Carpet

If you’re like most people, this is the extent of what you know about carpet:  Fuzzy side up.  And while that is certainly true, there are a few other basics that you should know.

Even with the resurgence of hardwood and other hard-surface flooring, carpet is still the most popular choice in floor covering.  Nothing else compares to the luxurious softness that carpeting offers.  Nothing else offers the array of styles and colors and textures.  Nothing else offers the wide quality and pricing options.

While it’s certainly safe to go with a beige trackless/textured carpet throughout your home, more design-savvy consumers choose their carpet color and style based on their own unique decorating taste.  Are you re-carpeting a formal living room?  Try a velvet plush (but be prepared to see vacuum tracks).  A thick, shaggy frieze, maybe even with flecks of other colors, is ideal for a casual family room.  A patterned carpet adds interest and flair to any room.  There are so many choices and there is no right or wrong.

Carpet can be made from many types of fiber, with the most common being nylon, polyester and wool, and specific types of these fibers offer different features and benefits.  Which type is the best?  It’s a great question, and one without an answer.  There is no perfect carpet; therefore the perfect carpet is different for each person.   If you’re replacing carpeting to spruce up the place to sell, you don’t need a bullet-proof fiber.  If you are part of a family with four kids, a dog and a cat, you’ll want to look for the fiber that offers the best durability without sacrificing stain resistance.

While it is certainly possible to install your own carpet, installation is better left to the professionals.  Carpet is roughly cut to the size of the room, seamed together if necessary, then stretched over padonto the tack strips, using special equipment, and special know-how.  When you see rippling and buckling, you’re seeing the result of a carpet losing its stretch.  While this is a common occurrence and not indicative of a faulty installation, you have a much lower chance of that happening if it’s installed correctly, by a professional, the first time.  Carpets can, in many cases, be re-stretched.  Unlike the installation of hard surface flooring, it rarely requires any subfloor preparation.  Carpet can go in any room in the house, above or below grade, and be installed on almost any type of substrate.  Some carpet is even specially made to go outside.

A quick word about carpet pad.  While a good pad certainly will help extend the life of you carpet’s structure, it’s not a miracle worker.  If you buy low-end carpet and a high-end pad, that’s exactly what you’ll get.

Just like everything else, you get what you pay for.