How to choose the best carpet for your living room
For many families, the living room is one of the most used spaces in the home. As the central social hub, the living rooms see playtime, conversation, movie nights, and so much more. Carpet, due to its softness for floor playing, and its look- has long been the living room choice for flooring. Just like any other room in your home, choosing the right flooring can take time, as there are many choices and things to consider.
When choosing the right carpet for your living room, the major factors that you should take into consideration are
- Room use
- Carpet durability
- Carpet quality
- How easy the carpet is to clean
- And carpet style and color.
Room Use
How often do you and your family use the living room? If your living room is the main family room and sees heavy use, then you should opt for a more durable carpet. If your living room doesn’t see heavy use, then you can opt for a less durable carpet.
Carpet Durability and Quality
How do you know how durable a carpet is? Thankfully, testing a carpet’s durability is super easy, and no, it doesn’t take years of wear and tear before you know. When looking at carpet samples, bend the sample backward. If the carpet’s backing easily shows, the carpet is going to crush faster, as it is a lower quality product. However, if the backing does not easily show, the carpet you are looking at is higher quality and is preferable for living rooms that see high traffic.
If you are a person, who needs to see numbers to have a better understanding of what to look for, the durability of carpeting measures in face weight, tuft twist, and density rating. For higher quality and more durable carpet, look for a 34 to 40-ounce face weight, a tuft twist of five or more, and a carpet density rating of 2,000 or higher.
Ease of Cleaning
With living rooms seeing most of the household traffic, it’s important to make sure that the carpeting in the room is easy to clean. Second, only to the kitchen, the living room sees the most spills in the home. Even if you don’t have children in your home, having a carpet that comes with a lifetime stain warranty brings a lot more ease to mind. However, when choosing a carpet with a lifetime stain warranty, make sure that it comes with a no exclusion policy. Many stain warranties don’t cover some substances such as bleach or pet stains, but no exclusion policies do.
Carpet Style and Color
For many people, the carpet’s style and coloring are two of the most significant deciding factors – and understandably so. However, there is quite a bit that goes into a carpet’s “look.” Aside from how the carpet looks, you should also take into consideration:
- How soft the fibers are
- The pile
- And the style of the pile.
Carpeting Fiber Softness
A carpet’s fiber comes into play when thinking about how often your living room will be in use. If people end up spending a large amount of time on the floor, a softer carpet is going to be a better choice than a carpet that isn’t. Many carpeting manufacturers sell a line of “soft” carpeting, which has fibers that are finer than traditional carpeting.
Pile and Pile Styles
Most plush carpets are considered to be “cut.” If the carpet is “cut,” it means that the carpet doesn’t have any loops, unlike “uncut” piles which do have loops. Cut piles tend to have a more formal appearance, due to their smooth texture, which uncut piles give off a more casual appearance. If your living room sees a high amount of foot traffic, consider an uncut carpet style that has berber – or level looping – such as shag carpeting. Carpeting with berber is ideal for rooms with high amounts of foot traffic, because of its density.
Many factors play into choosing the best carpet for your living room. While a good looking carpet may seem like the most important deciding factor, there is a lot more that goes into choosing the best carpet. The experts at Floors N More can help you find the perfect carpet for your living room.
