Carpet and High Traffic Areas

Carpet for high traffic areas in your home needs to look good and last a long time. These are some tips for choosing the best carpet for high traffic areas. Purchasing carpet is expensive and complicated. The Carpet and Rug Institute makes choosing carpet for high traffic areas a little bit simpler by developing performance rating guidelines that you can find on the label of many home carpet brands. They use a scale of 1 to 5 to represent a carpet's ability to withstand wear. A rating of 4.0 or higher indicates excellent durability suitable for heavy traffic areas such as family rooms, playrooms, hallways and stairways. Not all brands participate, but this is a helpful resource to consider. For more information about choosing the right carpet, visit their website (carpet-rug.org).

Home Depot also offers performance appearance ratings (PAR) for carpet wear. They recommend a PAR of 4 to 5 for carpet for high traffic areas.

Carpet for High Traffic Areas: Shop by Features

Consumer Reports is another excellent resource for independent information on features to consider in choosing carpet for high traffic areas. Local carpet professionals and specialty stores like CarpetMax can also be helpful if you don't want to go it alone at a big box store. Overall, you need to consider fiber content, pile weight and style. Wool is extremely durable but expensive and requires high maintenance including mothproofing. Nylon and Olefin are popular choices for high traffic areas. Polyester is often less expensive but tends to pill and shed. For high traffic areas, you usually require high tuft density, highly twisted yarn and high density level loop or frieze styles.

Carpet for High Traffic Areas: Carpet Squares

Carpet square or carpet tiles are another popular option for high traffic areas. As the name suggests, they are sectionalized so you can replace soiled or worn areas without replacing the whole carpet. They're economical and durable. You can have them professionally installed or do it yourself.

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