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Installing Wall to Wall Carpet

December 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment

The look and feel of an interior is highly dependent upon the carpet or other floor covering.  Poorly installed or shabbily appearing carpeting will have a profoundly negative effect on the overall interior. For the past several years Certified Carpet Inspectors on an industry wide basis have found improper carpet installation and installation error to be a leading cause of complaint. For a long lasting, problem free installation care must be taken in the selection of a carpet installation contractor.

A great appearing properly installed wall to wall carpet catches ones eye tying together the other interior components. Unfortunately a sloppily installed carpet with seams that are not matched or poorly joined, has fuzzy edges, ripples or another problem also catches the eye and cheapens the look of what was supposed to have been a beautiful new interior.

Unlike other floor covering carpet gives off undeniable warmth, vibrancy, and an aesthetic appeal.  There is a wide range of colors, textures, materials, and designs available that can uniquely transform the interior of any room. Your carpet installation has a long term perspective, so it’s important that you select the best one for your needs and install it right the first time.

Once you have selected your wall to wall carpet, you’ll need to have it installed. Professional carpet installers can do the job for you, or you can choose to do it yourself.  Even though doing it yourself is cheaper than hiring a professional, it isn’t recommended unless you have chosen a product such as carpet tile. Even with tiles the professional will have the knowledge and right tools to assure that the job is performed right.

A great way to ensure a professional installation of your carpet is to buy from an authorized carpet retailer or dealer.  Most of the time, your carpet retailer will have an installation staff that is very experienced with installing carpet.

If the retailer doesn’t offer an installation service, they can still guide you to a reputable and experienced installer.  Even though installation by a retailer is a bit more expensive, it offers several advantages.  The experience will show in their work and you’ll come out better in the long run.  You can also approach them if you aren’t satisfied with anything they have done.

You should always remember to get references from the carpet contractor and inquire about their experience, where they received their training, and any certification they may have.  Two excellent trade organization where you can search for a carpet contractor or installer are,  CFI – Certified Floorcovering Installers. http://cfi-installers.org/consumers/recommendations.html or FCICA – The Floor Contractor Association https://www.fcica.com/members/member-directory

You can also ask for references and call those that the installer has previously worked for, as this will give you an idea of their work before you hire them. If there are installations you can actually visit you may want to do so.

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How Carpet is Made

December 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment

At one time the most popular method of carpet was weaving and the fiber was primarily wool. Over 50 years ago tufting a process once used to make bedspreads came into popularity for making carpet. Today most carpets are made with synthetic fibers and still tufted. Unlike weaving which is a very slow manufacturing process tufting makes carpet at very high speeds. A saying in the carpet industry is that carpet was once manufactured by the yard and is now manufactured by the mile.

For both weaving and tufting many of the procedures are similar while others differ significantly.

Woven Carpet: The yarn for the carpet is woven through or around vertical fibers known as warps, and then locked into place with horizontal strands known as wefts. The woven carpets can utilize a variety of colors as well to create intricate patterns in the highest quality of carpets.

Tufted Carpet: Tufting machines sew the carpet yarn through a backing material leaving a loop. For cut pile carpet the looped is cut during tufting.  Patterned carpets can also be created on tufting machines. Computers are used to determine the patterns, styles, construction, and density.  No longer does someone have to do everything by hand or mentally, as the tufting machines will take all of the guesswork out and make things easy on the operator.

Once the fibers have been locked into place, the carpet is dyed using a variety of methods that will create patterns or effects.  For cut pile carpets, in the final stage the pile is sheared to give the cut loops a level surface.

A secondary back is applied to the carpet to give it stability and allow it to be stretched during the installation process.  Most of the carpets of this day and age will receive stain protection as well, which happens during the manufacturing phase.

The manufacturing method used will affect how the carpet is installed.  In the past, the creation of carpet was a very complicated process, as there were no computers or technology to do most of the work.  Back then, it was all done by hand.  The carpets were great, although colors and textures to select from were limited.

Today’s faster production level has helped to hold down costs for the end user. This has added to the popularity of carpet and enabled individuals the opportunity to redecorate more often than most of us would otherwise be able to do.

