Taking Care of Different Carpet Types

Know Your Carpet

There are many different types of carpet for homes. In order to ensure proper carpet care, you need to know what type you are dealing with. Without adequate knowledge you could do more harm than good. In addition to carpet care, the type of carpet and its material also affects its durability and overall performance.

The first step in is to learn exactly what type of carpet you have in your home. Although this sounds simple, it can be easier said than done if you don’t know about the different types of carpet. Carpet types can be divided into: cut pile; loop pile; or a combination of both to create a cut and loop construction. These general carpet types come in a range of styles and heights.

Each of these types can be made from different fiber materials such as nylon, wool, polyester or acrylic. The type of carpet material has a real impact on how well it can perform. It also makes a big difference to how you should care for the carpet, particularly when it comes to stains.

Identifying the type of carpet you have:

• Cut pile carpets are made by cutting the yarn loops to produce an upright pile. This provides a more formal, luxurious looking finish than a loop pile carpet type.
• Loop pile carpet uses the full loop of yarn to create a range of finish styles and patterns with varying loop heights.
• A Cut and Loop type of carpet is basically a cut pile style with areas of loop pile built into it.
• Olfin, a synthetic looped fiber, used a lot in Berber style carpets. Olefin is extremely stain resistant, and is well-suited to areas prone to spills. It is also very fade-resistant.

Vacuuming Tips for Different Carpet Types:

There are a few simple tips that you can follow to help with carpet care when vacuuming:

• For low pile carpets use a quality upright or canister vacuum with either a power-driven rotating brush or a combination beater/brush bar
• For thicker/ higher pile carpets for a vacuum cleaner with an adjustable height brush roll/ beater bar makes vacuuming easier. Some vacuums have manually adjustable heights and others can do this automatically. The manually adjustable heights typically work better for high pile carpets. However not all vacuums have adjustable height options, so you need to check before using or buying one
• For Olfin carpets just about any machine can clean polypropylene; what really makes a difference is frequent cleaning to prevent soiling
• Turn the power brush roll/ beater bar off when vacuuming loop pile carpet styles to prevent excessive fuzzing. Not all vacuum cleaners allow you to do this, so you need to check the specifications of your vacuum
• For super thick and luxurious soft style carpets you really need a specialized vacuum cleaner. Some of the key attributes you should look for in a suitable vacuum for this type of carpet are:

1. Controllable suction power level
2. Different brush roll/ beater bar height settings
3. Large wheels – this makes a big difference on how easy the vacuum is to move around

The type of carpeting you have in your home is important to understand so that you can provide good carpet care. By knowing your carpet style and the material it is made of you can identify the best way of keeping it looking as good as new. Some carpet types are more durable than others and some require greater care and attention than others. Knowing about your carpets and the proper care of them will help you in getting a longer life out of your carpet.