Thursday 2 June 2011

Buying Carpets





One carpet might have suited all areas, as was the trend, 10 plus years ago. Nowadays people are more likely to choose a carpet to suit its room.

Wool carpets and bathrooms don't mix- wool shrinks and smells when it gets wet. Go for a man made material if you think its going to get wet, or vinyl/ tile.

Carpets will show more wear on the stairs as pile becomes noticeably flat,and a long pile carpet can create the illusion of the stair being deeper than you think - and be a bit of a hazard. Short dense material better for stairs- loop or cut pile stripes, heavy domestic twists, heavy weight velvets are all good.

If you have a bright overhead light, and a dark carpet, bend the carpet sample and see if the backing is exposed- if so go a for tighter gauge carpet, 10th gauge where there are more rows of stitch than an 8th gauge.

Don't skimp on bedroom carpets. Unlike most other rooms where the wear can be distributed, in smaller bedrooms it is the same areas taking the same wear.

Look at the width of the room. Most carpets are 4/ 5 metre wide . If your room is wider then the chances are you will need a join.(It is possible to get carpets custom width, but I'm advising ordinary domestic here)Most fitters will achieve a good heat seam join if woven pattern carpet or a twist. Velvets and loop pile joins might be more visible. Also look at the wastage.

Wool or wool mixes tend to not flatten as much as man made materials. It stains but also cleans quite well and great for holding shape of design pattern.
Polypropylene is inherently stain resistant and can be cleaned with mild solution of bleach. Cheap polypropylene patterns can have tendency to flatten quickly and smudge a pattern
Nylon stains and will almost always be treated with something in production- Stainguard etc.








Most carpets are either woven or tufted.
Woven is really the only way to achieve an Axminster style pattern- although some looms make plain woven carpets.
Tufted is more common for everything else.

The spring underfoot is due to the underlay, not the carpet. The better the quality the underlay the better all round. However, if fitting to a fireplace hearth you might not get such a neat line if underlay over thick.

Still want to buy a carpet online?

Oh and colour....but that's the fun part!




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