Browse Forums Flooring & Floor Covering 1 Sep 16, 2009 8:08 pm hi there have been readidng all the great advice on this forum re: carpet and underlay before i hit the carpet shops. just have a couple of questions I think we have decided to go with wool as this seems to be the best re:longevity and resistance to wear. Would that be right? I'm not sure where to go from here though - ie what else do i need to specify? I'm after a carpet that's feels soft, stain resistant (kids!) and won't wear down too quickly. It will go in the bedrooms and games room. Can anyone tell me what to look for (ie specifically be asking the carpet salesperson) Also what 'brand names'?? Do i need to specify that the carpet be laid with the minimm amount of joins? Can someone put these in order - floorboards laying/sanding/coating, carpet laying, skirting boards, paint - primer and coats. thanls so much ann about to build our first home! Re: carpet advice - what to get 3Sep 17, 2009 8:21 pm You won't go wrong with wool and there is certainly very sound advice in what Ash says in that thread. Okay, I'm probably a bit biased towards wool for obvious reasons, but that is because it has been used for thousands of years and manufacturers keep trying to come up with synthetic equivelants. It will be a long time yet before they come up with anything that performs as well as wool. With care, a wool carpet will look good and last you for many years. To help you keep it looking good, make up a spill kit and keep it in a handy location that everyone knows where to find it. A roll of paper towel to blot up spills A bottle of soda water for diluting water based spills (beer, wine soft drink, urine etc) A bottle of a WoolSafe Approved spotter for diluting fatty spills (gravy, icecream etc). Another roll of paper towel. To use: Blot up the spill. (don't rub) Dilute water based spills with the soda water. or Dilute fatty spills with the WoolSafe Approved spotter. Blot up the excess. Make a thick wad of paper towel and place of the area. Place a phone book over the pad and leave fo 24 hours. This will either fix the problem or at least buy you time to get it professionally treated. If there is any stain remaining, call a WoolSafe Certified Operator for assistance. Get it professionally cleaned on a regular basis to remove the build up of oily pollutants and the carpet will look great and last for many years. And don't get cranky with the kids if they spill stuff on your carpet. Just fix it up with the spill kit and they won't be afraid to let you know. If they are scared to call you, then they will tend to hide it . The longer a spill sits on a carpet (any carpet ) the harder it will be to shift it. If they tell yo uthen you can simply deal with the problem before it causes more damage. cheers Col Nation For information on caring for wool and other carpet and upholstery go to www.woolsafe.com.au Re: carpet advice - what to get 4Sep 17, 2009 11:56 pm I have just ordered carpet, I did not go for wool as it fluffs. The best non wool carpet is soloution dyed nylon. This is the best to clean for stains. Normal nylon is coloured like a radish, so only colour on the outside, while soloution dyed is like a beetroot coloured all the way through. Buy the best (thickest) underlay the store has. I have found it really hard to work out if rubber or foam is the best, if you ask 100 carpet sellers the response is usually 50/50. Regarding joins the carpet rolls are 3.66m wide, so is you have a 5x3.6m room you will not have a join at all. A 4x4m room will have join on one wall. All the carpets have star ratings... lift up the back and look at the stickers on the back, heavy duty carpets have 6 stars which is the highest. Redbook and Victoria are the two names of carpet I remember. A plush carpet is softer than a loop. The plush fibres are cut and you get the shade differences of the pile, while the loop is a loop of fibre. The loop is easier to clean than the plush. Have fun, it took me ages to find the one I liked. Re: carpet advice - what to get 5Sep 18, 2009 10:08 am A mixture of truths, half truths and some incorrect statements there 'building'! Hope you enjoy your carpets. I did not go for wool as it fluffs. It can, but diminishes after a while. Normal vacuuming recovers it anyway. Is that a great problem? The best non wool carpet is soloution dyed nylon. Arguable! There are many varieties of SDNs, with different performance levels. Those used in commercial carpets are generally better. Some domestic SDNs perform no better than other nylons. This is the best to clean for stains. Normal nylon is coloured like a radish, so only colour on the outside, while soloution dyed is like a beetroot coloured all the way through. You've been listening to too mnay sales pitches! Its sort of true, but not the full story. Buy the best (thickest) underlay the store has. The "thickest" is usually NOT the best. I have posted elsewhere about underlay choices. I have found it really hard to work out if rubber or foam is the best, if you ask 100 carpet sellers the response is usually 50/50. Line up a hundred carpet sales people, and you'd find 0.5 of them have a clue what they are talking about. Its usually what they are buying in bulk that they want to sell you. Few offer the very best underlay. Regarding joins the carpet rolls are 3.66m wide, so is you have a 5x3.6m room you will not have a join at all. A 4x4m room will have join on one wall. Right. All the carpets have star ratings... lift up the back and look at the stickers on the back, heavy duty carpets have 6 stars which is the highest. "Extra Heavy Duty Contract including stairs" would be the highest 6 star rating. A plush carpet is softer than a loop. The plush fibres are cut and you get the shade differences of the pile, while the loop is a loop of fibre. Right. Not necessarily. Ash. Re: carpet advice - what to get 6Sep 19, 2009 10:14 pm thank you so much for your replies - Col nation - really appreciate te cleaning tips and the advice re:not getting too angry at the kids : ) makes sense I think we are leaning towards the Angus Tweed. Re underlay - The carpet sales guy said they don't make bridgestone airstep prime anymore - is that right? he recommended a dunlop product that's a composite foam (can't remember the name) However he did say they can do rubber if we want. Is excellay rubber? Is there anything better? thanks about to build our first home! Re: carpet advice - what to get 7Sep 20, 2009 12:22 am wallywombat7 I think we are leaning towards the Angus Tweed. Re underlay - The carpet sales guy said they don't make bridgestone airstep prime anymore - is that right? he recommended a dunlop product that's a composite foam (can't remember the name) However he did say they can do rubber if we want. Is excellay rubber? Is there anything better? thanks I have 'Angus Tweed' by Cavalier Bremworth in my main bedroom. Its still looking great after 13 years, with just a little tracking in the walk ways. Its a really nice carpet! The sales guy is bullshitting you. With Angus Tweed, get PRIME. It IS available. Excellay is a foam composite. It would be the second choice. Ash. Versaloc is a mortarless besser block system that still needs a properly engineered footing. If you just do a 400x200 footing it will fail in time. At 17m long you need it… 1 18224 1 11011 1 15766 |