10 tips and carpet buying advice from a carpet fitter

carpets10 tips and carpet buying advice from a carpet fitter

I thought we might give some carpet buying advice and fitting from a carpet fitter. An expert if you will, as we buy and fit carpet every day. These are the kind of questions that we get asked every day and so here is a list of what we think you might want to take into consideration when buying new carpet. They are not in any particular order in fact you might say they are quite random.

  1. While wool carpets may be more expensive to buy they look nice will retain their appearance longer as wool is naturally stain resistant.
  2. Some carpets may be stain resistant – but no carpet is stain proof.
  3. When removing liquid stains – blot the affected area with absorbent kitchen roll or tissue. Then rinse with clean water repeating the process.  If you need to apply a stain remover at this point but NEVER rub a stain with a cloth.
  4. When buying a carpet consider the following: What is your budget? Who is it for? A rental property perhaps?How long do you intend to keep it – will you change your decor in 1 year or 12 years? Where is t going – i.e. how much wear and tear will it be subjected too?
  5.  The pile on a carpet may be a loop pile like a Berber, cut pile like a twist or cut and loop.
  6.  Cut pile and cut and loop pile carpets can suffer in time from ‘shading’. This doesn’t happen overnight and won’t affect the wear of the carpet but it can effect the look of the carpet. Shading is caused by uneven pile crushing in high traffic areas where the pile is crushed in different directions and light is reflected accordingly. Carpet retailers should explain this possibility to you and details of this condition will be displayed on the back of most carpet samples. Carpets with a velvet pile finish are particularly susceptible to this problem. Twist pile carpets are more resilient and it doesn’t happen on a loop pile carpet.
  7.  Cut pile patterned carpets may still shade but the pattern helps disguise the effect.
  8.  Berber carpets are very fashionable at the moment – but those that have a high wool content are susceptible to ‘piling’. Loose wool fibres eventually work their way out of a cut pile carpet but can become trapped in a berber pile and may start to bobble like an old woollen sweater – this is more likely to occur in high traffic areas.
  9.  Berber style carpets are available in man-made fibres and will be a lot cheaper, but they generally look it, so buy a berber style carpet that is a wool/man made mix.
  10. When investing in decent and expensive carpet it pays to fork out for a good underlay and paying a professional carpet fitter to install it properly. (That is why we are here at Cavendish deVere)

Next week: another 10 tips and carpet buying advice from a carpet fitter!

You may also like...

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *