All about carpet

The topic of the new article was carpet, its features and types, advantages and disadvantages, methods of flooring and maintenance.

With the onset of winter, many of us have a problem with the temperature of the floor covering, linoleum does not allow us to comfortably move around the room without any home shoes. Of course, you can make a heated floor or replace the covering with a warmer one, for example, lay a natural carpet, but not everyone can afford it, and besides, you can hardly find a carpet that is exactly the same size as your room. An alternative to these expensive methods can be carpet.

The structure of modern carpets is almost always the same. If you look at them in section, you can distinguish the following components: the pile, the primary lining (base) and the secondary lining, consisting of an anchor layer and the lining itself, usually of latex.

An important characteristic of carpet is the composition of the yarn, used to make it. Modern carpet is made from natural and synthetic yarns. Among products made from natural materials, the most common are purely woolen, or blended (containing from 10 to 30% wool). The advantages of wool yarn carpet are excellent elasticity, low moisture permeability and flammability, ease of cleaning. The disadvantages are low wear resistance and high cost. The ‘lower’ price per meter of natural carpet is 15-20 dollars. It is very simple to distinguish a natural carpet from an artificial one, a thread of a woolen carpet smolders, and an artificial one melts.

The main types of synthetic fibers used in the manufacture of carpet are polyamide (nylon), polypropylene (olefin), polyacrylic and polyester. Nylon coatings are better than other synthetic materials in terms of their qualities: they are soft, hold the pile well and hardly show any dents from furniture, they are easy to clean and do not fade. Their service life is 10-15 years.

Slightly inferior to nylon acrylic and polyester. The latter is cheaper than nylon, less durable (will last 5-8 years), hard to the touch, and has a characteristic synthetic sheen. Olefin, although it occupies 90% of the ‘carpet’ market in Russia, can also last five to eight years, but we believe that this is a material of the past, its quality no longer meets modern requirements. Its main plus is cheapness..

To replace olefin, now come: terklon and suprim, these are polypropylene fibers that have undergone chemical and heat treatment to increase wear resistance. In appearance, such a carpet cannot be distinguished from woolen coverings and it is very soft to the touch..

According to the method of production, carpet is divided into three main types: woven, tufted (stitching with pile threads of a woven base) and needle-punched (pile threads are driven into the primary base with needles).

Woven carpet is the most durable and expensive because it is made in the same way as ordinary carpets. This is the so-called ‘natural jute carpet’. The basis looks like a mesh.

With the tufting method, the thread is injected with a needle into the base and fixed with an adhesive. The popularity of this technology is due to the variety of carpet designs: loop (top with loops), pile (top with villi) and their varieties.

Loop carpets have a fairly rigid base, and due to the fact that the top of it has loops, their surface is also rigid, which provides it with high wear resistance. For the production of this type of carpet, a pre-dyed thread is used, this allows you to create even, calm colors of the carpet, which are the best suited for creating the interiors of corridors, offices and classrooms. In addition to single-level looped coatings, there are multi-level ones, the loops in them are made of different heights, due to which a volumetric surface pattern is created. This carpet looks impressive, but it is more difficult to clean..

Pile carpet is divided into short-pile (pile length 2-3 mm), medium-pile (3-5 mm), high-pile (more than 5 mm). A thick, high-pile carpet is perfect for a bedroom, a smooth-haired carpet for an office, living room or hall.

Needle-punched carpet has higher wear resistance, than tufted or woven. The threads are laid here on the primary base, after which they are driven into it with needles; then an additional base (most often rubber) is attached. This coating is lint-free and resembles felt in appearance. Such carpet is used in premises with very high traffic intensity; in the West, almost all office premises and public buildings are laid with it. Its main advantages are cheapness and excellent sound absorption, so it is used in theaters and cinemas..

Much depends on the method of dyeing the thread.. We will present these methods as the price and color fastness decrease. The best way is when the carpet is woven from threads made from colored synthetic mass. The second way is to dye the finished thread. The third method is when a printed pattern is applied on stencils to a ready-made carpet, this method of painting is less durable, and the fastest to fade or wear off. It is very easy to determine it – the villi with this technology are not stained to the ground.

Keep in mind: the higher the density of the carpet, the better! The stronger the villi adhere to each other, the harder it is to crush them. It is clear that such a carpet is less rubbed and glazed. But it also costs more.

The underlay is placed under the carpet to improve sound insulation and to keep it warmer, which is especially necessary if the carpet is laid on a concrete floor. When laying carpet on parquet, carpet without a backing can scratch the parquet lacquer with its rigid base. So you don’t need to save on the substrate.

Among the countries that produce carpets, the leading place is taken by the products of German, Belgian, Dutch and American firms. The price, first of all, depends on the thickness of the coating and on the material used.

Any carpet should be laid on a completely flat floor – leveled with sheets of hardboard or plywood. It is not necessary to glue over the entire surface. But you can carefully glue the edges under the skirting boards and the door area (with ordinary PVA glue or the Polish ecological adhesive for coatings ‘Ekolep Lakma ‘). We will tell you step by step about the three most common ways to lay carpet.

1. Without gluing to the floor.

This method is good in small spaces when using one sheet of cover..

a) unfold the covering so that it protrudes 5-10 cm above the skirting board and roll it with a roller, starting from the middle in all directions (to the walls).

b) cut out the corners of the cover in the shape of a V with a knife, and then cut along the baseboards.

c) In the passage, reinforce the covering with a metal strip.

2. Bonding without connection.

a) Expand and cut the cover as in the previous case.

b) Bend in the middle and use a spatula to apply glue to the open part of the floor.

c) After a few minutes, lower the bent part of the covering onto the floor.

d) Smooth the roller from the middle towards the walls. Also do with the other half of the sheet..

3. Simultaneous connection.

a) Spread and cut the carpet, as in the previous cases, but lay the covering sheets in a 3-5 cm overlap.

b) Unfold the first sheet 2/3 of the width and apply glue to the open part.

c) Lower the cover and glue as in the previous cases. Do the same with the second sheet..

d) Raise the edges and apply glue to the floor.

e) Using a ruler, cut both edges of the material at the same time.

f) Lower both sides and flatten both sides.

There is another way of laying carpet – stretching, but it can only be done by professionals. Stretching uses the elastic property inherent in all textile coatings. The carpet is laid on narrow slats reinforced along the walls with two rows of nails driven in at an angle and tightened with the help of special tools. Felt is laid under the carpet, which adds a ‘soft’ effect to the carpet.

Please note that when gluing a coating with a natural jute base, one must be very careful with the dosage of glue: after passing through the natural base, excess glue can permanently ruin the pile. For loop carpets used in ‘high traffic’ areas, it is best to stick them all over. In the kitchen, you can simply lay it on a flat floor like a regular carpet. For a warmer floor, place polyurethane foam or felt under the carpet. But the layer of additional spacer should not exceed 0.5mm.

As for carpeting care, it all depends on the basis of the coating. Carpets on a jute or glue base can only be cleaned with a ‘dry’ vacuum cleaner. Foam rubber, latex or synthetic jute can be removed with a vacuum cleaner and the water must be collected very carefully. The base is not afraid of water, but the long pile is poorly ventilated and the feeling of dampness remains. But it’s better if you still do without the ‘raw’ cleaning..

You can get more complete information on manufacturing firms, types of carpets, colors from a professional designer who will help you choose the best option for you.