Carpet
Carpet is by far the most widely used floor covering option for many reasons:
- Carpet is available in an enormous variety of colors, textures and styles.
- Carpet is warmer, softer and quieter than hard surfaced floors.
- Carpet can be installed over and hide existing floor irregularities.
- Carpet installation is more economical than for hard surfaces.
We keep a large inventory of carpet stocked in our warehouse, or we can special order anything you choose from our top of the line suppliers.
Click the logos below to view the product catologs of ourmajor carpet suppliers, or read on for more information to keep in mind when choosing your carpet.
Style
Carpet is available in so many different styles, it may help to outline some broad categories to help you narrow down your selection. The broadest way to categorize carpet is by either cut-pile or looped styles. Within those two broad categories, there are many variations.
Textured: This cut pile carpet has alternating twists of carpet that give the surface of the carpet a textured, two-tone appearance. This is a casual style of carpet that is great for all areas of your home and is available in a broad range of prices.
Saxony: This cut pile style has a more uniform finish, giving it a velvety, smooth look and a soft, plush feel. This gives a more formal look to the room, so it is recommended for less used areas of the house. This style will show footprints and vacuum marks.
Frieze: This cut pile style has very twisted yarns that creates a textured, knobby surface. This carpet is very durable, and will perform well in high traffic areas of your home. This style hides footprints and vacuum marks very well.
Cable: Cable style carpet has very long, thick yarn. This style is very soft to walk on, and will look cozy in a bedroom or living room. This style can matte or crush with heavy foot traffic, so it is not suited for busy areas such as hallways or stairs.
Looped: Looped carpets are very durable, and come in varying levels of loops and patterns. This carpet hides footprints and traffic marks very well, and is a great all purpose style for any room in your house. This style may show seams more than other styles.
Color
There are several things to keep in mind besides decorating preference when selecting your carpet color. Color can appear much lighter or much darker depending on different conditions. Some general rules of thumb to follow are:
- The color you see on the smaller samples of carpet will appear lighter once installed. The smaller the swatch, generally the darker the color will appear.
- Color will appear lighter in brightly lit rooms, and darker in dimly lit rooms. It is always a good idea to look at your color choices in various types of light.
- Lighter colors will make a room appear larger, and darker colors will make the room appear smaller.
- Lighter colors will show surface stains much more quickly than darker colors.
Material
Carpet is available in many types of materials and blends. Nylon is the most common and the best performing material, but it is also more expensive. It is superior to other materials in appearance retention, fade resistance, and stain resistance. Polypropylene, (aka olefin) is the second most common material. It is naturally stain and fade resistant, but is not as resilient as nylon. Polyester, another common material, also has good stain and fade resistence, but less resilience than nylon.
If you are looking for green options for carpeting, wool or sisal are both excellent choices. Although not as durable as some of the syntheic materials, they both are all natural fibers that clean well and look beautiful with any decor.
Textured
Saxony
Frieze
Cable
Loop
Shaw and Mohawk are the US's largest carpet mills, and Unique Carpets is our retailer of choice for wool and sisal carpeting.
