About Carpet - Home Carpeting
About Carpet
Carpet is the floor covering of choice in many spaces, including homes. Learn about home carpeting, carpet cleaning and the best carpeting types for your home.
Why Choose Carpet For Your Home?
While several flooring choices exist for a home, carpet offers many benefits over other flooring types. In general, carpet is more comfortable than other types of flooring, and offers more versatility in terms of colors and styles.
Carpet is low maintenance, and only requires regular vacuuming and thorough carpet cleaning every 12 to 18 months for optimal appearance. Carpets are also great for noise reduction and temperature regulation, and are generally safer than slick flooring surfaces.
Choosing Home Carpeting Styles
Once you have chosen home carpeting over other flooring options, you'll have to choose from different styles and fibers. The main styles of carpet are cut pile, berber and frieze. Carpet fibers usually consist of nylon, nylon Tactesse®, wool and olefin.
Beyond style and fibers, you can choose from many different carpet colors. You'll also need to pick a carpet pad to go under your carpet.
Determining Carpet Quality
While a lot of your carpet choice will be subject to your preference and how much you want to pay, you can determine the quality of carpets to make sure you are getting the best carpeting for your budget. The basics of carpet quality are density, twist and pile height.
Denser carpets have a longer lifespan and are generally more comfortable. This is the same with higher-pile carpets with more twist, because the more material in a carpet, the denser and higher quality the carpet. Look for and compare these three aspects when shopping for home carpeting.
Carpet Installation and Maintenance
Once you have chosen your carpet of choice, determine whether you want to install it on your own or hire a contractor. If you decide to have your carpet professionally installed, compare the prices and ratings of different companies. If you decide to install the carpet on your own, research the steps involved before you begin the process.
Once it's installed, maintain your carpet to keep it looking and performing its best for as long as possible. Regular vacuuming, annual deep carpet cleaning and upkeep on repairs will help you get the most bang for your buck.