There are a lot of options in the world of flooring, and it can be hard to choose the right one for you. Hardwood floors are becoming more affordable, laminate is becoming more high-quality, and there are plenty of new materials and patterns to explore. However, a hard-surface floor isn’t always the best choice for every room, especially if you’re installing new floors or redoing your home, where comfort is your priority. Carpet flooring remains a very popular choice for a reason — keep reading to learn why, and stop into Gateway Design & Home in Loveland to find the perfect flooring for you.

Advantages of Carpet

With the wide variety of flooring options and a cultural obsession with hardwood floors, you may be wondering why you should invest in carpet. At Gateway Design & Home, we know that carpet flooring comes with plenty of benefits that outweigh those of the competition, especially if you want to craft a comfortable space within your home. Read on to learn more, and get in touch with a member of our team for a personal consultation on how carpet can benefit you!

COMFORT

One of the greatest advantages of carpet is comfort. It’s the softest flooring option on the market, offering cushion and shock absorption for a more comfortable experience when walking, standing, or playing on the floor. It can even help alleviate some of the consequences of standing for long periods of time on hard surfaces, such as back pain or joint problems! When you want to create a cozy space for you and your family, carpet is key.

INSULATION

Not only can you avoid the cold-tile feeling in the mornings with carpeting, but you can also improve the comfort of your entire home! Thick carpet, regardless of the fabric, has a high R-value, which means it helps insulate your home. This is especially true if you’ve invested in carpet padding! Carpet reduces heat loss and can help you save on the cost of keeping your home warm. With our chilly Colorado winters, we highly recommend carpet for this reason!

QUIET

Another advantage of soft carpet is the noise reduction it offers. Especially in busy homes that host many different activities at once, from someone taking conference calls in the office to a child playing video games in the other room, carpet can help turn down the volume. It works as a sound barrier between floors, softens footfalls, and can help absorb ambient noise from electronics or other goings-on.

SAFETY

For any household with older or very young residents, carpet offers clear safety benefits. It cushions any falls and offers secure grip, unlike slippery surfaces like tile or hardwood. You can worry less when your little ones are running around when you know they’ll have a soft surface to land on in case of accidents.

COST

Why choose carpet over hardwood? Cost is a major factor. Carpet is significantly cheaper than hardwood, not only in the cost of materials, but also in the case of installation. Carpet can be installed over virtually any material, from concrete to existing carpet, without the high demands of solid hardwood. We do recommend investing in professional installation in either case, but carpet offers a more straightforward – and often cheaper – installation process.

STYLE

Home decor magazines are filled with pictures of beautiful hardwood floors, but aside from missing out on all the other benefits we’ve listed, choosing hardwood means missing out on one great detail: creating a design you can feel! Carpet is available in an almost endless array of colors, patterns, and thicknesses to match your design dreams, and it offers the unique opportunity to invest in texture. You can make a bold carpet the focus of your space or choose a simpler neutral color to support your carefully chosen decor.

Disadvantages of Carpet

When choosing the right flooring for your next project, it’s important to consider what aspects of carpet might not be the best fit for your needs. As we’ve discussed, carpet comes with lots of benefits, but there are a few categories where it’s not necessarily the strongest candidate. Whatever type of flooring you decide on, you can find the right choice for your home at Gateway Design & Home in Loveland!

HIGH MAINTENANCE

The durable construction of carpet means it’s easy to do a quick vacuum sweep when you want to take care of crumbs rather than using a broom and dust pan. However, in the long term, carpet can require significant maintenance. It can stain and mat and tear, and while you can patch areas, patching is a limited solution, and you can’t look forward to a completely fresh start every few years or so like you can with the option to refinish hardwood.

In addition, properly caring for your carpet means more than vacuuming and the occasional shampoo treatment. For the best results, you should turn to the professionals at least once a year. Unclean carpets can retain stains and odors and breed dustmites.

LOW SUSTAINABILITY

If you’re concerned about creating an eco-friendly home, then carpet may not be the first material on your list. Improvements have been made, so some carpets can be recycled after use or are made of recycled materials. However, many are still made with less than sustainable manufacturing processes and landfilled after use.

TRAPPED ALLERGENS

You may have read before that carpet flooring is a bad choice for anyone worried about exacerbating allergies or asthma. However, the effect carpet has on your health is up for debate. Carpet, by its nature, traps allergens like dust, dander, and more. Some sources say this reduces the quality of air indoors. Other sources claim that, because those allergens are trapped, it removes them from the air, and therefore carpet improves air quality and conditions for those with asthma or allergies. If you are debating whether or not to choose carpet for your home based on concerns regarding health and air quality, we encourage you to do your own research and draw your own conclusions.

VULNERABILITY TO MOISTURE

Many varieties of carpeting are treated for stain and moisture resistance. However, at the end of the day, carpet will still be more vulnerable to spills and water damage than materials like tile. If moisture permeates the carpet to the lower layers and the padding, it can remain there and trigger growth of mold or mildew. In the worse case scenario, you may have to replace your carpet. Keep this in mind if you are considering carpeting in any vulnerable areas or potential accident zones, such as children’s rooms or in the basement.

