Pile Height and Density
Frieze - Short, tight twist carpet. This is a
long wearing carpet.
Textured Plush - A frieze with longer pile and
less dense. Excellent for wear, and elegant looking.
Textured Saxony - This is a textured plush but
with less yarn. Performs well, but will show noticeable crushing
in high traffic areas.
Finishing
Velvet - Sheared, dense, and not crimped.
This style shows the most footprints, vacuum marks and is the most
difficult to seam well. Usually in a solid color, but may not hide
dirt well.
Plush - Similar to velvet but less dense, more
coarse look, and not as tightly twisted. Shows footprints and may
show seams.
Looped Carpet - Looped carpet often look good
longer than a plush, often used in commercial applications. Choose
a dense loop for long life.
Berber - Carpet that is looped with flecks of
color, may vary in size. Not all Berber carpets wear well because
of fiber content.
Color
Use common sense - a light color will show more dirt,
and darker colors require more frequent vacuuming to keep particles from
being noticed.
Be careful about using trendy colors - you may find you
soon tire of the color. |
Fiber Types
Nylon - Strong fiber, great for high traffic
areas when used in a high density carpet. When treated with stain
resistance it will perform well for 5 years.
Polyester - Strong fiber compares with nylon in
strength, made from recycled pop bottles. Loosely woven carpets
may mat and crush.
Olefin - Best suited for indoor/outdoor
use. Performs well if the pile height is low. This fiber
will crush.
Wool - Expensive carpet, long lasting luxury
carpet. Makes an excellent Berber, plush, and frieze.
Types of Padding
Waffle - Contains a large amount of air, allowing
it to crush under pressure. Not suitable for high traffic areas.
Slab Rubber - Resists crushing and suitable for
high traffic areas.
Foam Padding - Made from urethane foam and
available in many thicknesses and densities, not good for high traffic.
Rebond - Made from scraps of high density foam,
available in many thicknessess, good for high traffic areas.
Frothed Foam - Made from super dense
urethane. Very durable.
Fiber - Used under area rugs and some Berber.
Berber Pad - Special pad for use under some types
of Berber. |
