Choosing the right flooring for your needs can be a daunting task in light of the myriad of options available on the market today. Carpeting is only one of those flooring options, but the qualities that the various types of carpeting can offer, will satisfy almost any requirements you may have.
Advantages of Carpeting
Wall-to-wall carpeting is warm and comfortable underfoot. Carpeting is affordable, relatively easy to install, and offers far better insulation from cold, heat, and sound than most other flooring materials.
Carpeting has a long life span, depending on the wear it receives. Carpet durabilty depends on the quality of the material it is made of and the type of carpet construction. Carpeting can be difficult to keep clean, depending again on the material and the height of the pile, but can help to hide dirt and soil.
Carpet Construction
Carpets used to be hand-made. Today huge machines make sure that every meter of carpet produced, adhere to certain quality standards.
Synthetic fibre or wool and other natural fibre yarns are sewn through a backing of canvas or other material to create the modern carpets we know today. The loops produced by this process can be of varying heights and are often cut to make the carpet's pile. Some carpets are a combination of cut and uncut loops.
Types of Carpeting
Types of carpeting vary according to three characteristics:
- Carpeting fibre
- Carpet construction
- Carpet texture
The most durable and common synthetic carpeting material is nylon, which wears well and can be stain resistant. Other synthetic materials are olefin, polyester, and acrylic. Acrylic carpeting has a texture more like natural wool and is more expensive than other types of carpet.
Wool has the most pleasant and natural texture, and is also the most expensive carpeting fibre out there.
Decorating Options
Carpeting adds colour and beauty to your home. But more than that, it acts as an effective insulation and improves footing.
One of the greatest features of broadloom carpeting is the vast array of colour and texture choices available. Neutral tones, such as sage and beige, tend to be most popular with consumers. The design experts predict that wall-to-wall carpeting trends are moving towards a more sophisticated colour palette with a new focus on texture.
According to current trends, the design scheme in many homes will in future not centre around one primary colour scheme, but will include many combinations of rich complex colours and patterns. Carpets fit easily into this type of design and bring with it the luxury and varied textures carpeting is so well known for.
Recommended Rooms
Carpeting works very well as luxury flooring in the following rooms of a house:
- Living room
- Dining room
- Family room
- Office
- Bedroom
Carpet installation
Carpet can be applied over almost any sub floor or existing flooring (except for old carpet!). A thick pile will hide irregularities in sub flooring in a way that most other floorings won't.
Unless the padding is incorporated into the carpet construction, carpeting has to be installed over a supporting layer of padding. This padding plays a very important part in the quality look and feel of the carpeting installation.
Carpeting
Carpeting has been around as flooring in homes around the world in some form or another for centuries, and it is unlikely that carpeting will soon disappear into the annals of history. The modern fibres that are incorporated in the construction of carpets add new versatility and greater durability to the humble carpet.
Carpeting simply offers so much in the way of decorating options that no interior decorator or do-it-yourself home decorator can dismiss it as a possible flooring solution.
