Selecting Carpet

Here’s some tips on selecting the right carpet for you:

First start by determining what rooms will be covered and how much traffic will be in each room. This will help you determine what type of carpet will be best for you. If you are buying carpet for high traffic areas such as a living room or a hallway it will be important to buy a carpet that is very resilient. If you are only doing bedrooms that have limited traffic you can buy a carpet with less resiliency.

Second match the type of use with the right carpet fiber. Most residential carpet is manufactured out of either nylon, polyester or triexta. Each of these carpet fibers has different performance qualities and can be matched to your specific project. The most important factor in carpet performance is the fiber type.

Nylon is resilient so that it will hold its shape over time. Typically nylon carpet will carry 10 – 15 year texture retention warranties. Nylon is more susceptible to staining so it may be important buy one that is treated with scotchguard or another stain resistance treatment. Nylon is typically more expensive to manufacture than other carpet fibers.

Polyester (PET) is not as resilient as nylon and typically carries a 5-10 year texture retention warranty. Because Polyester carpet is less durable than Nylon or Triexta I only recommend using it in low traffic areas such as bedrooms. Polyester is less expensive to manufacture and as a result you can buy a thicker, fuller carpet for less money. Polyester is naturally stain resistant.

Triexta carpet fiber combines the stain resistance of polyester with the resilience of Nylon. Triexta was developed by DuPont and is marketed under the Smartstrand and Sorona brands. Triexta typically has a 15-25 year texture retention warranty so it is designed to maintain its shape over a very long time. It is very stain resistant and even comes with a pet stain warranty. Triexta is made of 30% renewable materials and is economical to manufacture.

A note on carpet weights -

Some stores use carpet weight to differentiate their product. Sometimes they overemphasize carpet weight in their recommendations. Carpet fibers have varying densities so a 40 oz nylon carpet will perform much better than a 60 oz polyester even though the polyester will feel thicker. Also carpet weights are not very accurate. There is a typical variance of 7% or more in stated carpet weight and actual carpet weight. We recommend you use carpet weight as one of several factors in making your choice.

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