Get Familiar with the Different Types of Carpeting Fibers

January 27, 2020 8:32 pm Published by Leave your thoughts

Carpeting is the most popular home flooring material in Santa Cruz, CA homes. It offers the comfort, price point and variety of options homeowners are looking for when they decide to redo their floors. But what most people don’t realize is the sheer number of options there are when choosing carpet. Beyond color and piling, many homeowners aren’t even aware that the first decision they have to make is what kind of carpeting fiber to choose.

If you’re in this situation, here’s a quick rundown of your options and how they differ from one another:

  • Acrylic: Known as “manmade wool,” acrylic carpeting looks and feels like natural wool, but costs far less. You don’t have to worry about getting carpet shocks from wearing socks with this type of carpet—in fact, it’s highly resistant to just about everything, from electricity, to mildew, to crush, fading and staining! It’s not great for high traffic areas, but works well in moderately used rooms.
  • Nylon: The strongest carpet fiber, nylon is ready for high traffic areas. It’s the most-used carpet fiber in Santa Cruz, CA homes for a reason: it’s the perfect marriage of affordability, resilience and optionality. Choose from thousands of colors and get the benefit of resilience that’ll last for 12 to 15 years.
  • Wool: Wool is a luxurious carpet fiber material that’s soft to the touch and great for areas of the home where comfort is a top priority, like bedrooms or nurseries. Wood is more delicate than other fibers and needs proper maintenance and care to last—including protection from UV light and specialized spot and stain treatments. Wool is an investment, but it delivers unparalleled comfort.
  • Polyester: On the synthetic side of luxury is polyester. Polyester isn’t great in high traffic areas and needs protection from UV light, but it’s great against water-soluble stains and benefits from steam cleaning in a reinvigorating way.
  • Polypropylene: Also called olefin, polypropylene fibers are most often suited for carpeting in commercial buildings—however, they can also play a role in utility areas of the home, like laundry rooms and basements. Olefin is extremely resistant to most things and ready to stand up to heavy traffic. You can beat up this fiber pretty thoroughly and it’ll still look good!
  • Blends: There’s a whole world of carpeting out there beyond these original fibers when you start to consider blends. Nylon and olefin blends are the most popular because the materials are complementary, although there are other synthetic blends that do a good job of improving the resilience, luxury and resistance of individual fibers by complementing them with another.

What type of carpet fiber is best for your Santa Cruz, CA home? That depends entirely on the room and your lifestyle. Is there light or heavy foot traffic? Do you eat in that room or handle materials that could stain? How much sun exposure does the space typically see? What’s your budget? There are a thousand variables that go into picking the right carpeting for your home. It’s best to speak with a professional at The Wholesale House before making the decision!

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