Carpets Los Angeles
Carpets
According to The Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI), more than 6 out of 10 American homeowners prefer wall-to-wall carpet for those kinds of family spaces. To meet that level of demand, over one billion yards of carpet will be produced this year, enough to run a 12-foot-wide swath around the Earth's equator. Six times.??Why the popularity? Carpet's benefits are obvious: it is comfortable, quiet, warm, relatively affordable and quick to install, available in thousands of colors and styles, and it can unify a home's interior.??
Understanding carpet types? In the industry, wall-to-wall carpet is known as "broadloom carpet." Carpets and rugs over 6-feet by 9-feet qualify as broadloom, a reference to the looms once used to manufacture wider-than-normal rugs. Today, most broadloom carpet is sold in 12-foot widths.
To understand how carpets differ, let's focus on how they are made. More than 90% of today's carpet is tufted by machines that are like huge sewing machines. Fitted with several hundred needles, these machines operate at extremely high speeds to stitch rows of face yarn tufts to a synthetic fabric, called the "primary backing."??During tufting, a mechanical "looper" catches the yarn to create loops, resulting in a "loop-pile" carpet. To make a "cut-pile" carpet, blades shear off the loops, leaving yarn ends standing up straight, like a grass lawn. A "cut-and-loop" carpet has a combination of both intact and cut loops.
Unless yarns are pre-colored, they're dyed, then the primary backing is coated with latex adhesive and reinforced with a secondary backing, normally made of polypropylene. Some carpets, notably commercial varieties, may have a resilient cushion attached to the polypropylene backing.??Broadloom carpet is produced by other methods, too. A small percentage, less than 3%, are made on a loom that weaves face and backing yarns together. Although woven carpets have no actual backing fabric, a coating of latex is applied to the underside. Some commercial carpet tiles or modules (normally 18 by 18 inches) are made through a fusion-bonding process, where yarn fibers are injected into an adhesive-coated backing.??
More about carpet loops and cuts?? A carpet's basic qualities depend on its construction: whether the pile is cut, looped or both cut and looped.??Cut pile carpets have a luxurious look and feel, clearly one of the reasons they represent 60% of carpets sold. Within the cut-pile family are the highly popular "saxonies." A saxony has a level surface of cut pile; yarns have varying twists. According to George Davies, Public Relations Manager of Shaw Industries, "there are two main looks in the saxony: traditional, called a 'straight set saxony' because the yarn isn't crimped, and the 'textured saxony,' which has crimped yarns and, as a result, a little more texture."??"Freize" ("fre-zay") carpet is a somewhat rare, rugged, nubby style with tightly twisted yarns. Davies points out that, in recent years, the term has been adopted by textured saxonies.??Another type of cut-pile carpet is the "velvet," with short, very tight pile. A velvet carpet is smooth, level and uniform with a formal look. When you walk on it, footprints tend to show (the more textured a surface, the less it shows footprints).??A cut-pile carpet's "hand"--the look, texture and feel--is a result of the fibers chosen for the yarn and the yarn's gauge ("denier") and twist. These elements critical to performance. The more tightly twisted the yarn, the better the performance, as a rule, because the yarn retains its shape over time. Most cut-pile yarns are heat-set to hold their shape (the same way a hair permanent heat-sets a hairstyle).
Loop pile carpets tend to be more durable than cut-loops because yarn tips are not exposed. With these, yarn wears on the sides, not the ends, and the twist is automatically maintained.??A berber has complete loops, resulting in a nubby texture. Most loop piles are now called berbers, a term that originated with the rugs made by the nomadic Berber tribes of Africa. For a particularly smooth surface, often preferred in commercial installations, you can get a "low-level loop." For striking patterns or a sculptured look, you can buy a "multi-level loop."??Cut-and-loop pile, with a combination of complete and cut loops, offers a variety of looks and patterns. Conventional types, sometimes called "sculptured" carpets, offer bold patterns and colors. More subtle versions, called "traceries" or "carved saxonies" merely suggest a pattern.??
Carpet face yarn fibers?? The fibers used for a carpet's face yarn dramatically affect its look and performance. Although some face yarns employ wool, approximately 97% of contemporary carpets utilize only synthetic fibers. Some yarns blend fibers: for example, acrylic may be blended with wool.
