More than you ever wanted to know about carpet!

A commercial background in design exposed me to the great carpet companies, the best fibers and construction and really great, forward thinking, cutting-edge design. These companies focus on the investment of carpet, its impact on the environment and most importantly its impact on the health and safety of an environments occupant.

I naturally expected all of this to be true in the residential market as well, but I unfortunately found that the emphasis is on convenience rather than quality and wear. I was disappointed in my options for my own house having scoured the big box stores, small retail establishments, the internet – I even had someone meet me at the house for “next day installation.”

After about a month of part-time searching – I asked one of my commercial carpet reps what to do and the response was to buy commercial carpet! I would have never thought of that on my own. It’s better quality, readily available, well designed, is environmentally friendly and less expensive. It takes a little more effort, but in the end it’s well worth it!

I installed a woven, Nylon fiber commercial grade carpet in my home 3 years ago and I couldn’t be happier. The dogs dig on it, bite on it – and on some occasions – have soiled on it, but it looks brand new!

This is what I bought for myself and what I recommend as the best carpet option:

Nylon or wool (depending on budget and preference) fibers, woven in to the carpet backing.

Woven construction is inherently stronger than any other fabrication. Imagine one of those plastic squares that you start a needlepoint with – that’s basically what the carpet backing is. In woven construction a long carpet fiber is woven in and out of the backing, then glued down on one side, locking the fibers in place and preventing pulling. It typically offers you a 21-year lifecycle, compared to tufted carpets lifecycle of up to 7 years, which is a significant cost savings. Tufted carpet means that the carpet fibers are glued down individually or in long strands to one side of the carpet backing. You can tell if you have tufted carpet if you can pull out a piece of the carpet, or if you pull at a loose fiber and a whole row of carpet comes up in your hand. Woven will not do that!Woven carpet is the environmentally friendly option, using less nylon in its construction, and performing 300% longer than other carpet constructions before needing to be replaced. That means less energy needed to make replacement carpet, less energy needed to haul it and exchange it. It means less carpet in our landfills. The construction of woven carpets uses fewer raw materials such as latex and secondary backings. This also reduces the amount of synthetic materials that emit toxins, VOC’s and odors.

If you are shopping for carpet, you should consider a few very important things. I look at:

Fiber Type: We prefer 100% Solution Dyed (Ultron, Antron or Dupont) Type 6 Nylon.
100 % Solution dyed means that the color of the carpet is added to the solution while the fiber (nylon) is in liquid form. This is the process that outdoor fabric is made from because it prevents fading – I wouldn’t do it – but technically you can pour bleach on it and it won’t change color, it’s unaffected. You can imagine how this translates to stain protection (ie wine spills…)
Type 6 describes the performance characteristics of the fiber. Carpet mills buy the fiber from companies, so if you see names such as “Antron” “Ultron” “Colorstrand” or “Dupont” those are the brand names of the fiber companies. Carpets made from these companies (ie Branded) are usually more expensive because they have minimum standards in quality, stain-resistance and durability that unbranded carpets do not. Nylon is the strongest fiber which makes it superb for traffic wearability, stain-resistance (see stainguard below) it is mold and mildew resistant.

Classification: Staple or bulked continuous filament (BCF). These terms describe how the individual fibers are melded together to form the larger strands that make up the actual carpet. The individual fibers are teeny tiny and depending on how they are joined, this is what breaks off when a carpet “sheds.” We recommend BCF because it sheds less. If a carpet does not list “BCF” it usually means that it is a Staple filament. If you are looking at a roll of carpet without a label, run your finger over it, and if your finger comes up hairy (ew) it’s more than likely Staple.
Static and Stain resistors must be added to Nylon – so look for those descriptions when comparing carpets

Thickness: The last thing to look at is density or pile weight. We don’t have minimums for this, but the higher the density of the carpet, the longer it will last, and the cushier it will feel. Make sure you compare “face weights” (measured by the square yard, in ounces for the surface fibers without the backing) rather than “total weight” (fiber and backing.) The higher the ounce weight the better the carpet. Density refers to how tightly each tuft is placed next to each other. The shorter, tighter carpet is better. I like to stick my finger nails in the carpet to see how much touches the backing, the less back the better!

I start with the manufacturers Mohawk, Karastan, and Durkan. I've used their carpets for many years, and Karastan is what I have in my home. I love their Colorstrand fiber which is a premium branded 100% solution dyed Type 6 nylon fiber that is five times more resistant to fading than conventionally dyed nylons. It is manufactured using a process that consumes no water and no steam, the three-color, one-step compact melt/spinning process represents the most significant techno-environmental advancement in the carpet industry. It's the most pollution-free, energy efficient method out there – using less than 25% of the energy consumed in conventional dyeing. Colorstrand Solution Dyed Nylon contains 15% post-industrial recycled content, and is CRI Green Label Plus certified for low VOC emissions. It has excellent resistance to fading, resists crushing, pilling, and fuzzing. When you’re done with it (in 30 years) it can be recycled through the manufacturers ReCover program to be used again in new carpet!

Here's a link to the carpet I used in my house:
http://www.karastancontract.com/site/search_results_color.asp?style=Striations&num=KC115&brand=Karastan

You'll never guess what color...

For the carpet pad, the thicker the better for dense, short-pile carpet. Here's a link to an environmentally friendly one (you don't want to know what traditional pads are made out of):

http://www.greenbuildingsupply.com/includes/showObject.cfm?independentPage=showInContext&objectID=404&objectType=Product&defaultLocation=SiteModel_public,62,/dbc/methods/Product/display/productDisplay_basic.cfm

I use only non-toxic, residue-free carpet cleaners (allergies, health of my dogs, and the longevity of my carpet:)

www.zerorez.com