The Comfort of Carpet

Carpet - nothing looks like it, feels like it or performs like it. Carpet is a key decorative and functional element in a home or business. Carpet - It just feels better.

Comfort - Insulation
Carpet provides an added measure of warmth and insulation with its millions of fibers and places between them to hold warmth or to insulate against extreme heat or cold. It's warmer to sit on or work on, providing more stable temperatures for foot and leg comfort near the floor. In colder climates or seasons, it retains warm air longer, an important benefit in our energy-conscious world. In warm climates, it also insulates against invasive heat.

Aesthetics - The Foundation of Decorating
Because carpet is a foundation of decorating, covering a large quantity of the surface of our living spaces, it is an important consideration in the overall scheme of color and texture. It can provide simplicity and casualness for softness and liveability; or it can provide pizzazz with vibrant color and heavier textures for making a decorating "statement." Carpet can be one of the easiest ways to personalize an environment - its color can be a neutral foundation "in the background," or it can be a vibrant focal point.

Sound Reduction Qualities of Carpet
Carpet is as Easy on Your Ears as Your Feet

With the introduction of computers, speaker telephones, big screen TV's and video games, our homes have become a lot noisier. Fortunately, the solution to this problem of airborne sounds can be found right below our feet -- carpet.

Carpet not only serves as a beautiful floor covering, it also provides sound insulation. Additionally, carpet creates an aesthetic ambiance conducive to lowered voices and heightened privacy.   Recently, home builders have moved towards reshaping the home by combining all of the living area rooms into one big, open space. This layout promotes the family togetherness, but also creates a noisy atmosphere. With the addition of carpet, sound is absorbed rather than bounced off the floor and back onto the walls and furniture.

Carpet serves as an effective noise-reducer because it absorbs the sound of foot traffic within the home. These results are even more pronounced with the addition of carpet cushion. Research shows that properly specified carpet and cushion combinations produce better noise-reduction than carpet alone. Carpet cushion also increases comfort and ergonomic qualities, adds insulation, and extends the life of your carpet by protecting it against wear and tear.

Simple Maintenance
Regular, but simple, care on carpet helps counter the abuse your carpet suffers and help it retain its beauty. What other home furnishing is walked all over? Vacuum every few days in high traffic areas, and once a week in less-used areas. Use a well-functioning vacuum cleaner, with an enclosed, efficient, dust-catching bag.

Most carpet today has been treated for stain resistance and soil retardance, but stain resistant does not necessarily mean "stain proof." Address spills quickly and remove them as soon as possible to afford the easiest spot removal. Act preventively and avoid contact with difficult spots that are hard to remove - makeup, pesticides, disinfectants, iodine, mustard, and plant food products. Have carpet cleaned on a regular schedule, before it begins to show soil - a schedule of every 12 to 18 months by a professional cleaning company is reasonable for more used areas of the home.