The list of synthetic fibers can be confusing because manufacturers often tag them with proprietary trade names such as Trevira(r) or Anso(r). To simplify, just recognize that all synthetics fall into four generic categories: nylon, olefin, acrylic and polyester. The fiber content are listed on a carpet's specification sheet.??Synthetic fibers used to look...well, synthetic. But these materials have improved by leaps and bounds since their advent more than 50 years ago. First, the shape of nylon fibers was altered to reduce unwanted sheen; then, anti-static fibers were added to cut-down on buildup of static electricity. In recent years, chemicals such as Scotchgard(r) Stain Release have been added to resist soil and stains and some fibers have been given a built-in molecular barrier that resists stains and soil (DuPont's Stainmaster(r) was the first of these processes). Such treatments allow spills to remain on the surface a little longer before a stain occurs, minimizing the possibility of staining.?
Carpet quality and performance? Quality's true measure is performance, a product of the carpet's fibers, construction and density. Face weight, measured in ounces per square yard of carpet, is the amount of face yarn fiber. Generally speaking, the more yarn the better in a given height of pile--a 50-ounce nylon saxony is likely to be better than a 40-ounce nylon saxony if both have a 1/2-inch pile and the same properties. But quantity isn't always quality, therefore face weight isn't really the best measure: density is.??Density addresses the size of the yarn and the number of tufts in each square yard of carpet. The more tufts, the denser and more durable the carpet. A dense carpet is resilient underfoot and resists wear and matting. When shopping, compare samples of carpet by bending them at right angles to see how much backing is revealed.??With a cut-pile carpet, also look closely at the ends of individual yarns. Be sure the fibers are twisted neatly and tightly, and that ends don't flare. Don't be fooled by swatches that fluff-out on the sample rack; tightly-twisted, heat-set yarns will fare far better over time. Also be sure to study and compare warranties of carpets you're considering.??
According to The Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI), more than 6 out of 10 American homeowners prefer wall-to-wall carpet for those kinds of family spaces. To meet that level of demand, over one billion yards of carpet will be produced this year, enough to run a 12-foot-wide swath around the Earth's equator. Six times.??Why the popularity? Carpet's benefits are obvious: it is comfortable, quiet, warm, relatively affordable and quick to install, available in thousands of colors and styles, and it can unify a home's interior.??
Understanding carpet types? In the industry, wall-to-wall carpet is known as "broadloom carpet." Carpets and rugs over 6-feet by 9-feet qualify as broadloom, a reference to the looms once used to manufacture wider-than-normal rugs. Today, most broadloom carpet is sold in 12-foot widths.
To understand how carpets differ, let's focus on how they are made. More than 90% of today's carpet is tufted by machines that are like huge sewing machines. Fitted with several hundred needles, these machines operate at extremely high speeds to stitch rows of face yarn tufts to a synthetic fabric, called the "primary backing."??During tufting, a mechanical "looper" catches the yarn to create loops, resulting in a "loop-pile" carpet. To make a "cut-pile" carpet, blades shear off the loops, leaving yarn ends standing up straight, like a grass lawn. A "cut-and-loop" carpet has a combination of both intact and cut loops.
Unless yarns are pre-colored, they're dyed, then the primary backing is coated with latex adhesive and reinforced with a secondary backing, normally made of polypropylene. Some carpets, notably commercial varieties, may have a resilient cushion attached to the polypropylene backing.??Broadloom carpet is produced by other methods, too. A small percentage, less than 3%, are made on a loom that weaves face and backing yarns together. Although woven carpets have no actual backing fabric, a coating of latex is applied to the underside. Some commercial carpet tiles or modules (normally 18 by 18 inches) are made through a fusion-bonding process, where yarn fibers are injected into an adhesive-coated backing.??
