Despite our love for hardwood and tile floors, carpet is still a popular choice for many family homes across the San Antonio area. It gives bedrooms, living rooms, and offices a cozy feeling, it adds a layer of sound protection, and keeps your family’s toes warm. If you’re planning on installing or re-carpeting your home, choosing which type of carpet can be a challenging decision. Not only the color, but the style and the type of carpet as well as how durable these types are play a part in making a decision. Before you head to your carpet store, here’s some advice and information from your local San Antonio carpet cleaning service.
Carpet Types
There are two types of carpet, loop and cut pile, and each type is determined by how the fibers are attached to the backing.
Cut Pile
This type is cut at the top, so that there aren’t any loops. Cut pile carpets are generally denser and softer than loop pile carpets. Within this type, there are several varieties.
- Saxony: This popular variety of cut pile carpet has a level top where the pieces of yarn are cut to about half an inch high, making it perfect to sink your toes into. Also referred to as plush, Saxony carpets are great for formal areas and you’ll see seams, footprints, and vacuum marks.
- Textured: This style also has a soft feel, but has a textured look to it due to the yarns being cut unevenly. The yarns have a tight twist to them, making it easier for our carpet cleaning services to come in and remove stains. Perfect for family rooms, this is the most common carpet choice.
- Frieze: This variety is great for high-traffic areas or commercial offices because the fibers have a short, durable, and twisted form. The yarns in this carpet curl in different directions that allow footprints and vacuum marks to be hidden.
Loop Pile
As the name suggests, the yarn is looped and attached to the backing. This type of carpet tends to more durable, great for high-traffic areas, and a cinch for our carpet cleaning service. Two types of loop pile carpets are:
- Berber: This type consists of large, uncut loops of yarn that vary in size. The natural colored loops are typically made of wood, nylon, or olefin (more on these in a future blog). The dense carpet is great at resisting stains, but watch out for your pet’s nails getting caught in the loops.
- Level Loop: The loops in this type are uncut and have a level height, which gives the carpet a soft feel and smooth look. The carpet is durable and easy to maintain, making it great for high-traffic areas as well. This type, however, can be stiff and harder than other types of carpet.
With these different types in mind, choosing a carpet depends on the room, how much traffic moves through the room, and what type of household you have, whether there are several kids or pets or just yourself. No matter what choice you make, protect the carpet by scheduling regular carpet cleaning services. Steam Master Cleaning serves the San Antonio area and can ensure that even the toughest stains can be removed with our steam cleaning. Give us a call today for your free quote.