Choosing Carpet for Your Home and Lifestyle
When choosing carpet for your home it’s important to consider more than just aesthetics and comfort. Sure, who doesn’t like walking barefoot on soft, warm carpet? Yes, it’s a very comforting feeling and one of those little things that help make a house, a home. The thing is, that comforting feel may not be the right choice if you’ve got a busy household with kids, and pets.
Do Your Homework
The best way to approach buying carpet is to do your homework in advance. Even if you plan to simply follow the advice of your decorator or the carpet dealer’s designer, the more you are prepared the better your expert can help you.
First, consider where in your home you plan to install carpet. Once you determine the “where” you can consider the room’s use. For example, is the room going to be a sewing room or a children’s bonus room? These are two entirely different uses and each should be treated differently. Does the room have a door leading outdoors? These are the type of questions to ask yourself and it’s better to do this before you schedule a meeting with your flooring person. You get the idea though, by considering the use of each room you’ll be that much closer to making choices when you visit the dealer.
Carpet Product Options & Padding
When choosing carpet homeowner’s should know there are different types of carpet and your dealer can help you understand the advantages or disadvantages of each. There are options such as nylon, acrylic, olefin, wool, and the list goes on. Rather than boring you with the specifics of each, just know there are options and your carpet guy or gal can explain which will work best for your usage. Then, the padding under the carpet is very important as well. Many of us love the idea of thick carpet and padding but the thicker the carpet and padding, the more it might ware. That’s why, for instance in office buildings corridors and hallways they often choose a thin glue down carpet because this type of installation lasts longer. The down side is, it’s not all that comfortable.
Stain Resistant Carpet
When considering carpet we’re more inclined to suggest choosing a carpet that hides the dirt as opposed to finding that one elusive carpet with optimum stain resistance. Yes, by nature, some carpets are more stain resistant than others but homeowners should always pay heed to the words “stain resistant.” This does not mean the same thing as “stain proof” and the truth is, you are not likely to ever find carpet where the manufacture makes a “stain proof” claim because, it’s just not possible. All carpet comes with a certain amount of stain resistance built in, so make your own decision on this one. The thing is, carpet and stains just don’t mix! In fact, if you feel like this is going to be a problem you might be better off considering other flooring options such as laminate or vinyl flooring.
Carpet Pricing
Certainly, there are different price points but you can typically find some darn good values. Carpet also helps a bit with energy savings and even dust control. Carpet attract dust which is helpful as long as the floor is vacuumed on a regular basis. In our opinion, you can’t go wrong with some good, wall to wall carpeting and it may well be your most affordable option.
What’s next? Getting Started With New Carpet
Look, we could go on and on about the many different carpet styles, types and brands but we think your time would be better served by knowing the basics and speaking with an expert, face to face. Like us, most flooring companies will be happy to schedule an in home visit to talk with you and answer any questions you might have. If you don’t know someone just check out the reviews, make the phone call and schedule a meeting. Once your done, you’ll a darn good understanding of what carpet you should choose for your home and what price point you can expect.
