Rugs: A Choice for Every Application
An Expert Guide to Rug Construction and Fibers…
Area Rug Construction Methods
There are a variety of construction methods for area rugs. Each method of construction has its own benefit, look and price point. Depending on the application, we can offer a range of choices to our customers.
Important note:
Regardless of the construction method, a natural characteristic of WOOL rugs is some shedding for the first few months. Shedding is not a defect and will decline after a few months of vacuuming. Higher quality wools such as New Zealand wool found in the Nourisan rugs have minimal shedding, but also command a higher price.
Hand Tufted Rugs
Hand tufted rugs are made by hand when using an electric tufting gun to form a pattern. These rugs can be made with many types of fibers including wool, silk, synthetic or a combination. To construct area rugs that are hand tufted rugs, pile yarns are pushed through a special backing. A stencil is drawn on the canvas so both design and colors can be meticulously placed. The rugs are then finished in a traditional manner creating beautiful hand made area rugs. Hand tufted rugs offer an incredible value due to the price points generally ranging in the middle, above machine made and less expensive than hand knotted rugs.
Machine Made Area Rugs
Machine Made rugs are produced on a variety of machines including power looms, Wilton looms, Axminster looms and others. Rugs are crafted on these automated looms for specific yarn placement and weaving. A computer controls the colors woven into these area rugs thus producing the final design. Area rugs made by machine can often times be less expensive than rugs made by hand, but this is not always the case. There are thousands of beautiful machine made rugs, both wool and synthetic, to best compliment your home.
Hand Knotted Rugs
Hand knotted rugs refers to rugs woven by hand from various origins of the world such as Tibet, India, China, Etc. The fringe of these area rugs is attached to a loom which runs the length and the width of the rugs being woven. This fringe forms the backbone of these area rugs. Hundreds of thousands of “knots” are then tied by hand thus creating the area rugs design. There is no finer construction than a wool rug which is a hand knotted area rug. The precision and clarity of design creates the most beautiful rugs in the world. Hand knotted rug are often referred to as “heirloom qualities”.
Flat Weave Rugs
Similar to hand knotted rugs, flat weave rugs are woven on a foundation made up of cotton warps (rope) strung on a frame called a loom. Instead of looping wool around the warps and creating a thick wool pile, the yarns are threaded back and forth covering all the cotton thread like a blanket or tapestry. This weaving process creates a very flat pile. Because of the manufacturing method, flat weave rugs are usually produced more quickly than hand knotted rugs. The beauty of these area rugs is revealed by the fact that they do not display the thick pile found in hand knotted rugs. Instead, these area rugs show a flat textural look. Flat weave rugs are available in many styles and designs. They are beautiful and frequently used in many applications by home decorators and interior designers alike. The unique style of these rugs makes them highly desirable. Price points range from low to high end, depending upon how densely they are woven and the materials used.
Hand-hooked Rugs
A Hand-hooked rug is made exactly the same way as a hand-tufted rug, except that the hand-hooked rug usually has a short, looped pile instead of a thick, cut pile. Also, the backing of area rugs which are hand-hooked rugs are often a light-weight mesh instead of a heavy canvas backing. Designs range from area rugs which are decribed as country french rugs to traditional rugs. With a moderate price-point, these rugs are both beautiful and offer a great deal of design. Traditional Rugs which are hand hooked add both beauty and fashion to all home dècor
Sisal Area Rugs
The textural look of sisal and jute area rugs is a favorite of interior designers. Sisal is a natural fiber derived from the “Agave Sisalana” cactus plant that grows in the semi arid regions of Brazil and Africa. Area rugs made from sisal come in a wide variety of patterns, styles and colors. These rugs can be made with optional area rug borders including tapestries, jute, cotton, wool and many others. Rugs are also available in sisal wool. This combines the softness of wool with the rougher textural elements prevalent in sisal rugs. Area rugs made of sisal or jute have excellent durability and are easy to clean.
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Hardwood Flooring. Solid or Engineered?
