| Carpet Tips |
| Glossary of Terms |
Attached Cushion: A material such as foam, rubber, urethane, PVC, etc. that creates a cushion and is adhered to the back side of a carpet. It can provide additional dimensional stability, thickness and padding.
Average Pile Yard Weight: In the US it is usually expressed as ounces per square yard and refers to the mass per unit area of the pile yarn, including buried portions of the pile yarn.
Backing: Various types of fabrics and yarns that make up the backside of a carpet, as opposed to the carpet pile itself. In tufted carpet:
In woven carpet, the backing is the "construction yarns" which are interwoven with the face yarn.
- Primary backing: A woven or non-woven fabric in which the yarn is inserted by the tufting needles.
- Secondary backing: Fabric laminated to the back of the carpet to reinforce and increase dimensional stability.
Berber: Loop-pile carpet, tufted with thick yarn, such as wool, nylon or olefin, often having random specks of color. This floor covering has a full, comfortable feel, which maintaining an informal, casual look. This term has expanded to describe many level, or multi-level, loop carpet styles as well.
Binding: To protect, strengthen or decorate the edge, a band or strip of material is sewn over a carpet edge itself.
BCF: (Bulk Continuous Filament) Texturizing changes the straight filaments in a carpet into kinked or curled configurations. Filaments are continuous strands of synthetic fiber formed into yarn bundles of a given number of different textures, to increase bulk and cover.
Ceramic Tile : Ceramic tile is strong, durable and easy to clean and can consist of flat shapes made of unglazed or glazed fired clay. They can be used for flooring by setting in mortar or cement in a variety of patterns.
Construction: As stated in teh carpet's specification from the manufacturing, it is the method (i.e. tufted, woven, etc.) and the final arrangement of fiber and backing materials.
Cushion: Also referred to as "padding" or "underlay", although "cushion" is the preferred term. It is any kind of material placed under carpet to provide softness and support when walked upon. Cushion under most residential carpet should be a thickness no greater than 7/16".
Cut Pile : A kind of carpet fabric in which the face of the carpet is composed of cut ends of pile yarn.
Cut and loop pile : A type of carpet fabric in which the face is composed of a combination of cut ends of pile yarns as well as loops.
Density: Refers to the amount of pile yarn in the carpet and the closeness of the tufts. In general, the greater the denser the pile, the better the performance of the carpet.
Engineered Hardwood Floor : The hardwood flooring product is constructed from several thin sheets of wood (called piles) that are laminated together to form one plank. It is a durable and beautiful floor covering.
Filament : A single continuous strand of natural or synthetic fiber.
Fluffing: Sometimes called "fuzzing" or "shedding". It is the appearance on carpet surface of loose fiber fragments left during manufacture; it is not a defect, but a characteristic that disappears with carpet use and vacuuming.
Frieze : Pronounced "free-zay", this tightly twisted yarn that gives carpet a rough, nubby appearance.
Fuzzing : Hairy effect on fabric surface caused by fibers slipping out of the yarn with wear or wet cleaning.
Glazed Tile : Glazed tiles absorb less moisture because they are fired clay tiles that are then coated with a matte or glossy sealant.
Heat Setting : The process that sets the yarn twist by heat or steam, thus enabling yarns to hold their twist over time. This is an important process in cut pile carpet. Most nylon, olefin and polyester cut pile carpets are heat-set.
Indoor/Outdoor Carpet : Carpet madce of super-resilient fibers (example: olefin or polyester) and are able to withstand outdoor use such as on patios or around pool surfaces.
Laminate Flooring : Sold as planks and panels in which the paper layer depicts natural flooring such as wood or stone but made from dense fiberboard core with a paper pattern layer sealed under high pressure with a plastic-like substance.
Level Loop : A carpet construction in which the yarn on the face of the carpet forms a loop with both ends anchored into the carpet back. The pile loops arfe substantially the same height and uncut, making a smooth, level surface.
Linoleum: Linoleum was replaced with vinyl flooring and has passed into history, but was the first resilient floor made. It consisted of linseed oil, gums, cor, or wood dust and pigments. Widely used in the 1950's and greated admired for a variety of patterns and colors. It is no longer available in the U.S.
Loop Pile : Also called "round wire" in woven carpet terminology - and is a carpet style having a pile surface consisting of uncut loops that may be woven or tufted.
Luster : Brightness or sheen of fibers, yarns, carpet or fabrics.
Pile: Somjetimes called the "face" or "nap" - it is the visible surface of carpet consisting of yarn tufts in loop and/or cut configuration.
Plush : This finish is normally achieved only on cut-pile carpet produced from non-heat-set singles spun yarns by brushing and shearing. It is sometimes called "velvet-plush" and is the luxuriously smooth-textured carpet surface in which individual tufts are only minimally visible and the overall visual effect is that of a single level of yarn ends.
Remnant : A small piece of carpet left over from the end of a roll of carpet.
Resilience : This is the ability of a carpet pile or cushion to recover original appearance and thickness after being subjected to compressive forces or crushing under regular foot traffic.
Saxony: A cut-pile carpet texture with twisted yarns in a relatively dense, erect configuration. The effect is well-defined tuft tips.
Sculptured Carpet : This is any style carpet pattern that's formed from high and low pile areas, such as high-low loop or cut-and-loop.
Seams: In carpet installation, seams are the lines formed by joining the edges of two pieces of carpet by gthe use of various seaming techniques - tapes, hand sewing or others.
Seam Sealing : Procedure of coating the trimmed edges of two carpet breadths to be joined with a continuous bead of adhesive in order to prevent fraying and raveling at the seam.
Shading : Shading is not a change in color or hue, but a difference in light reflection due to a change in the appearance of a carpet because of localized distortions in the orientation of the fibers, tufts or loops.
Sisal: Wool and synthetic alternatives are now almost worry-free and offer a variety of interesting textures, patterns and prints. Originally sisal was made of vegetable fibers. The carpet industry however, has recently captured the look of natural sisal and jute with the gentler, more comfortable synthetic alternatives.
Slate: Naturally laminated stone pieces or tiles that are set in mortar or cement that can result in a interesting natural looking pattern.
Soil Retardant : A chemical finish process that is applied to fibers or a carpet surface and inhibits the attachment of soil.
Sprouting : May be clipped with scissors and are protrusion or individual tuft or yarn ends about the pile surface.
Staple : Short lengths of fiber that may be converted into spun yarns by spinning processes. Spun yarns are also called "saple" yarns. Staple fiber may also be converted directly into non-woven fabrics such as needle punches carpet. For carpet yarns spun on the common, modified worsted systems, most staple is six to eight inches long.
Strip Flooring : The most popular wood flooring, it is made of long, narrow (about 3" wide) tongue and groove boards that are end-matches. Strip flooring wider than 3" is referred to as plank flooring.
Tackless Strip : Wood or metal strips fastened to the floor near the walls of a room containing either two or three rows of pins angled toward the walls on which the carpet backing is stretched and secured ina atretch-in installation.
Terrazzo: The process where a multicolored stone floor is made of small pieces of stone embedded in cement. When completed, the floor is then polished to a high shine.
Tuft bind : Force required to pull a tuft from the carpet.
Tufted : A pile surface of cut and/or loop ends created in the manufacturing process by the insertion of tufts of yarn through a carpet-backing fabric.
Twist : The tighter the twist the better the durability which is accomplished by winding of the yarn around itself. The finished product should be neat and well-defined.
Woven: This is a carpet made on a weaving loom whereby the lengthwise yarns and widthwise yarns are interlaced to form the fabric; including the face and the backing.
Yarn Ply : The number of single yarns twisted together to forma piled yarn.