of marks the most.

• L/C/L (Loop/Cut/Loop) carpets are low profile patterned carpets. The patterns in these carpets may or may not be formed by using different colors to form the pattern.  Often, a solid color of yarn (looped and cut) is used to form a dramatic or subtle pattern.  In an attempt to accentuate the pattern in the carpet, the mills will maximize the contrast between the looped and cut yarns by using a straight set Saxony carpet as the cut part of the pattern. Often, the part of the carpet that is the straight set Saxony will more explicitly show shading caused by footprints and vacuums. The L/C/L’s are currently extremely popular, fashionable.

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Common Sense

 

The more a carpet can trick your eye, the more it will hide wear and tear.  Even if the carpet is made from nylon yarn, and is short, tight, dense, highly twisted, and has good tip definition, you may not perceive it as wearing very well.  If the carpet is light in color and has a very “clean and pristine” look, it may not camouflage the traffic very well.

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Finally, the carpet color choice is very influential in the way a carpet is perceived to “wear”.   A very light carpet will likely be unforgiving and show soiling and staining more quickly than a darker color in the same style.  A darker color tends to more effectively hide soiling and staining.  Simply because they hide stains and soiling better than lighter colors, darker colored carpets tend to stay in service longer than their lighter counterparts.