An Expert Guide to Hardwood Flooring Construction and Selection…
Construction
Hardwood floors come in two types: solid and engineered. While you may not think it’s a good idea to improve on nature, you should take both flooring types into consideration based on where the floor will be installed, and how you’ll use it.
Solid Hardwood
Solid hardwood flooring is just that – a plank of solid wood, usually 3/4″ thick, that comes in a variety of widths and lengths. Each plank is milled with a tongue-and-groove construction that interlocks together and is nailed onto a subflooring layer to create a permanent, stable surface. With changes in temperature and humidity, solid wood floors expand and contract, making them subject to buckling or gapping between the planks. So it’s best to use solid wood in above-ground applications, but never in basements, over concrete, or in high-humidity locations.
Unlike engineered hardwood, solid woods use substantially more of the premium wood of the tree by its very nature as a solid, typically making solid hardwoods more expensive per square foot than their engineered wood counterparts.
More to consider . . .
Buyer beware . . . what looks like a bargain may not be! Some lesser quality solid hardwood is not milled uniformly, resulting in a floor with gaps between planks that aren’t squared “ or even planks of different heights. And that may be more than you bargained for!
Engineered Hardwood
Like solid hardwood flooring, engineered hardwood is also real wood. However, engineered hardwood is a constructed wood product made of multiple layers of wood that are fused together at 90-degree angles, in cross-ply fashion, to create a stronger, more stable hardwood product than solid hardwood. As such, engineered hardwood is not as subject to the buckling and gaps brought about by temperature and humidity fluctuations and can be used in both above-ground applications and in basements or over concrete. And, because engineered hardwood creates a “sandwich” of several different wood layers with the more expensive, premium wood used as the surface layer, engineered hardwood is almost always less expensive per square foot than equivalent solid hardwoods.
Wear Layer
Most engineered hardwood floors are installed by nailing or gluing; others are designed to interlock together as a “floating” floor.
Basic engineered hardwood consists of three layers, or plies:
- A face layer (or wear layer) that creates the surface look of the floor
- A core constructed of an inexpensive yet very strong hardwood
- A backing that’s also constructed of less expensive hardwood
Plies can range anywhere from three to ten layers, with each successive layer adding to the product’s stability and quality. And, an engineered hardwood floor is less expensive than a solid wood floor of the same species, because the more expensive hardwood species is used only for the face layer.
More to consider . . .
The more plies, or layers, in an engineered hardwood product, the better the quality and strength of the floor.
Products with interior layers made of North American hardwood are superior to those containing woods from other continents, because the slower growing season produces stronger woods with tighter grains.
Engineered hardwood flooring is particularly desirable for exotic woods, which are usually softer and more subject to bowing “ and more expensive.
Engineered hardwood flooring makes better use of the entire tree by minimizing waste, making it a more “green-friendly” product.
Find your floor’s hardness.
Below are listed the relative hardness for numerous wood species used in flooring. These ratings were done using the Janka Hardness Test, which measure the force needed to embed a .444 inch steel ball to half its diameter in a piece of wood.
The higher the number the harder the wood. Although this is one of the best methods to measure the ability of wood species to withstand indentations, it should be used as a general guide when comparing various species of wood flooring. As a natural product, all wood floors will dent and scratch. It is up to the care and maintenance of the owner to minimize the inevitable impact of regular use on your hardwood floor through proper care and cleaning. Care for your floor, but above all, relax and enjoy the warmth and beauty of your new hardwood floor!
The construction and finish also play an important role in the durability and ease of maintenance of any wood floor.
| Wood Species | Hardness Rating |
|---|---|
| Douglas Fir | 660 |
| Southern Yellow Pine (short leaf) | 690 |
| Southern Yellow Pine (Long leaf) | 870 |
| Black Cherry | 950 |
| Teak | 1000 |
| Black Walnut | 1010 |
| Heart Pine | 1225 |
| Yellow Birch | 1260 |
| Red Oak (Northern) | 1290 |
| American Beech | 1300 |
| Ash | 1320 |
| White Oak | 1360 |
| Australian Cypress | 1375 |
| Hard Maple | 1450 |
| Wenge | 1620 |
| African Pedauk | 1725 |
| Hickory | 1820 |
| Pecan | 1820 |
| Purpleheart | 1860 |
| Jarrah | 1910 |
| Merbau | 1925 |
| Santos Mahogany | 2200 |
| Mesquite | 2345 |
| Brazilian Cherry | 2350 |
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How Do I Select the Perfect Carpet Type?
