Home Makeover Diva

Home Design Makeover Ideas

Healthy Carpet Choices

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Today Pamela writes,

Hello Diva, Please help me as I’m confused on which eco-friendly/healthy carpet to choose for my bedroom!  I know wool is good but I cannot handle the idea of bugs leaving eggs in it.  After reading the blog I know my choices are: Mohawk Smartstrand vs Dupont Sorona vs Beaulieu’s Bliss.  I even read there was a product SmartStrand with DuPont Sorona but I’m still a bit confused! I do not have pets or children and no allergies however I am a cancer survivor and want to make sure I do not breathe in anything unhealthy/carcinogenic.  Please help!  Thank you!

Pamela, I can definitely understand being wary of wool carpet. Yes it’s an all natural choice, but when left to its own devices it does attract bugs. So to counter this they add an anti-moth treatment and now you’ve just added VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds). Typically speaking people who choose wool carpet are purchasing it because it is eco-friendly, not just because it’s one of the healthy carpet choices. Also I think wool is more popular for an area rug choice than wall to wall carpeting. At least that is when I usually opt for wool!

healthy-carpet-choices

Carpet Padding

When you are looking at healthy carpet choices, don’t forget the padding. Because another thing that will help keep the VOC’s down is to go for a carpet pad that is low VOC’s as well. Depending on where you are looking for carpeting at, ask the salesperson to see their healthy choicer or eco-friendly carpet pad.

This will definitely NOT be a rebound Pad. Rebound pads are made up of recycled foam. And that is how it looks, like a bunch of different colored pieces of foam fused together. Typically speaking low VOC padding is one solid color and either green or white or feels like memory foam. So don’t forget to include low VOC padding in your carpet buying process.

Mohawk SmartStrand and SmartStrand with DuPont Sorona

When it comes to Mohawk SmartStrand and SmartStrand with DuPont Sorona, it’s easy to get confused. However it really is only one carpet! Mohawk is the brand, while SmartStrand is the line of carpeting. And all of the SmartStrand line is made out of DuPont Sorona fiber. Hopefully that makes more sense! I know that it’s a lot of names for just one carpet style.

Both SmartStrand and Bliss brands fall into the category of healthy carpet choices. Both are certified Green Label Plus by the Rug & Carpet Institute. What this means is that they are tested and have been proven to emit a very low amount of VOC’s. As far as which carpet brand to choose? Both are good. I can’t see any overwhelming reason to go with one over the other. It will just depend on what features you like best.

Personally, I like the SmartStrand because it is also eco friendly (made from 37% corn sugar) and very stain resistant. However the Bliss has some nice features as well, such as Magic Fresh and Silver Release. These two features probably aren’t as big of a deal for you, since you said you don’t have pets. But in our “two dog house”, I could use some help with pet odor! I know for a fact that Magic Fresh helps with odors in the home, I just don’t know if it actually makes the air cleaner to breath.

Carpet Indoor Air Quality

Since both of the carpet brands offer the indoor air quality you need, I’d choose your carpet based on what you like best. What feels the best? What is the best color? And what style do you like the best? Because your most important concern is having a healthy carpet! The rest is just what appeals to your sense of style!

Do you have questions about the selecting or the installation of: tile, carpet or wall treatments (window blinds, etc)? Then email me your tale of woe (diva(at)homemakeoverdiva.com) and perhaps I will be able to answer your questions right here at the Home Makeover Diva Blog

Is This Good Carpet For My Stairs?

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Today Camille writes:

Hello, I am purchasing a remnant of Shaw carpeting from a local carpet store (to be installed by them) for the stairs from my main to second floor. I have never purchased carpet and I am a bit confused regarding proper type. The carpet is synthetic – polyester and a Texture with a slight Frieze in style It is a medium to medium high thickness. Is this a good carpet for my stairs? I live alone with a westie terrier. In other words no kids or elderly folks.

Camille, thank you for providing all of the information needed to assess your carpet choice! That makes my job so much easier! Choosing the best carpet for stairs is never easy, especially if it is your first time. I am speaking from experience here, because the first carpet I ever selected was a terrible choice! But that’s because I knew nothing about carpeting and went strictly by price and color. The carpet I picked out was very thin and because of this, it looked terrible on the stairs. You, however, have made a great choice of carpeting for the stairs. Here’s what you did right:

First of all, you picked a carpet fiber that is a good fit compared to the amount of traffic in your home. Because you don’t have a busy household, polyester is a great choice. It allows you to get the most bang out of your buck and should hold up nicely for many years to come. And if there were any pet accidents on the carpet from your westie terrier, it would be easy to clean up and is less likely to stain.

