Graham Flooring and Cabinets

You might hear all sorts of descriptions of carpet styles, but don't get bogged down getting technical about what a particular style might be catgagorized as.  (Sometimes, even the mill reps think a style could fall into a couple of catagories!)

The most common catagories include:
  *  Plush
  *  Berbers
  *  Freize
and you might also break some into groups such as:
  *  Patterned
  *  Textured or looped.

We're going to ignore commercial carpets in this synopsis.

Nylon, polyester, olefin (usually polyproplyene), and wool.  There are others, especially in natural fibers, and there are blends, and there are some that are grouped under a catagory such as polyster but are virtually an entirely new fiber catgagory of their own.

As a VERY ROUGH rule of thumb, you can think of them this way:

Nylon is generally longer wearing and more expensive than polyester or olefins.

Polyester is generally longer wearing and more expensive than olefin.

Olefin is the least expensive fiber, but also the least long-wearing.

Wool is usually the very longest-wearing and durable, but also the most expensive.

Take this with a big grain of salt!  A cheap nylon can be decidely inferior to a nice polyester.  And some fibers, such as SmartStrand polyester, have superior performance.

Polyester can be dyed to brighter hues.  If you want a bright blue carpet for a little boy's UK room, polyester is a great choice.

High traffic areas or some place that might not get another carpet for decades, like a church?  We've seen wool carpets down that are over 70 years old.  Certainly showing their wear in spots, but still in use.

Stairs are great applications for wool or better quality nylons.

Not a particularly great choice.  Berbers are usually made from an olefin fiber.  The reason the whole Berber style came about was to minimize the disadvantage of these less-costly fibers.  By making a looped carpet, you weren't walking on an exposed end.  If olefins are made into a plush style they show wear very quickly.

The other disadvantages to Berbers are a rough feel and they tend to lock in stains.  If you like to lay on the floor to watch TV that rough, scratchy feel can be uncomfortable.

That can be eliminated by selecting a better Berber that has an additive to give it a softer feel.  Increases cost a little, but if you like the pattern you can have a beautiful room and go back to laying on the floor during your favorite shows.

Olefin fibers tend to lock in certain stains worse than other fibers.  Even though they have stain-resistent coatings, a stain that isn't promptly cleaned can lock in and defeat professional cleaning.

Virtually every carpet comes with stain protection today.  Some have brand names, like Stainmaster.  Some have the mill's own brand of repellant.  For the most part, these are pretty good - but you still have to do your part.  If you spill the orange Kool-Aid on the carpet and move the recliner over to cover it up instead of promptly cleaning it up, well, you can damage anything.

The SmartStrand fiber has stain protection made into the fiber instead of being a topical application, resulting in better and easier clean-up with just water, and longer wear life.

Wool has a natural stain-fighting ability, and a 3-D type effect that helps with springing back to life, meaning longer wear.

That's subjective, of course.  We've been in some houses where we ask the homeowner if they are sure they want to replace the carpet.  Other homeowners have told us how great a 40 year old carpet looks because the corner by the TV has never been walked on.  (I was literally standing on one of the spots where the carpet ahd been totally worn through to the plywood subfloor years before.)

For what we would call reasonable expectations, you might figure:
  *  Low-end carpets in hard use environments, 2-3 years.
  *  Good quality carpet, about 4-8 years depending on the care and traffic on it.
  *  Better quality carpet, around 5-11 years, again depending on care and traffic.
  *  Best quality to premium carpets, 9 to 20+ years.

How you treat it is going to make a lot of difference in it.  Padding is another variable.

The industry standard is a 6-lb rebond pad.  If a low use area, rental property, or tight budget, a 6-lb pad will give you reasonable service.

Some places put in a 4-lb or even lower pad, often as part of their "free pad" special.  Don't waste your time.  You might as well not put anything under your carpet.

For better results, and in most owner-occupied homes, we suggest at least 8-lb rebond pad.  For very little additional money you get better performance and feel under foot.

There are many pads available today, though some stores may only tell you about and may only carry up to the 8-lb rebond.  For a nice house, we like to use an 8-lb pad made out of virgin material.  There are also pads in 10-lb or higher denseness, and pads with special features such as:

  *  Vapor barrier on one or both sides to prevent moisture transmission.  (Saves your pad if pets "go" in the house, or if you have humidity issues in your crawl space.)

