ARTICLES
The Right Carpet Fabric: How Do I Decide?
The most frequent question that I get from perspective customers is “ What type of carpet should I buy?” Instead of coming up with a quick answer, my response is to start asking probing questions. The first question I ask is "why do you want to replace your carpet?"
Understanding the motivation behind a customer wanting to change their carpet will give me a starting pointing in my recommendation.
When I met with Rick and Sally Brown about replacing their carpet, they explained to me that they were expecting their first child and they wanted to buy a carpet would be best for their new baby.
Again, instead of giving Sally and Rick a quick recommendation, I felt it was important to probe a little further, so I asked them to tell me what was the most important characteristics of their new carpet. They said that a carpet has to be easy to clean, reasonably priced and soft enough for their baby. After gathering the characteristics that were important to the Smith family, now we can look at the three primary fabrics(fibers) to choose from.
Nylon: Nylon is the strongest fiber of all the carpets. It has excellent resistance to abrasion, insects, molding, mildew, rot, and many chemicals. It is also easy to maintain, and dye, while upholding its color admirably.
With all of these advantages, nylon makes quite a formidable carpet. Thus, it is the main choice for residential use, accounting for 9 of 10 homes. With such a large hand in the residential carpet business, it would be expected that nylon carpet holds up well in traffic, hides soil, and is available in brilliant colors. Which indeed it does all very well. Nylon carpet is priced averagely, not quite as expensive as wool, but more expensive than polypropylene, and polyester.
Nylon does have its disadvantages. For example, nylon carpet is quite susceptible to stains. Nevertheless, manufacturers have developed methods for increasing stain resistance. One method, adding acid dye stain blocker to the carpet, greatly increases its stain resistance. The longevity of nylon carpet depends on the quality you buy.
Midlevel and high-end carpet can last up to 12 to 15 years. However, it does come at a cost. Prices range anywhere from 25 to 50 dollars per square yard. On the other hand, you can buy it quite cheap if your willing to have a lower grade of quality. At 8 dollars per square yard, you will get you basic nylon carpet. Then again, it will lose its color brightness and fade at a much quicker pace. It will also tend to lose its bounce, and relax. However, this is the case with any low-end carpet.
PET (recycled): Also, it is more stain resistant than nylon carpet. However, nylon carpet is much stronger than polyester, which tends to shed more. Additionally, it is quite resistant to mildew, and moisture (at a cheaper cost than nylon). It is also non-allergenic. Another thing to point out about polyester is that some of it (if not all) is made from recycled bottle caps. Which may improve indoor air quality. About 50 soda bottle caps go into a square yard of carpet. Which is a great talking point. It is also quite cheap, cheaper than wool, and nylon. Then again, you have to remember, when purchasing the recycled version of this carpet, it is actually made of plastic. So, it would be a good idea to first test this in a single room, before going all out with this environmentally friendly carpet. You might notice a gleam when looking at it, or squeak when walking across it
Olefin: Polypropylene, (also called olefin) is the prime choice for commercial carpet, and outdoor carpet. Depending on the cut, it will wear very well, clean easily, and is suitable for high traffic areas. It is inherently stain resistant. In fact, its stain resistance is so high you can spill chlorine on it, or other harsh chemicals, and it will have little effect. Coupled with these two factors, it is also very cheap, cheaper than wool, nylon, and polyester. For these reasons, polypropylene continues to gain popularity. Due to its high resilience to sunlight, mildew, and moisture; polypropylene is an excellent choice for an outdoor carpet, and is actually used for artificial sports turf.
However, with all these benefits, comes disadvantages. Polypropylene is not exactly ‘crush resistant’ and can be prone to matting, crushing, and general scuffs. This also depends on the pile cut. It is also difficult to dye. Additionally, polypropylene attracts a lot of oily soil. Though this can be canceled out by the fact that strong chemicals may be used to clean it.
After reviewing the Brown’s needs and the three different carpet fibers, my recommendation was PET. It’s easier to clean, it’s rated second to nylon in softness and it beats nylon in price.
Supplemental Source: www.carpet.org
For more articles on flooring log onto http://www.daltoncarpetsofga.com/contact.html
My Home Flooded, What Do I Do?
As we enter another hurricane and tornado season the realities of bad weather impact many of us. When you home is flooded by water your response and actions in the first 48 hours are vitally important. Please keep in mind that the steps that I am going to give you also apply to any type of water damage to your home including backed up toilets to busted pipes.
First, when you discover water has saturated your home immediately call your insurance company. Then immediately start to mitigate your losses. Keep in mind that the biggest threat is “mold” which can start growing within 24 hours, can be dangerous to your health, travel throughout your home quickly, very expensive to treat and in many cases not covered by your insurance.
After you have contacted your insurance agency they will report the claim to the claims department and a claims representative will contact you. Depending on the number of incoming claims and the day of the week, you may not be contacted until a day or two after you first contact your agent. I say this to get you to understand that once you contact your agent, don’t wait for them to tell you what to do. It’s time for you to begin to mitigate your losses.
The second thing you should do is to document with video and/or pictures the damage to your home to show the insurance adjuster at a later date.
The third thing that you must do immediately is start removing wet items from your home. When removing carpet cut it into small 5’x 5’ sections, roll, tie and carry it out of your home. Cutting the carpet and padding in small sections will make it a lot easier to handle. Be sure to remove both the carpet and the padding. Upon further inspection, if you find that your drywall has been soaked it may be necessary to remove the baseboards and the wet drywall just above the water line.
Once all of the furniture, carpet, padding and damage drywall have been removed, place fans and dehumidifiers in the area to help dry the area. It is probably a good idea to spray the affected area with a bleach and water solution to help kill any bacteria.
Be sure to ask your insurance agent if your policy covers emergency water removal. If so the company that they send out may provide fans and dehumidifiers. Again remember time is of the essence and you are ultimately responsible for mitigating your own losses.