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Carpet Repair

December 16, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Accidents occur and your wall to wall carpet can sustain damage. An ember flies out of the fireplace leaving a burn, stains, snags, crushing, fading, furniture legs leaving marks, bleeding, sprouting, and even pesky carpet beetles are a few of things that may require a repair to your carpeting.  If you like taking on the challenge of do it yourself projects there are many carpet repairs that you will be able to make. If you are not handy or just don’t have the time, it may be advisable to hire a professional to handle your repair.

Burns

Small burns from a flying ember or cigarette butt may require no more than trimming with scissors.  Deeper burns up to the size of about a fifty cent piece can often be repaired by gluing in some new tufts with a bit of white waterproof glue. Larger burns will usually require cutting out a section and replacing it with a remnant piece or section of carpet cut from an area such as a closet. These larger types of repairs are usually best done by a professional carpet installer or carpet repair person.

Fuzzing

This occurs when loose fibers come out on the edges of the carpet.  To fix this, simply cut the fibers that are sticking out.

Furniture marks

Heavy furniture can result in indentations being left on the carpet.  To get rid of these nasty marks, you can steam them with a fabric steamer or sprinkle the area with a bit of club soda, place a towel over the area, then iron it.  Do this a couple of times and the pile will be rejuvenated.

Shading, crushing, and matting

With heavy traffic the surface of the carpet can flatten, giving it a shaded appearance.  This can be improved by brushing the pile up and vacuuming.  With use the area will likely continue to crush and shade. Frequent raking or brushing and very thorough vacuuming will help keep the pile standing more erect.

Shedding and snagging

Shedding is most common with carpets manufactured with spun (staple) yarn. This shedding is a characteristic and does not indicate excessive wear. Shedding is controlled by thorough vacuuming. While some carpet will shed for ever, with thorough vacuuming   a carpet will shed less.

Snags (Sprouting)

Snags are tufts that have pulled out of the surface of the carpet.  They will occur more often with loop pile than cut pile carpets.  You should never pull them off, but instead cut them off neatly with a pair of scissors.  On a looped carpet where a small row of tufts are pulled out you can reburl the area by carefully placing a bit of waterproof glue on the area and pushing the yarn back into place.

Static electricity

If you are experiencing nasty little shocks when you touch a door handle or another person while walking across your carpet you are experiencing the effects of static electricity.  The severity of static electricity depends on the carpet material, construction, and padding.  Humidity will play an important role as the moisture in the air is absorbed by the carpet fibers.  A humidifier will help to increase moisture will often take care of the problem. At janitorial or carpet cleaning supply houses you can also purchase static control treatments that you can spray on the surface of the carpet.

Carpet beetles

The best way to deal with carpet beetles is with a strong vacuum suction.  You should always avoid spillage and keep the surface of the carpet clean of food.  The carpet beetles are quite annoying, as they feed on wool, hair, hides, fur, grain, seeds, and flour.  If the carpet is badly infested contact a professional carpet cleaner.

Bleeding or crocking

Bleeding of the carpet is the loss or transfer of the color from one section to another.  Crocking on the other hand is the loss of the carpets color when it is rubbed. If your carpet is crocking or bleeding contact the dealer you purchased it from and ask for an inspection and there may be a defect.

While you can certainly handle many small carpet repair jobs yourself, when you have damage that you cannot handle calling a pro is almost always worth the investment. Spending a bit of money on a professional repair can save you the cost of replacement.

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Carpet Cleaning Tips

December 16, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Around 80% of the soils that enter a building or home are dry.  The remaining 20% are greases, oils, and starches.  Keeping a carpet clean will extend its life while keep it looking new for a longer period of time. A clean carpet will also reduce household allergens and dust helping to protect the health of your family.  Following are a few tips that will help you care for your carpet.

Tip 1 Vacuuming

The dry soil types are easily removed by vacuuming.  As long as they are removed on a daily basis, it will help to minimize the damage to the carpet. Regular thorough, deep vacuuming is surely the most important step when it comes to carpet care.  While non-traffic areas can be vacuumed quickly major traffic areas should be vacuumed in more than one direction as you run the vacuum slowly giving it time to pick up the deeper soil. Not all vacuum cleaners are equal and a good quality vacuum will do a better job of cleaning. A good quality vacuum is not necessarily the most expensive.

