Benefits of Carpet

Decorating your home with carpet is both fun and exciting. Homes, like people, express a personality. You carefully pick clothes to match a certain look and feel. You can pick carpeting to create a look and feel for the personality of your home. Your carpet selections can make your home a beautiful place to share with family and friends.

If you have ever woken up on a cold morning or watched a toddler tumble while taking its first few steps, then you already know why carpet is the flooring choice most favored by homeowners.

Carpet is the most practical, fashionable and versatile flooring choice, and it accounts for more than half of all flooring purchases made each year. In fact, carpet has outsold every other type of floor covering for nearly 50 years.

Carpet offers many advantages that other flooring choices do not. Here are a few of the unique benefits that carpeting adds to your home - some you probably haven't thought of!

Warmth - Carpet is the ideal choice for bedrooms, family rooms and other areas where warmth underfoot is crucial.

Insulation - Carpet and carpet padding provide an extra layer of insulation between floors of your home. In fact, depending on its density and weight, carpet contributes to the R-value of a home, adding to its energy efficiency.

Safety - Carpet provides a non-slip surface to prevent accidents and a natural cushion in the event of a fall. This is especially important for young children and the elderly.

Sound Reduction - Carpeting reduces noise better than any other flooring choice. In fact, carpet dampens noise in three ways: reducing surface noise from foot traffic, absorbing airborne sound and blocking transmission of sound between floors. These qualities are especially valuable in apartments and semi-detached homes.

Surface Cosmetics - The addition of carpeting to a room can disguise existing floor damage and hide other irregularities such as uneven or warped floors.

Easy Care - Today's carpets are more stain-resistant than ever before, making cleanups of even the worst spills a breeze.

Cleaner Air - Scientific studies have shown that carpet can improve indoor air quality by trapping potential allergy-causing particulates -if the carpet is properly cleaned and maintained.

Variety of Uses - Carpets aren't only for floors! Carpeting can be easily added to stairs, steps, walls, posts and other irregular and non-level surfaces, with no worry that it'll slip, lift or buckle.

Decorating Flexibility - Carpeting is the foundation of any room's decor. And because it is available in so many textures and colors, carpet creates an unlimited number of possibilities for decorating. From neutral tones to rich solids to patterned carpets that complement furniture, carpet is the first step in your decorating plans.

Low Cost - Carpet offers an economical alternative to many other flooring choices, and installation costs are typically less than for hard surfaces.

Long Life - Today's carpets are remarkably durable and will outlast many other varieties of floor covering.


Selecting Carpet

Carpet - nothing looks like it, feels like it or performs like it. It enhances the peace and quiet of your home by absorbing sound. It insulates against the cold, cushions your feet with comfort, and adds safety, helping to prevent slips and falls and protecting dropped objects from being damaged. And because carpet is a key decorative element in the home and a major purchase, you must keep several factors in mind during your selection process.

Perhaps the most important things to consider are these: Does it fit your taste, and does it match your lifestyle?

This informative section was created to help you make a selection that best suits your home and your budget.

Location/Use
Before purchasing carpet, you need to answer the following questions:
How is the room going to be used?
Will it have heavy or light traffic?
Will the room be the center of activity for family and entertaining?
Is there direct access from outside, or will the carpet be away from entrances?
Will the carpet receive direct sunlight?

Where there is to be heavy traffic (usually the family room, hallways and stairways), choose the best carpet you can afford. When shopping for carpet, look for performance rating guidelines with various brands of carpet. This rating system offers guidance on choosing the carpet that will perform best for various traffic needs. Most guidelines will be based on a 5-point scale, with the number 4 or 5 rating being best for the highest traffic areas. A 2 to 3 rating is good for areas with less traffic.

Quality Factors
The type of fiber used and the way the carpet is constructed determines the basic performance of the carpet. Quality can be enhanced by the way the fibers, or yarns, are twisted and heat set,and by the density of the tufts. Deep pile height that's densely tufted, has a luxurious feel; however, pile height is really a matte rof personal choice and does not, in itself, denote durability.

Carpet Color
Because it covers so much living space, carpet is the foundation of your room's dcor. It can be a neutral color, blending in with fabrics and other surfaces; or it can be a vibrant focal point of the room, making a statement that reflects your style. The selection of carpet color is a very personal choice. Carpet comes in almost every color, pattern, and texture you can imagine. You will want to select a color that unites your decorative elements and creates the atmosphere you desire. Ever-popular beige carpet can make a room look spacious; but for a bolder statement, look for a common color in your furniture and draperies. Choose a carpet with a similar hue. Environmental colors, like blues, deep greens, rosy quartz, and stony neutrals are becoming increasingly popular. Warm colors can turn up the heat in a room that lacks light, while cool greens and blues have a calming effect. Lighter colors make the room seem larger; darker colors provide coziness.

There are also practical considerations in carpet color selection. New stain and soil resistant technology makes today's lighter color carpet much easier to clean, allowing more decorating options. Medium and darker colors, tweeds, and textures will help disguise common soil in your home's high traffic areas.

Carpet Cost
Your budget and your needs are two key elements in selecting carpet and rugs. There are a wide range of choices and costs from which to make your selection. Ask yourself how long you expect to keep your carpet before replacing it. A better grade of carpet will give you a greater length of service than one of lesser quality. Buy the best carpet you can afford for the heavy traffic areas of your home halls, stairs, and family rooms. A medium grade will provide good service in rooms with less traffic bedrooms and guest rooms. The cost of carpet is based on many factors, including fiber, construction, quality, and design. The total project will include the cost of cushion and installation. Be wary of the cheapest products or services. Be sure and ask us for a complete cost estimate one that includes carpet, cushion and freight. You may be pleasantly surprised at the savings that you will have.