Good Carpet For My Stairs
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Second, the style of the carpet is perfect for the traffic on the stairs. The texture style with a slight frieze, and will hold up nicely in traffic areas. This is because both elements will help keep the carpet from matting down. Frieze carpet in particular, is great for this because you aren’t walking on the tips of the strands, rather the sides. Texture carpets are also better for stairs because they don’t have a uniform appearance. This helps to camouflage wear patterns.

And lastly, you picked a thickness that will hold up on the stairs and shouldn’t show the backing where it bends over the edge of a step. This is the most common mistake people make when picking out carpets. They think they need a thin carpet to bend around the steps, but in reality, all this does is make it easier for the carpet to get matted down and show wear. So by picking a carpeting in the medium density range, you are making sure that it will “stand” up to use and not mat down.

Camille you’ve already chosen a good carpet. However if you were still in the market for new carpeting here’s a tip I would have suggested:

 

Thin Carpet
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Take a sample of the carpet or a corner of the actual remnant and bend it at almost a 90 degree angle. Be aware that the sample will be harder to bend if it has a labeling piece of paper glued to the backing. Don’t try to fold the carpet over like a piece of paper, because you don’t want to crack the backing. You just want to simulate what it would look like on a step. Once you’ve bent it the correct amount, look to see how much of the backing shows.

I’ve included images of what a good and bad carpet will look like bent over the edge of a step. The first photo is of a carpet that would be a great choice for stairs.  You can hardly see any backing material at all. The carpet fibers fan out slightly, but you would have to push fibers aside to see the actual backing material.

The second photo is of a carpet that is very thin. You can easily see the line of backing where the carpet is bent. You want to avoid getting a carpet like this as much as possible. Not only will the carpet mat down quicker, but you will be stuck looking at the exposed backing every time you walk up the stairs. This probably won’t bother you as much as it did me, but just in case, I thought it was worth mentioning!

Choosing the right carpet for stairs doesn’t have to be a daunting process. You’ve just got to arm yourself with a trick or two before going to the carpeting store. Then you’ll be better equipped to pick out something that will hold up to everything your household can dish out.

Do you have questions about the selecting or the installation of: tile, carpet or wall treatments (window blinds, etc)? Then email me your tale of woe(diva(at)homemakeoverdiva.com) and perhaps I will be able to answer your questions right here at the Home Makeover Diva Blog.

 

How To Buy Carpet For Your Home

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As we continue winding our way through the season, many of you are thinking about the home improvements that need to take place in your homes. But one home improvement that tends to be put off until the last-minute has to be changing out old carpeting. Why the procrastination? Most of the time it stems from not knowing how to buy carpet for their home. This is understandable, as the entire process can indeed be seen as a bit overwhelming.

To address this challenge, I’ve decided to offer a round-up of articles along with one additional resource that I think will help to ease the burden of learning how to buy carpet for your home.

Home Depot Carpet Installation: In an article dating back to April of this year, a reader asked what she needed to know about Home Depot carpet installation prices and whether or not it’s a good place to buy carpet. Pricing, expectations and other considerations were explained at length. There was also suggestion to the reader for them to be very proactive when dealing with a carpet order. This tip, is among one of the many considerations to remember when shopping around for new carpet for your home.

How To Buy Carpet For HomeCarpet Buying Tips

From carpet type to carpet color, this article will prove helpful in offering some worthwhile carpet buying tips. Great, general advice is offered to anyone wanting to get the basics of carpet shopping. By no means does this cover all of the bases, but it’s a pretty good place to start. Considerations explored include texture, style, color, padding, moisture barriers and stain resistance.

So what’s missing then?

A lot of things are missing here, actually. The underlying problem is no matter how much I attempt to cover in one or two articles, there’s bound to be something that will be missed. What is needed to handle situations such as learning to effectively buy carpet from home is using a guide that will ensure you’re doing the following.

Tricks of the trade – You need to learn how to avoid common, misleading sales tactics used by some unscrupulous salespeople. There are factors you need to be aware of, in order to prevent being hosed for hundreds of dollars.

Selecting the best carpet for YOUR needs – Despite offering some fantastic articles here at the Home Makeover Diva, there are going to be instances where you need to know how to handle very specific circumstances.

floor-image2I’d like to share an e-book with you that will not only prevent you from feeling “in the dark” when shopping for new carpet, it will ensure you aren’t being misled, sold the wrong kind of carpet/padding or other common issues you’ll find when carpet shopping.

This e-book guide will show you step by step how to purchase the best carpet and padding for the best possible price. Unlike the salespeople you end up dealing with, the e-book’s author isn’t on commission. For a small one time purchase, you could end up saving yourself hundreds of dollars in carpet buying mistakes. Not buying this guide, is absolutely not using any commonsense. Don’t buy new carpet without getting all of the facts, first!