Tip 2 Walk Off Mats

Keep those dry and gritty outdoor soils from being tracked on to your wall to wall carpet. One of the best and easiest ways to do this is to use walk off mats and area rugs at entrances. Always use entrance mats outside of your doors and make sure that anyone who enters your home use the mats to help get debris and dirt off of their shoes before they enter. Where possible also use an area rug or walk off mat inside your door to help trap soil missed by the outside mats. All mats and rugs need to be vacuumed and cleaned regularly so that they are trapping dirt and not placing dirt on to your shoes.

Tip 3 Shoes

Many people prefer that their family and guest go shoeless on their carpet. This can be helpful, especially if you have slippers that are only worn indoors that you slip into upon entering.  The oils from oily bare feet will transfer from ones feet to the carpet.

Tip 4 Pets

If you have pets you need to understand that oil does transfer from pet hair to carpet. Placing an area rug in areas where your pets like to lay will provide excellent protection for your carpet.

Tip 5 Spots and Spills

Keep your eye out for spills and take care of them in a quick manner to keep your carpet clean.  Most spots and spills can be easily cleaned by blotting with no more than clean tap water and a towel. If water does not work you will need to use a cleaning product for the specific type of spot you are experiencing problems with.  See Spot Cleaning Chart.

Tip 6 Deep Cleaning

Have your carpet professionally deep cleaned before it becomes too soiled.  A good thorough cleaning for your higher traffic areas should be performed at least every 12 to 18 months. See More on Cleaning Methods

A well maintained home and clean carpet will not only add value to your home it will also extend the life of your carpet, protect your carpet warranty, reduce household and pet odors, assist you in keeping your family healthy and your friends and other visitors will be impressed at how nice your home looks.

Optical Brighteners

While optical brighteners can make a carpet appear cleaner, they have a harmful effect on carpet fibers. Technical people in the carpet industry have unanimously taken a stand against the use of brightening agents in the cleaning process. But, even with all of the adverse publicity, optical brighteners or color brighteners, as they are often called, are still used in some spot cleaning products, shampoo, dry-foam and extraction detergents.

Optical brighteners are actually dyes, which reflect the light and eventually cause yellowing in carpet fibers. For this reason alone, every legitimate carpet cleaning company should outlaw their use.

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Carpet Cleaning

December 16, 2009 By Leave a Comment

By cleaning a carpet before it becomes too soiled, the task of keeping it looking new will be much easier.  While the thorough routine vacuuming of carpet will remove the majority of dry soil, wall to wall carpet still needs to be cleaned to remove the oily, sticky soil that builds up in a carpets pile as the result of tracked in unwanted soil and odors.

There is a false myth that cleaning a carpet before it is necessary will result in rapid resoiling.  Many years ago coconut oil shampoos were used for cleaning carpet and some of them did leave residues that resulted in rapid resoiling. Today almost all carpet cleaning products leave very little residue. The fact is that carpet in a typical household should be cleaned every 12 – 18 months depending on the number of people and pets living there and the amount of traffic. A good way to tell if a carpet is due for cleaning is by moving a chair or sofa so that the trafficked and non trafficked areas can be compared.

Professional Carpet Cleaners

While there are many do-it-your-self cleaning machines for purchase and rent, it is usually advisable to use a qualified professional carpet cleaner such as those Certified by the Clean Trust, previously IICRC – Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration. A professional cleaner will have the experience that enables them to do a much better job than you can do yourself. The equipment they use has more extraction power than the units available to you, and the carpet will dry faster as well.  They know the cleaning agents to use, and they know the differences in carpet construction and fibers.