An Expert Guide to Carpet Selection…
Fiber Type
In a nutshell, fiber type accounts for about 75% of the price of carpet. The type of fiber used and the process used to make it into yarn affect both the price and performance characteristics of the finished carpet.
There are two methods for making the yarn — staple and bulk continuous filament (BCF). The staple process twists short strands together into a tuft; BCF uses one long continuous strand, and the resulting carpet resists pilling better.
Wool is the premier natural fiber. As such, it’s also the most expensive. Its advantages are that it resists soil; it’s easy to clean, because dirt stays near the surface instead of being ground in; and it maintains dimensional stability. But wool has only moderate resistance to stains.
Nylon is the most expensive choice among synthetic fibers although recent technology gains have seen this durable fiber become more price competitive on the whole. It’s softer than other synthetics; it’s resilient; it stands up well to traffic, allowing it to retain its original appearance longer; it’s more resistant to fading; and it can be solution-dyed “ where color is added before the fiber is made into a yarn — making it more resistant to dirt and stains, because the color is in the fiber, not on its surface. Nylon fibers that are not solution-dyed must be treated topically to make them stain-resistant. As a result of this process, solution-dyed yarns can’t take bright colors, so solution-dyed nylons are more muted or neutral in color. Some manufacturers have produced branded nylons that are manufactured according to strict standards and offer consumers quality assurance. An example is DuPont’s STAINMASTER® Tactesse® Nylon.
Polypropylene, also known as Olefin, is a relatively inexpensive fiber with exceptional soil- and moisture-resistance. And, because it’s solution-dyed, carpets made with Olefin fiber are also colorfast and resist fading and staining. On the other hand, it’s not as resilient as other fibers and doesn’t hold up as well under heavy foot traffic. While it’s not appropriate for cut pile carpet, Olefin works well with loop carpets, which tend to have extra stability, and is an ideal choice for less expensive Berber carpet.
Polyester (PET) is the most widely used fiber in carpets for the home, and for good reason. Because it’s more resilient than Olefin and is not solution-dyed, polyester works well for cut pile construction and offers a wider color spectrum, including bright colors. It’s more affordable than nylon. And its chemical composition makes it inherently resistant to fading and staining. With polyester fiber, extremely high temperatures are required for the yarn to accept dye, and once these dye sites are closed, the carpet blocks stains from entering the fiber.
PTT is a variation of polyester. It’s more resilient, crush-resistant and easier to clean. It’s also stain- and mold-resistant.
Yarn Construction
Along with fiber type, yarn construction affects a carpet’s durability.
Twist — In constructing the fiber, the yarns are twisted together, then heat-set to retain that shape. Twist simply refers to the number of times per inch the yarns are twisted together — typically from four to six times — where the tighter the twist, the better the performance of the carpet in resisting matting and traffic marks. Sometimes less expensive Olefin carpets use “air entanglement” rather than twisting. In this case, air blasts fibers together instead of physically twisting them; this method is suitable for Berber carpet, due to that style’s density, but will not hold up in cut pile carpets.
Pile Height — A measurement of the height of the yarn, from the backing. The taller the pile, the plusher the carpet.
Face Weight — A measurement of the ounces of fiber per square yard. Face weight affects the cost and feel of the carpet.
Density — Refers to how closely the tufts are spaced. Obviously, the higher the density, the better the carpet will perform. Keep in mind that carpets with high pile and low density will probably crush and mat easily.
Carpet Backing
Most standard carpet backing is woven polypropylene with a latex binder. The more premium the backing material, the better it holds up. Cheaper backing can become brittle and crack, so the carpet will wrinkle and bunch up. Premium backing makes the carpet easier to clean, too, because it slows spills from penetrating to the pad.
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