  *  Environmental features, like having been treated to be anti-bacterial.

Unless the pad is pretty new, we think this is a false economy.  If your pad is 5 or 6 years old, especially in a lower quality pad, and you put down new carpet that is expected to last quite a few years, you are spending money on the new but putting it over something that may have already gone past its' half-life.

It isn't uncommon we pull up old carpet of 20+ years and the pad under it has literally disintergrated.  Even if it wasn't a cheap pad to begin with, once it breaks down enough it no longer supports the carpet you are living on.  Plus, it can hold smells, mold, mildew, and bacteria if there has been moisture over the years.

New pad is usually a relatively small percentage of the overall job.

Face weight tells you how much fiber is in a given area of the carpet.  The heavier the face weight the more fiber per square yard or square foot or square inch.

Some apartments and houses are supposed to meet FHA requirements face weight.  If you are building a house or replacing carpet in rental properties. look for an "FHA Approved" carpet.  (Many places that are supposed to install FHA-approved carpets skimp on this, meaning a) if you are buying that house you are getting a carpet that will wear out faster than it should, and b) it may potentially not qualify for FHA or government-approved financing or funding.)

Don't get hung up face weight, other than as a minimal guideline.  An extremely heavy face weight might look thick and luxurious, but can be "blown up" with air in the fiber.  With foot traffic, those puffed up fibers get matted down and show the wear path.

"Twist" refers to how tightly a fiber is wrapped.  A tighter twist tends to lead to longer and better wear.

Most carpets don't list the face weight or twist on the sample labels.  And frankly, don't worry about it, because....

Three main ways:

  -  Work with a pro in the industry you can trust.  Tell them what budget and quality range you are trying to stay in, tell them what you like and dislike style-wise, and any issues you are concerned about in your home.  They should be able to point you in at least the general direction of styles that work for you and good value.

  -  Pricing gives a really good clue as to the relative quality of a carpet.  HOWEVER, we find some places have greatly distorted pricing.  We've comparsion shopped and found huge differences.  For example, for a really nice carpet we had at a little over $33 per square yard, one of the national chains had at over $48/SY.  And the competing national chain had at over $54/SY!!!  But if you are looking at carpets at our store, typically there is a reason for "Carpet A" being more than "Carpet B," and that is the quality of the carpet.  This industry is the ultimate in cost accounting!

  -  But the ultimate tool for telling the quality of a carpet is - YOU.  Run your hand over it.  Ask us to show you low, medium, and high quality grades of carpet in a style you like.  By feeling it the differences should be obvious, and you can zero in on the grade you want.

For all of us over a "certain age," we just think of carpet in prices per square yard.  Sorry, that's just age.

There are 9 square feet in a square yard.  (A square yard is 3' by 3'.  3 x 3 = 9.)

To go from square yards to square feet multiply by 9.  (100 SY x 9 = 900 SF)

To go from square feet to square yards divide by 9.  (600 SF / 9 = 66-2/3 SY)

For pricing, same thing.  $27.00 per SY = $3.00 per SF.  ($27.00 / 9 = $3.00)
Or, $4.15 per SF = $37.35 per SY.  ($4.15 x 9 = $37.35)

Carpet is almost always your least costly flooring option, at least in terms of initial cost.  (When you factor in expected life and maintenance, especially in commercial or rental situations, this may not be true for "average cost per year.")

Partly this is because of not only less initial cost for the product for the same amount of area, but also carpet usually demands less or no floor prep; no quarter round; no underlayment; no removing/re-setting commodes if in a bathroom; and lower labor cost for the same amount of area.

"Basic installation" means installing carpet in a ready-to-go room.  It does not include steps, upholstery work, or any other work to install a room.

Items that typically might be needed include:
  Remove/re-set furniture.
  Take-up old flooring surfaces and pad.  Sometimes floors have to be scrapped.
  Floor prep if subfloors are unsuitable.  (Carpet is more forgiving than hard surfaces.)
  Steps.
  Upholstery, such as wrapping spindles or open ends of steps.