Common Carpet Terms

18 Apr Common Carpet Terms

Sometimes carpet installers or cleaners will speak in “carpet lingo” leaving the homeowner a little lost in the process – here are a few common carpet terms. Familiarizing yourself with these these terms will help you communicate more effectively with your carpet retailer and installer, and it will help you make the most informed carpet decisions possible.

Carpets, Fibers and More

Here are some common carpet terms that you may hear when purchasing, installing or having your carpet serviced:

• Antimicrobial — A chemical treatment added to carpet to reduce the growth of common bacteria, fungi, yeast, mold and mildew.
• Attached Cushion — A cushioning material, such as foam, rubber, urethane, PVC, etc., adhered to the back side of a carpet to provide additional dimensional stability, thickness and padding.
• Average Pile Yarn Weight —Mass per unit area of the pile yarn including buried portions of the pile yarn. In the United States, it is usually expressed as ounces per square yard.
• Berber — A loop-pile carpet style tufted with thick yarn, such as wool, nylon or olefin. Often having random specks of color in contrast to a base hue, this carpet style has a full, comfortable feel, while maintaining an informal, casual look. Currently, this term has expanded to describe many level or multilevel loop carpet styles.
• Binding — A band or strip sewn over a carpet edge to protect, strengthen or decorate the edge.
• Broadloom — A term used to denote carpet produced in widths wider than 6 feet. Broadloom is usually 12 feet wide, but may also be 13 feet 6 inches and 15 feet wide.
• Cushion — Any kind of material placed under carpet to provide softness and adequate support when it is walked upon. Carpet cushion provides a softer feel underfoot and provides added acoustical and insulation benefits and longer wear life for the carpet. In some cases, the carpet cushion is attached to the carpet when it is manufactured. Also referred to as “padding” or “underlay,” although “cushion” is the preferred term. Cushion under most residential carpet should be a thickness of no greater than 7/16″ and no less than 1/4″ with 6 pound per cubic feet density. If the carpet is a Berber or a low profile carpet, choose a cushion of no more than 3/8″ thickness with 8 pounds of density.
• Delamination — Separation of the secondary backing or attached cushion from the primary backing of the carpet.
• Density — Refers to the amount of pile yarn in the carpet and the closeness of the tufts. In general, the denser the pile, the better the performance.
• Dimensional Stability — The ability of the carpet to retain its original size and shape, e.g. a secondary backing adds dimensional stability to carpet.
• Direct Glue-Down — An installation method whereby the carpet is adhered to the floor.
• Double Glue-Down — An installation method whereby the carpet cushion is first adhered to the floor with an adhesive, and the carpet is then glued to the cushion.
• Finished Yarn Weight —Yarn weight in ounces/square yard of a finished (after manufacturing process) carpet. The finished yarn weight is determined by removing all yarn from the finished carpet and dissolving any foreign non-yarn materials.
• Fluffing — Appearance on carpet surface of loose fiber fragments left during manufacture; not a defect, but a characteristic that disappears after carpet use and vacuuming. Sometimes called “fuzzing” or “shedding.”
• Frieze — Pronounced “free-zay,” this tightly twisted yarn 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.
• Gauge — The distance between two needle points expressed in fractions of an inch. Applies to both knitting and tufting.
• Hand — The tactile aesthetic qualities of carpet and textiles, how it feels to the hand.
• Heat Setting— The process that sets the twist by heat or steam, enabling yarns to hold their twist over time. Important in cut pile carpet. Most nylon, olefin and polyester cut-pile carpet are heat-set.
• Level Loop — The pile loops are of substantially the same height and uncut, making a smooth, level surface.
• Loop Pile — Carpet style having a pile surface consisting of uncut loops. May be woven or tufted. Also called “round wire” in woven carpet terminology.
• Miter Joint — A junction of two pieces of carpet (or other material) at an angle. Most miter joints involve pieces at right angles to one another with their ends cut at 45 degrees to form the joint.
• Pile — The visible surface of carpet consisting of yarn tufts in loop and/or cut configuration. Sometimes called “face” or “nap”.
• Pile Crush — Loss of pile thickness due to compression and bending of tufts caused by traffic and heavy furniture. The tufts collapse into the air space between them. This may be irreversible if the yarn has inadequate resilience or the pile has insufficient density for the traffic load. Frequent vacuuming will lift the pile for longer carpet life.
• Pilling — A condition of the carpet face (which may occur from heavy traffic) in which fibers from different tufts become entangled with one another, forming tangled masses of fibers. Pills may be cut off with scissors.
• Ply — 1. A single-end component in a plied yarn. 2. The number that tells how many single ends have been ply-twisted together to form a plied yarn, e.g., two-ply or three-ply.
• Power Stretcher — A carpet installation tool used to stretch carpet for installation with a tackless strip. According to industry standards, residential carpet, installed over A cushion with a tackless strip, must be power-stretched to prevent wrinkles and ripples.
• Saxony — A cut-pile carpet texture with twisted yarns in a relatively dense, erect configuration. The effect is well-defined tuft tips.
• Seam Sealing — A procedure in which a continuous bead of adhesive is applied to the trimmed edges of carpet to be joined at a seam. Seam sealing prevents fraying and unraveling at the seam.
• Serging — A method of finishing edges of area rugs by use of heavy, colored yarn sewn around the edges in a close, overcast stitch.
• Shading — A change in the appearance of a carpet due to localized distortions in the orientation of the fibers, tufts or loops. Shading is not a change in color or hue, but a difference in light reflection.
• Sisal — A natural plant fiber used in mimicking the woven look of rugs. The pattern has the appearance of interwoven webs but is created on a tufting machine by continually adjusting the height of each pile yarn.
• Soil Retardant — A chemical finish applied to fibers or carpet surfaces that inhibit the attachment of soil.
• Sprouting — Protrusion of individual tuft or yarn ends above the pile surface. May be clipped with scissors.
• Underlay — Carpet cushion under rugs.
• Woven — Carpet produced on a weaving loom in which 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 form a plied yarn.

Now that you know the lingo, give us a shout and let us talk carpets with you! Carpet Keepers offers full service carpet cleaning services in the Loudoun County area. We also offer emergency water damage restoration via our 24/7 emergency line at (703) 737-3117.