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Buying Carpet Tips - What You Should Know Before You Buy a Handmade Wool / Silk Carpet

You’ve decided on buying new carpet (s), but you want to shop smartly. You already know what carpets are & how they are made and the difference between wide range of carpets, but what else is there to know before you buy? Lots.

Here are some buying tips to give you the upper hand on what will soon be under your feet!

Carpet Seams Unless your room is narrower than 15 feet, you’re going to have seams. Most carpet comes in widths of 12 feet and 15 feet — and on occasion, 13 feet. The degree of visibility of your seams depends on the texture and colour you choose, as well as the lighting and furniture placement in your room.

Bending When you carpet your stairs, its backing may show on the bends. And if it’s a looped carpet, it can snag — especially at the seams or transitions. Check our Carpet Care section for information on how to properly care for looped carpet.

Nap (Pile Shading) A carpet’s nap run only in one direction, making pile reversal or the shading you see from a vacuum trail, completely normal for most cut pile styles. If you’re not a fan of this, window treatments and furniture placement can minimize the effect.

Quality Let’s face it. You get what you pay for. If you want your carpet to have a great pile density and tighter twist construction [which leads to improved durability], then you’re going to go with a higher quality {and more expensive} product. New carpet adds value to any home, so it’s an investment worth making.

Color Carpet covers a large part of any room, so it’s vital that you consider some basic rules when selecting its color. First off all know that once your carpet is installed, it’s going to look lighter in colour than the sample you saw in the retailer store. Don’t ask why, that’s just the way it is — kinda like losing a sock in the dryer.

Next, recognize that colour can affect the apparent size of a room. Call it a visual illusion or a trick of the light, but lighter carpet makes a room look larger and darker colours make a room look smaller and more intimate. If you like to redecorate often or plan to move soon, go neutral. It’s much easier to imagine furniture in a room that is decorated with neutral colors.

Stains It’s going to happen, no matter how long you hold out from sipping hot, cold & soft drinks or munching on chips and salsa in your freshly carpeted rooms. Stain protection is an important consideration when buying carpets. Products come with various levels of protection and warranties. As the quality of a carpet increases, so does its stain protection level and warranty coverage.

Padding / Cushion Padding or cushion is the layer of spongy material between carpet and floor, if you would like to put beneath the carpets. It’s the padding — not the carpet — that determines whether the carpet feels good or great under your feet.

Quality padding can help preserve a carpet’s look and can extend its life and comfort by providing tougher protection against wear and tear.

Padding / foam is being sold using quality specifications, not color specifications. The colour of the sample you see in the store may not be the same colour as what’s installed in your home. But as long as it feels good, who cares?!

Warranty It’s a good idea to read the product specs and warranty coverage on the back labels of your carpet or from the sellers, prior to purchasing. Doing so will give you the information you need to protect your investment — and eliminate any surprises down the road.

Cost “Cost per square foot” is just one component of the overall price tag for new carpets. Ask your retailer to calculate the total cost of your floor covering project.

Carpet Cost Calculator

Most carpet and flooring today is sold by the square foot. In order to calculate the amount of carpet you need for a room you first need to calculate the total square feet of the area you want to cover. We also recommend you add about 10% extra to your square footage to make sure you have enough material and don't run short while installing the carpeting.

Our carpet calculator below is very basic to give you are rough idea of the total square feet needed of carpeting and estimated cost for material only. We do not take into account pattern repeats or special widths, such as carpet which is only sold in 12 foot widths, or wider. But this will give you some idea of the costs and material needed for your flooring project.