Carpet is a large investment for any home owner and the product you pick will have a lot to say about what decisions you can make for other furnishings in your home.
Other then the choice of wall paint or coverings the type and color of your carpet will will have the biggest influence on how your home looks from the inside. Other factors such as the ability of the carpet to absorb noise will give additional benefits and finally you should understand what decisions up front will allow you to maintain, repair and revitalize carpet for long life and resale of your home.
Here we will cover some of the decisions you need to make when buying carpet and even if you won’t be installing it yourself you need to know what products are best to get the most out of your money.
For most installs a neutral color which is neither too dark or light in value or to dramatic in color and texture will fit both you as a home owner and any potential future buyer of your home. You will notice that throughout our howtos we like to cover the resale value of decisions because many products in our house can last for many years. Carpet is one product that can last on average 10 or more years and you will see when you are making your purchase decision that prorated warranties are made based on how long the manufacturer feels their products will last in normal wear conditions.
If you have young children, animals or like to throw wild parties you can basically throw any lasting factors out the window but for most of us you can take the value rating the manufacturer provides as a general rule of thumb.
So, what are the differences between the types of carpet you can pick and what other products and add-ons are valuable when making purchase decisions? Lets take a look.
Types of Carpet
Depending on who you talk to there can be a handful or thousands of different types of carpet but when you narrow it down there are really only a few.
Lets start with Loop Pile Like the name suggests if you look closely at the carpet fibers you will notice that they form a loop which you can see and feel on the visible side and on the back side it is stiched into the backing. This is a very common type of carpet and it has good wear resistance although some people say it is not as soft as our next type.
Cut Pile Carpet is the type that most of us are use to it starts off as loop pile and then the loops are cut by machine to allow the fibers to fill out the carpet and provide a plush feel under foot. Many different versions of cut pile exist and they go by different fancy names that manufacturers give them to appeal to your buying scenes like Saxony, Velvet, Plush Frieze but at their base its a loop pile carpet with the loops cut. Carpet manufacturers will go on for days about how the fiber is twisted or the ends are cut special but all in all its just loops that have been cut.
Cut and Loop Well I guess you can already guess this one it it made with a mixture of cut and loop fibers which can give it a different texture and durability.
Berber is really a Loop type carpet but because it has such a different feel and thickness this carpet should have its own category. Berber carpet is not a type of fiber like wool although it can often be made of wool it is a pattern that is woven into the carpet. If you are looking for a textured carpet this is the type you want but you should know the care of this type of carpet is important because if you have a burn or a stain you can not repair it very easily by patching with a scrap piece of carpet.
So, if you are looking for durability Looped or cut and loop carpet is good and if you are looking for a plush feel under your feet then cut pile is the answer. If you have a high scale living room you want to furnish then Berber may be the style you like. Sales People will definately have a few dozen other names for the types of carpet they sell but that is their job to make something that goes unnoticed every day seem important.
Thread count just like in your bed sheets is important in picking your carpet along with how the carpet is died.
You should also think twice about Teflon coatings for your carpet. There have been a number of research studies about Teflon being a danger and because we have it on so many things in our home inviting more of it in just to repel stains may cause more harm if your children like to play on the carpet. Even DuPont the manufacturer of Teflon has agreed that every human has some amount of Teflon in their system today and the product can cause medical problems so keep that in mind.