-What Carpet Materials Should You Consider When Buying a New Carpet?-

Whether you’re installing new carpet throughout your San Francisco Bay condominium, replacing an old carpet in your  rec room, or searching for carpeting to decorate your preschooler’s room in your new home, you have a gamut of decisions to make.

One of the key questions you need to resolve is: What carpet materials should you consider?

You have a lot of choices when it comes to carpet. They include:

• Raffia
• Abaca
• Seagrass
• Polyester
• Acrylic
• Olefin
• Nylon
• Wool
• Corterra
• Coir
• Sisl

These are actually just categories. For instance, nylon comes in various forms, including staple, bulked continuous filament, unbranded, branded, type 66, and type 6. And the durability, stain resistance, and other features of these types of nylon will depend on the brand, the application process, how you take care of it, foot traffic, types of stains that will likely impact it, etc.

First of all, know that although different materials have different strengths and weakness  –you can “shore up” weaknesses and boost strengths with the right care and treatment. For instance, one of the cheapest kinds of yarn is polyester. Polyester has many benefits – it is fade- resistant, vibrant, stain-resistant, and, of course, cheap. But it has a problem with oil absorption. For instance, if you open a jar of new peanut butter (where the oil has all risen to the top) and you spill some of that oil on a polyester carpet, you could have a problem. But you can compensate for this weakness by using Scotchgard or Teflon-type treatments. The flexibility, cleanability, flammability, resiliency, allergenic properties, stain resistance, oil resistance, fade resistance, and other qualities are influenced by how the carpet is installed, the style of cut, and other factors we’ve previously discussed.

If you need help with your current interior thread cleaning solutions such as carpet, upholstery, area rugs, or tile & grout contact the professionals at Elegant Carpet Care. Visit us on the web at www.elegant-carpetcare.com, or call our professionals at 650-961-1339. We have served the Santa Clara community for more than 20 years, and we pride ourselves on high-quality workmanship and customer satisfaction.