More about carpet loops and cuts?? A carpet's basic qualities depend on its construction: whether the pile is cut, looped or both cut and looped.??Cut pile carpets have a luxurious look and feel, clearly one of the reasons they represent 60% of carpets sold. Within the cut-pile family are the highly popular "saxonies." A saxony has a level surface of cut pile; yarns have varying twists. According to George Davies, Public Relations Manager of Shaw Industries, "there are two main looks in the saxony: traditional, called a 'straight set saxony' because the yarn isn't crimped, and the 'textured saxony,' which has crimped yarns and, as a result, a little more texture."??"Freize" ("fre-zay") carpet is a somewhat rare, rugged, nubby style with tightly twisted yarns. Davies points out that, in recent years, the term has been adopted by textured saxonies.??Another type of cut-pile carpet is the "velvet," with short, very tight pile. A velvet carpet is smooth, level and uniform with a formal look. When you walk on it, footprints tend to show (the more textured a surface, the less it shows footprints).??A cut-pile carpet's "hand"--the look, texture and feel--is a result of the fibers chosen for the yarn and the yarn's gauge ("denier") and twist. These elements critical to performance. The more tightly twisted the yarn, the better the performance, as a rule, because the yarn retains its shape over time. Most cut-pile yarns are heat-set to hold their shape (the same way a hair permanent heat-sets a hairstyle).
Loop pile carpets tend to be more durable than cut-loops because yarn tips are not exposed. With these, yarn wears on the sides, not the ends, and the twist is automatically maintained.??A berber has complete loops, resulting in a nubby texture. Most loop piles are now called berbers, a term that originated with the rugs made by the nomadic Berber tribes of Africa. For a particularly smooth surface, often preferred in commercial installations, you can get a "low-level loop." For striking patterns or a sculptured look, you can buy a "multi-level loop."??Cut-and-loop pile, with a combination of complete and cut loops, offers a variety of looks and patterns. Conventional types, sometimes called "sculptured" carpets, offer bold patterns and colors. More subtle versions, called "traceries" or "carved saxonies" merely suggest a pattern.??
Carpet face yarn fibers?? The fibers used for a carpet's face yarn dramatically affect its look and performance. Although some face yarns employ wool, approximately 97% of contemporary carpets utilize only synthetic fibers. Some yarns blend fibers: for example, acrylic may be blended with wool.
The list of synthetic fibers can be confusing because manufacturers often tag them with proprietary trade names such as Trevira(r) or Anso(r). To simplify, just recognize that all synthetics fall into four generic categories: nylon, olefin, acrylic and polyester. The fiber content are listed on a carpet's specification sheet.??Synthetic fibers used to look...well, synthetic. But these materials have improved by leaps and bounds since their advent more than 50 years ago. First, the shape of nylon fibers was altered to reduce unwanted sheen; then, anti-static fibers were added to cut-down on buildup of static electricity. In recent years, chemicals such as Scotchgard(r) Stain Release have been added to resist soil and stains and some fibers have been given a built-in molecular barrier that resists stains and soil (DuPont's Stainmaster(r) was the first of these processes). Such treatments allow spills to remain on the surface a little longer before a stain occurs, minimizing the possibility of staining.?
Carpet quality and performance? Quality's true measure is performance, a product of the carpet's fibers, construction and density. Face weight, measured in ounces per square yard of carpet, is the amount of face yarn fiber. Generally speaking, the more yarn the better in a given height of pile--a 50-ounce nylon saxony is likely to be better than a 40-ounce nylon saxony if both have a 1/2-inch pile and the same properties. But quantity isn't always quality, therefore face weight isn't really the best measure: density is.??Density addresses the size of the yarn and the number of tufts in each square yard of carpet. The more tufts, the denser and more durable the carpet. A dense carpet is resilient underfoot and resists wear and matting. When shopping, compare samples of carpet by bending them at right angles to see how much backing is revealed.??With a cut-pile carpet, also look closely at the ends of individual yarns. Be sure the fibers are twisted neatly and tightly, and that ends don't flare. Don't be fooled by swatches that fluff-out on the sample rack; tightly-twisted, heat-set yarns will fare far better over time. Also be sure to study and compare warranties of carpets you're considering.??
Plumbing Los Angeles
posted by Classic Websites Inc @ 9:22 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
This is a great site. We also have some very useful information at our new Floors To Go Flooring Stores website. You can join our Flooring Pros Forum where you can interact with other members and get design ideas and tips for your next flooring project, browse through image galleries for kitchens, bathrooms, foyers and every other room of your home. Or, shop for your favorite flooring products and accessories like area rugs and floor registers .
I am a fan of carpet just about everywhere. I don't like it when furniture slides all around like it does on hardwood or laminate flooring.
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