CHALLENGING INSTALLATION

Carpet does come with a low overall cost, even for installation, but it’s not likely a good candidate for a budget-friendly, do-it-yourself installation. You need several tools and materials to effectively install carpet, which will add to the one-time cost of a DIY installation, and there is a high risk of making a mistake. Installing carpet incorrectly can lead to unsightly wrinkles and unsafe tripping hazards. Fortunately, professional carpet installation can be simple and affordable, especially if you work with Gateway Design & Home.

TYPES OF CARPET

The next step in determining if carpet is the right choice for your project – or finding the perfect option – is choosing the type of carpet you want to invest in. There are several to choose from, giving you the opportunity to customize your carpet exactly to your needs. We’ll start with the wide world of carpet fibers.

ACRYLIC

Sometimes referred to as man-made wool, acrylic fibers are a synthetic solution for replicating the look and feel of wool without the high cost. It’s resistant to static electricity, stains, and fading, but it often doesn’t hold up well in high-traffic areas.

NYLON

Nylon is one of the most popular carpet fiber types because it comes with a number of advantages. It’s very strong and resists static, soil, and staining. This moderately priced fiber can retain its shape for years, and it’s a great choice for high-traffic areas in your home or business, especially if you have kids or pets running around!

POLYESTER

Polyester is a good option if your top priority is comfort. It has a luxurious look and feel while also resisting moisture, stains, and abrasions. It is mostly simple to clean, but it can clump without proper maintenance and it can fade in the sun. It also can struggle to hold its height under the pressure of a lot of weight or traffic.

TRIEXTA

Triexta is a common choice if you want the appearance of nylon fibers with a softer texture. It performs well repelling stains and moisture, and it’s a popular choice in homes with pets and children, but it can be pricey.

OLEFIN

Olefin, a polypropylene compound, is a top seller after nylon. It’s more affordable than many of the other options on this list and has a lot of advantages. Choose olefin for its strength, long-lasting color, and resistance to moisture and stains. It’s easy to clean — you can even use bleach in some cases — and it works well in high-traffic areas, but with its wool-like texture, it can be vulnerable to matting and crushing.

WOOL

Wool is a purely natural material that can come with a relatively high price tag. It’s comfortable and durable, with a soft, dense feel and attractive look that you can enjoy for years with proper maintenance. Its advantages include natural soil resistance, luxurious texture, and a strong ability to maintain its fiber height. Drawbacks of wool include vulnerability to stains and stain-removing chemicals, a tendency to fade in sunlight, and, of course, its price.

CARPET CONSTRUCTION

Deciding what type of carpet fiber best meets your needs is one step in the process of choosing your perfect carpet flooring. There are also several styles of carpet construction you can consider. No matter where you are in your decision-making process, remember that the team at Gateway Design & Home is here to help you find exactly what you need!

Carpet is created by looping individual fibers through a backing to create a particular pile on the other side. There are three main types of pile: loop pile, cut pile, and a combination of the two, often referred to as pattern carpet. We’ll walk you through the highlights of each type!

CUT

There are a few different kinds of cut-pile carpet, but texture or twist carpet represents the majority of the carpet found in most indoor spaces! The fibers used for this style are tightly twisted and then cut, creating a texture that is soft and subdued in appearance and dirt-resistant.

LOOP

Loop carpet is made of fibers that are uncut and, as you may expect, looped. This construction is durable, highly stain resistant, and dense, making it a good choice for high-traffic areas like stairs, hallways, and offices. However, it offers slightly less cushioning and the loops can catch on pets’ claws.

PATTERN

Pattern carpet is a combination of loop pile and cut pile carpet, and because of the different textures and fiber lengths, it appears to have a natural pattern cut into the surface. There are many design options available with this construction, and it has a uniquely sophisticated appearance.

Whether you have strong feelings on the fiber and construction of your carpet or you’re still in the early decision-making stages, the team at Gateway Design & Home is here to help. Contact us to schedule a visit to our Loveland showroom, and let us consider all your options together!

WHY WORK WITH GATEWAY

If you think that carpet is the best flooring option for your next project, then Gateway Design & Home can offer one more reason why you should contact us to get started: whole-home carpet installation services for $40.

Here at Gateway Design & Home, we are dedicated to being an unbeatable flooring company for the Colorado Front Range, which is why we go above and beyond offering a wide selection of colors, styles, and textures to provide exceptional services as well. Many of our customers save 25% on what they would have spent at a big box store!

If carpet isn’t the right option for you, that’s okay! Our collection includes hardwood flooring, tile, laminate, and more, and we’ll work with you to make sure you find exactly the right color, style, and material for your needs. Contact us today to schedule a visit to our Loveland showroom and learn more about how we can make your new flooring project easy and affordable. We look forward to working with you!

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Carpet Flooring