Browse Forums Flooring & Floor Covering 1 Mar 07, 2010 1:37 pm What are your carpet preferences and why??? Is one easier to keep clean more than the other? Was your choice because you had pets?? Re: What is your carpet preference?? 2Mar 07, 2010 1:46 pm Currently living on cut pile twist, and we've chosen to go with cut pile twist for the new house. The twist roughs up the surface so that when you vacuum or walk over it, it reduces the amount of shading caused by unidirectional force. It also hides imperfections a little but better than plush without sacrificing comfort. And it's lovely to lie on and walk over! Re: What is your carpet preference?? 3Mar 07, 2010 4:15 pm Without wanting to influence your poll, some general info about your nominated carpet types; Cut pile costs more to produce than loop pile, but is generally more luxurious under foot. Loop pile is a bit more hard wearing. Cut plush pile tends to show shading as pile lays in different directions giving the appearance of the carpet loking light & dark. This shows foot marks and vacuuming lines. It is also more prone to showing permanent pile reversal shading, as random patches where the pile lays in different directions. These characteristics bother some people, and others don't mind at all. It is not a fault, just a characteristic. Hard twist (cut) pile carpets are produced with a greater twist in the yarns which helps to keep the yarns standing upright. It diffuses the shading appearance described before, and generally has better appearance retention. It still can develop shading but usually to a lesser degree. Still feels nice under foot. There are many varieties of loop pile carpets. Generally cheaper to produce than cut pile, and have a more formal look. The main drawback is cut edges and seams can pull and zipper (rows of yarn can pull up if snagged). Cats clawing can be a prob. Also, it must have seams sealed and good installation to avoid probs. 'Sisal look' carpets have been very common over the last 12 years or so. They are normally multi-level loop pile carpets with alternate high and low rows of loop pile. The linear design can be less than forgiving, as the uniform lines lead the eye to any blemish or imperfection. Some have more than one colour and a more diffused appearance, but most are a plain colour. As the higher rows of loops compress or wear, it makes traffic ways more obvious because this alters the linear appearance. There are a number of cut and loop pile carpets. From cheaper nylons with sculpted designs to high quality tip sheared Wilton wool carpets. They can be good in that they have an irregular design and good soil hiding properties. But avoid those with too much height differential. There are some excellent LCL carpets (level cut & loop) with pile at pretty much all the same height. This avoids the probs of texture change as higher yarns collapse into neighbouring lower yarn sections (like with sisal styles). Personally, I prefer hard twist pile or maybe LCL style carpets. Ash. Re: What is your carpet preference?? 4Mar 07, 2010 5:29 pm I absolutely detest plush pile - we put it in about 5 years ago after I flooded the house and I vacuum it, minutes later it looks messy in the room again because you can see the foot prints... it is absolutely glorious to walk on but a shocker to maintain! I don't know which one I like as I have only ever had plush... so anything that's not plush!!! Sleven Moved into our Atlantique MkII 36 by Carlisle Homes Re: What is your carpet preference?? 5Mar 07, 2010 8:36 pm Wow Royalblue, thank you so much for all that info!!! I have to pick my carpets very soon and I'm really struggling with it! My standard carpet is a plush with only 5 colour choices (none that interest me). So to get something that will go with my tile choice I will have to go to the next one up. Gawd only knows how much that will cost Sleven> I had plush in my last house. I loved the colour, but yeah I hated the marks I would get in it from vacuuming!! I'll probably try and stay away from plush this time. Well that will depend on cost Vundaful> so glad to hear that its still comfy to lay on. I lay on the carpet quite a bit...especially when I have visitors as I only have a 3 seater lounge and I'm outa seating, I take the floor lol Re: What is your carpet preference?? 6Mar 07, 2010 8:45 pm I had carpet for a while in my old house which must of been plush - it had the characteristic you mention that tread marks, vacuuming lines etc stood out, always made it look like dirty marks/streaks IMO - I hated it too and would never do that again. Did you know that you can get rugs made from carpet? So much cheaper than buying a shop rug. So many styles to choose from, but you won't get the highly patterned… 0 6280 1 11011 1 15766 |