Walking through the choices for carpets

Carpeting in all its various forms has been used in homes for decades. Today, there is a wider assortment of colors, patterns, textures and materials than ever before. Carpets will enrich the interior of your home while providing comfort and warmth for you and your family for many years to come.

Benefits

The benefits of picking carpeting as your flooring are many:

Warmth - Carpeting is warm to the touch as well as an insulator for your floors.

Sound absorption - Noises are deadened on carpeting, providing you with a restful and relaxed atmosphere in your home.

Colors - Carpeting comes in an infinite variety of colors, tones, patterns and textures to complement the design of your home.

Installation flexibility - ­Sub floors can have irregularities that cannot be covered by hard surfaced flooring. Carpeting covers these with ease, and can go over a variety of sub floors and all grade levels, even concrete slabs in basements.

Economical - While prices range by quality of carpet, it can be a very economical option when compared to hard surface flooring. In addition, the cost for installation is significantly less than for other types of flooring.

Composition - Carpeting is made of synthetic or wool yarn sewn into loops through a backing. The loops can be of varying heights and are often cut to make the carpet's pile. Some carpets are a combination of cut and uncut loops. The most durable and common synthetic carpeting material is nylon, which wears well and can be quite stain resistant. Other synthetic materials are olefin, polyester, and acrylic. The acrylic is more expensive than the other synthetic fibers and has a texture more like natural wool. Wool has the most pleasant and natural texture, and is also the most expensive carpet material.

Characteristics

When shopping for carpeting, there are six characteristics you should be aware of to help you compare different brands and grades. Your ultimate goal is to buy carpeting that retains for many years the same look it had in the showroom.

• Yarn twist - The tighter the twist, the longer it will be before the carpet begins to crush and matt. So, the tighter the better.
• Shorter nap - The higher the yarn stands above the backing of the carpet, the more likely it is to matt and crush. The shorter the height of the pile, the more crush resistant your carpet will be.
• Stitches per inch -The more stitches, or yarn, per inch, the less likely a carpet is to crush and matt. The closer the yarn is packed in together, the harder it is to crush them.
• Carpet cushion - The carpet cushion, or pad, acts as a shock absorber and spring which helps improve the overall performance of your carpeting, irrespective of its quality. A good quality cushion will extend the life of your carpet. FHA minimums are a 6-pound cushion under standard residential cut pile and 8-pound cushion under a thinner Berber or low pile.

If you have pets or are worried about spills, look for a carpet cushion that is odor-resistant and is designed to block spills from penetrating the pad.

• Continuous filament nylon (CFN) - If this is on the carpet label, it means the carpet has been made from one continuous filament of nylon. With CFN, you do not get pilling.
• Looped carpets - This type of carpet has looped yarn, not filaments that are cut to a specified height. With a looped carpet, you are looking for how dense the loop is and how much free space is beneath the loop. The tighter the loops, the less matting and crushing you will have.

The wide assortment of textiles, styles, colors and textures will allow you to find just the right carpet to match your budget and complement your interior design. Take some time and shop around and you will find the best product for your home.