The best part about using this guide is that it comes with a money back return policy. If you hate the advice offered, return it. And considering how much you’re about to spend on carpeting for your home, the tiny cost for this guide pays for itself instantly. After all, why gamble with the entire cost of a carpet install when you could very well save yourself from a terrible mistake with a cheap little e-book instead? Don’t go into a carpet emporium without getting all of the facts first.

Remember, unless you’re already a flooring expert, buying carpeting without understanding the type of carpeting you’re actually going to end up with is simply unwise. Play it safe,  read the articles linked above and please, use the resources that have been provided to you. Better to be safe, than sorry and by playing it safe, you’ve lost nothing.

Carpet Fibers Comparison

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There are many different types of carpet fibers available. However, when it comes to purchasing new wall to wall carpeting, most homeowners stick with one of three choices. These three carpet fibers are olefin, polyester and nylon. If you’re in the market for new carpeting and aren’t sure where to begin, this article will help you get a better understanding of those three fibers by offering a carpet fibers comparison and help you make a decision on which type is best for your home.

Olefin, also known as Polypropylene, is one of the most inexpensive carpet fibers available. Not known for softness, this carpet fiber is better suited for looped carpet styles. Despite the looped style, the fiber does not hold up to heavy foot traffic as well as others and should be avoided in hallways and on stairways. Carpets with Olefin fiber are most commonly found in converted garages, basements, kitchens, laundry rooms, and home offices. Olefin carpets are better suited to handle moisture than the other fibers and resist staining.

Carpet Fibers Comparison

Polyester fiber is moderately priced. Some styles are more expensive than others, depending on what you are interested in. Polyester carpets are known for being soft to the touch, as well as fade and stain resistant. Some fibers are difficult to stain and have lifetime stain resistance warranties. In the past, polyester was known for not being a long wearing carpet fiber and was typically used only in formal living rooms and bedrooms. Today, however, there are many different types of polyester fibers and some are comparable to nylon in terms of wear. Specifically those that are the more eco-friendly fibers like PET the recycled pop bottle carpet, and PTT which is the carpet that is partly made from corn. The PTT polyester is an all around good value as it has superior stain resistance and is a great choice for families with young kids and pets.

Nylon fiber can be moderately priced, but tends to lean towards the expensive side compared to the other two options. Nylon fibers aren’t known for softness but are known for holding up in high-traffic situations, like family rooms, hallways and stairways. Just as polyester is switching to become more wear resistant, some nylon fiber types are becoming softer and more stain resistant. These fibers are Nylon 6 and Nylon 6.6. These types of fibers are more commonly found in the higher priced and well-known brands, but are well worth the price in terms of lasting value. Another nylon fiber that both boasts long wearing as well as superior stain resistance is solution dyed nylon. This type of nylon is only found in a hand full of brands and will be on the higher-end price wise.

Now that you know what the three basic carpet fibers are, as well as, the strengths of each you have a better idea of what to look for in a carpet. There are other carpet fibers available, but these three are better suited for most home owners. Specifically, because they provide long-term value and are budget friendly. Use this article as a starting point for carpet fibers comparison and you’ll be sure to find a carpet that can stand up to what your family can dish out!

Green Carpeting Options

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Recently I read this article on the Floor Covering News website that pretty much summed up what I’ve noticed over the last couple of years. While total carpet sales are down due to the recession, there has been an increase in percentage of overall sales of PET fiber carpeting. (PET stands for polyethylene terephthalate and is a type of polyester). PET carpet sales are gaining ground on nylon and have surpassed those of olefin (polypropylene) carpet sales. Which means green carpeting is on the rise!

Why is this? Because PET carpets are not only a great value, but also the most eco-friendly of the environmentally friendly carpet choices. PET is made of up to 100% post consumer plastic bottles. Which is why, it is commonly known as the “pop bottle carpet.”  Originally this carpet choice was thought inferior to nylon, but times are changing and so is PET carpet fibers.  Now I would rank them at 80% of nylon’s durability, but with superior stain resistance.

Green Carpeting Options

 

Another type  green flooring option that is also gaining some ground in carpet sales is the new fiber Triexta. Triexta is the carpet fiber that Mohawk uses for its SmartStrand line of carpets. This fiber is also eco-friendly as it is made from 37% corn sugar. This new type of carpet fiber is one of, if not the best carpet fiber for resisting stains and is also an all around good wearing carpet.  Triexta is definitely starting to give nylon a run for its money and I wouldn’t be surprised if it eventually surpasses nylon in carpet sales.

This information should also serve as a reminder to those who are considering putting their homes on the market in the near future. Being able to list the new carpeting as eco-friendly could be a positive selling point to potential home buyers. Whether you install new carpeting with the intent to sell your home or you are just updating your space, going with green carpeting is not only eco-friendly but also a popular choice.

 

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