Doing it Yourself

If you have made the decision to rent a steam cleaning machine and do the job yourself, you should check on several systems before you make a selection.  Most of the units available for rent don’t clean well enough and may end up damaging your carpet.  Therefore, you should always consider the following:

  • A number of rental companies offer cleaning equipment that is similar to what a professional will use.  You need equipment that has enough vacuum power to allow the carpet to dry rapidly, preferably in less than 12 hours.  It is best to avoid rental units found in many retail, hardware and grocery stores that don’t have the power to extract the cleaning solution from the carpet fast enough. Over wetting combined with slow drying can be damaging to a carpet.
  • Avoid over wetting the carpet.  Prolonged dampness combined with traffic can cause a separation of the backing.  When a carpet remains wet for an extended period of time, this can lead to mildew growth and bacteria in the carpet backing.
  • After cleaning your carpet place fans to increase air movement and speed the drying.
  • Today most carpet has stain resistant treatments. Make sure that the carpet cleaning products you purchase are designed for the type of fiber you are cleaning. Failure to properly clean a carpet is action to void a stain resistant or carpet performance warranty.
  • Never use cleaning or spotting solutions that contain bleaches as they can mess up the color of the carpet.
  • Never use any silicone based treatments on the carpet. Silicone treatments are not needed and not designed for most of the carpet that is manufactured today.

A Comparison of Carpet Cleaning Systems

With all cleaning methods a wall to wall carpet needs to be thoroughly vacuumed prior to cleaning to remove any heavy soil such as silicates (the primary constituent of soil), without this pre-vacuuming, dirt and sand are forced to the backing of the carpet. It is highly recommended that you give your carpet a very thorough vacuuming prior to the arrival of the professional carpet cleaning company. While vacuuming make not of any special areas of concern and point these out to the cleaning crew upon its arrival.

Absorbent Powder / Dry Extraction Cleaning

An absorbent granular material that has been incorporated into a mixture of detergent, solvent and water is brushed into the carpet pile with a machine incorporating a double cylindrical brush.  Once the material has dried the carpet is vacuumed to remove the powder and the soil that it has captured. The best use for the absorbent powder cleaning method is the commercial installation where the carpet is cleaned regularly and requires quick drying.

Bonnet/Spin Pad

This method in appearance is similar to the rotary shampoo method. The machine used is essentially the same. A detergent is usually sprayed onto the carpet.  A rotating absorbent pad spins and agitates the carpet fibers as the soil is collected into the pad. This method improperly preferred on cut pile carpet can cause untwisting of the face pile. While this method is reasonably quick drying it must be done more often as it is more of a surface cleaning.  The best use for this method of cleaning is the commercial installation where they clean regularly and require quick drying.

Cylindrical Foam Shampoo

The cylindrical foam method uses a machine with an air compressor that whips the shampoo solution into heavy foam.  The foam is brushed into the carpet with a cylindrical brush. Once the carpet has dried it is vacuumed to remove the shampoo and the particles that have theoretically bonded to it. Not all of the shampoo and soil is actually captured but instead much of it is forced deeper into the pile. While this method is reasonably quick drying it must be done more often as it is more of a surface cleaning.  The best use for cylindrical foam cleaning is the commercial installation where they clean regularly and require quick drying.

Rotary Shampoo

The Rotary shampoo method uses chemicals similar to those used with cylindrical foam. The rotary floor machine usually has an attached solution tank for the shampoo solution.  The diluted solution is fed through a tub to a “shower-feed” where it is applied to the carpet.  While the shampoo is being applied a round brush on the machine is scrubbing the carpet.  This shampoo method uses more moisture than the cylindrical brush method. The rotary shampoo method is not recommended for use on cut pile carpet as it can cause untwisting of the face pile.

Steam Cleaning or Hot Water Extraction

With this method a non-foaming detergent is injected into the carpet fibers and is almost simultaneously vacuumed out of the carpet taking the dirt and soil with it. The extraction method when performed a skilled technician and quality chemicals will leave very little residue to attract to soil. You can use a truck mounted unit or a portable self contained unit as well. In the hands of an unskilled person a carpet can be over-wet during extraction cleaning so be sure to take extra dry passes when cleaning it yourself.

If you have concerns with the performance of your carpet it is suggested to have a thorough professional carpet cleaning prior to submitting a claim. While you cannot expect a 5 year old carpet to look brand new in traffic areas a Certified Carpet Inspector will be able to draw a fairer conclusion as to a carpets performance if they are inspecting a clean carpet.

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