Carpet Flooring
Carpet Flooring - Carpet Tile, Mohawk Carpet, Shaw Carpet, Dalton Carpet, Discount Carpet.
In choosing your carpet flooring, consider these:
Color
• A neutral carpet color can bring unity
throughout the house. Smaller area rugs in
designated high-traffic areas or as focal points
in conversation areas can serve design purposes
and hide soil or stains.
• Tweed, multi-colored, patterned, or textured
carpet shows soil less than smoother appearing
plush carpet.
• As a carpet is made, color can be added at
different stages—in the fiber before spinning,
in the yarn state, or after the carpet is tufted or
woven. Solution-dyed carpet fibers have the
dye locked inside at the time the fiber is made.
This type of carpet is more resistant to cleaning
chemicals than carpets colored by other
methods. If the label doesn’t mention that the
fiber is solution-dyed, it probably is not.
• Some printed carpets and rugs (e.g., orientalstyle)
are colored after the carpet is tufted or
woven. Close examination at the base of the
pile may show the depth of dye penetration.
These carpets and rugs often are less expensive
than those colored by other methods.
However, they may be less colorfast to atmospheric
conditions and cleaning materials.
Face-fiber
• Carpet advertising often emphasizes the
face-fiber content, such as nylon, polyester,
olefin, acrylic, wool, or cotton. Carpet dealers
talk about carpet weight, which means the
amount of face-fiber measured in ounces per
square yard. Carpet durability is related not
only to fiber content and weight, but also to
the carpet structure.
• Nylon represents about 60 percent of facefiber
used in carpets annually. Other fibers
used include olefin (33 percent), polyester (7
percent), and wool (0.4 percent).
• Nylon face-fibers are strong, resilient, and
naturally water resistant; water stains are
easily cleaned with an absorbent cloth or
paper towel. Sponging with a water-dampened
cloth often is enough to remove a stain.
Nylon may have finishes to reduce static
electricity or a fluorocarbon added to improve
soil resistance. Other finishes added during
installation may not be beneficial due to nylon's
natural resistance to water-borne stains.
• Olefin fibers often are used in indooroutdoor
carpeting because of their resilience,
and abrasion and water resistance. However,
they have poor oil and heat resistance (hot
bacon fat could melt fibers).
• Polyester carpet fibers are durable, but somewhat
less resilient than nylon carpet fibers.
• Acrylics imitate wools in appearance and
are less expensive, but crush more easily than
wool, which is very resilient. Wool, however,
causes allergy problems for some people.
Pile
• Carpet pile height refers to the length of the
carpet yarn from the base of the primary
backing to the carpet surface. Pile density
refers to how close together the tufting
stitches are. Bend a carpet sample in half and
you can see both height and density more
clearly. Carpet yarns are expected to bloom
out to cover more surface area than they take
up in the stitch underneath. When stitches of
tufting are close together, the yarns support
each other, improving the long-term appearance,
resilience, and durability of the carpet.
• Most commercial grade carpeting has short,
dense, looped pile. It feels less bouncy and soft
underfoot and shows footfalls less than
carpeting with cut pile of greater height often
used in homes. Berber carpets have looped pile
with thick yarns that look like handmade
wool, but actually may be made from nylon,
olefin, or a blend of fibers.
• Carpet appearance is affected by the texture
or style of pile: level loop, multi-level loop,
velvet or plush cut, or tip sheared (with the top
part of the loops cut off). Shag carpeting has
longer pile with tufts widely spaced. Saxony
and frieze carpets have yarns with more twist;
the latter is twisted so much the yarns don’t
stand straight. These yarns should be heat-set
to maintain their twist.
• Nearly all carpeting
is tufted by forming
loops through a
primary backing,
often woven of polypropylene
and
referred to as a
moisture barrier (see
illustration). An
adhesive—usually
latex foam—seals face
yarns in place and a
secondary backing
provides dimensional
stability. The latter may be constructed of
polypropylene, jute, or polyurethane foam.
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