You're ready, willing and able to purchase a brand new carpet today. You decide to go out shopping but are stressed out by all the different types of carpet fibers, colors and weave patterns. Here is an easy way to shop for carpet. You'll save money and get the carpet of your dreams.

In my line of business people always ask me, "what is the best type of carpet to buy?". While in their homes the answer is easy because I know exactly what they are looking for. I know their needs. But for you, the complete stranger, I may need to dig a little deeper. How much traffic will the carpet receive. What is your budget? Will you be eating in the rooms where the carpet will be? Do you wear shoes in the home? All of these questions will ultimately lead you to the perfect carpet for your home.

Walk into any carpet dealer and you will most likely be faced with four types of carpet. Nylon dominates 80% of the residential market followed by olefin and polyester. Wool is very rarely found and only represents about 1% of the residential market. Some characteristics of wool include it being very absorbent. It can hold as much as ten times it weight in water and hold up to 30% of it's weight in water without feeling wet to the hand. Wool is burn resistant. It is by far the most beautiful and posh of the carpet fibers but is very difficult to clean long term without distortion of the fibers. Red dyes in particular are very difficult to clean from wool carpet.

Olefin is found more in commercial spaces. It's very economical. Some challenges that you may face with olefin include a very low heat threshold. Simply dragging something heavy over the carpet may produce enough heat to permanently burn the olefin and leave a drag mark. Olefin doesn't dissolve in bleach although the color might. It's strong but do not expect long lasting beauty from it.

Polyester is manufactured to look like nylon and is quickly grabbing more and more market value in carpet retail. If you are looking for a beautiful carpet and do not mind a short carpet life, polyester may be the way to go.

Nylon is by far the most popular and in my personal opinion best carpet available. It's colorfast and has excellent memory. As long as it's vacuumed properly, it will automatically spring back to it's original shape once being stepped on. It doesn't mat very easily. 4th and 5th generation nylon include carpet protection to help shield spills and dirt. Make sure your carpet salesman gives you nylon and not olefin. For the untrained eyes it may be challenging the tell the difference. The way to be sure you are getting what you paid for simply take a small strand of carpet filaments and put them into a glass of water. If they sink you have nylon. If they float you have olefin.

So if you are a landlord buying carpet for a tenant or the home owner, but nylon. If you are a tenant only living in an area for a short period of time, buy polyester. If you never walk on your carpets, never eat or drink in the carpeted room, and can afford it buy wool. If the carpet is for a high traffic commercial area definitely buy olefin. Regardless what you decide to own be sure to vacuum as much as possible and have a professional carpet cleaner steam clean the carpets every six to twelve months. This will maximize the life of your new carpet and really compliment the beauty of the carpeted room.


0 Comments:

Post a Comment



Carpat@Home - Designer: Douglas Bowman | Dimodifikasi oleh Abdul Munir Original Posting Rounders 3 Column