Have you ever wondered what makes a carpet a Berber carpet? Traditionally, hand-woven wool carpets from North Africa were named "Berber" to represent the people who crafted them. The name stuck and while you can still find wool versions, today's manufactured versions are made of many different materials. With so many choices and variety with Berber carpet, here is everything you need to know about Berber carpet and why it's an excellent choice for your Edmonton home.
Berber Carpet Has Unique Characteristics
Berber carpet can be made from so many different types of materials that it can be difficult to understand exactly what this type of carpet is. While it used to be named for the people who made the hand-woven wool variety, it now refers to the characteristics of the carpet, or the style. Berber carpeting is manufactured using loops of the chosen material in a tightly-woven and upright position, creating a flat and firm surface. At one time these loops were uniform, but now you will find some have varying heights to texture and design interest.
What to Look For
More expensive Berber carpet is often 100% wool or nylon, with more affordable choices in blends or other synthetics. To get the biggest bang for your buck and to get the most out of Berber, look for loops that are very tightly woven, creating a dense fabric and be sure the pile height isn't too high. Whenever possible, look for higher stitch and gauge rates since that's a sign of a well-made carpet.
Today's Berber is Tough Stuff!
Berber carpet is an excellent choice for your Edmonton home because it's very durable and easy to take care of. With a low pile height and very dense structure, it stands up to high traffic better than other carpet. Regular vacuuming is all that's needed to keep it fresh and clean since dirt is less likely to become embedded deep into the carpet if you keep on top of it. If spills happen, you have to catch them quickly so they don't get beneath the surface, but other than that, Berber is quite resistant to staining.
The Drawbacks
Like anything else, there are a couple of drawbacks to Berber as your flooring choice. While it's easy to clean and difficult for dirt to become embedded, that also means you have to vacuum at least once a week to make sure dirt is caught before it works its way deep into your carpet. Since the loops are tightly woven to make a sturdy and durable surface, once dirt does get embedded it's very difficult to get out. The second issue is that things may become caught in the loops and cause pulls. Dragging heavy furniture across it may cause runs and cats may want to scratch on it, causing damage to the loops.
Berber carpet is an excellent choice for Edmonton homes because it is highly durable, handles heavy traffic well and is quite resistant to dirt and stains if properly maintained. Not to mention it comes is a variety of colors and even textures! Contact us today at Flooring Superstores Edmonton to find the perfect style of Berber carpet for your home.