Are Carpets Still Worth it in 2022? (This is the answer!)

Carpeting can give you the most comfortable stay in your home while adding a decorative element to your rooms, with unique textures and complementary colours. However, it may be tough for someone who doesn’t own carpet to decide if it is truly worth all the challenges that come with its maintenance. In this article, I’m going to explore the benefits and limitations of installing carpet in your house while looking at important characteristics of the flooring.

The Pros of installing a Carpet are: Protection and easy upkeep, adds style, it’s highly durable and sustainable, acts as insulation, provides comfort and a luxury feel, creates a healthy environment and makes your come safer. The cons are: Maintenance and Cleaning, High Costs, Allergies and Vocs, Accident-prone, Sensitivity, Lifespan and everchanging trends and styles.

By definition, carpet is a floor covering that comprises a heavy, dense pile of yarn and a thick and sturdy backing. This makes it the most popular floor covering installed in homes for a variety of reasons including protection, comfort and luxury. Initially made of wool, carpeting nowadays comes in a variety of materials including plant-based natural fibres and factory-made synthetics. Here’s a detailed guide that compares natural and synthetic carpet fibres to help you pick the best one for your home: click here–> 

Features of Carpet

Before diving into the pros and cons of carpet, we will get into its features, purpose, and uses in detail to actually understand the floor covering and why it is used by so many.

Protection

The most important characteristic of carpet is how well it can protect the flooring beneath. Whether it is expensive hardwood or beautiful marble tiles, if you live in a situation where there is a possibility of the flooring getting damaged in some way, there’s nothing that a carpet can’t protect the floor from. However, maintenance of the carpet itself can sometimes get difficult depending on the material and how your home is kept.

Sustainability

If the carpet is made with a natural, long-lasting material like wool, it uses very little or no chemical additives and it is highly sustainable. When the material is sourced ethically, it is even better for the environment. This is also true in the case of other long-lasting recyclable materials as the need for raw materials every time a carpet is manufactured is reduced greatly. With the growth in recycling technology, old carpet can be remade into new with low use of resources.

Find out which is the most durable carpet fibre here

Decoration

Even if you install carpet purely for its functional advantages, it will add accent to your space with its colour, textures, and patterns. Carpeting has the ability to enhance the visual decor of any room by tying it all together – the walls, furniture and other objects. Good carpeting can convey the message you want it to to your visitors while providing you with warmth and comfort. There are tons of carpet styles in the market that you can choose from.

Insulation

Another important feature of carpeting is how easily it can increase the indoor temperature of a home. This can be extremely beneficial for people living in really cold regions, especially when the floors get so cold that you don’t feel like waking up in the mornings. Carpeting saves energy used on indoor insulation while also providing you with a soft and plush surface to walk and lounge on. In the same way, thick carpeting can also warm up indoor spaces in warm regions.

Acoustics

Carpeting has the ability to absorb noise and make your living spaces more pleasant and less clamorous, especially with good-quality carpet padding. In today’s age of booming televisions and constant phone notifications, we hardly get moments of silence to help us rest and work in complete calmness. Carpet plays the role of an effective sound-barrier while also providing you with comfy cushioning.

Feel

A very significant feature of carpeting is how it can provide you with a soft and velvety feel under your feet when you’re walking on it. The most expensive hardwood flooring or tiles can not generate the kind of pleasure that a carpet’s fuzzy surface can. Carpet is easier on the feet if you’re walking or underneath you if you’re sitting on the floor. Good carpeting can make walking gentle and comfortable.

Safety

Carpet can greatly soften and lower the impact of a fall. It prevents accidents that occur on hard and slippery surfaces like flooring and tiles. The surface also traps mold-causing dust mites, dirt, and other harmful allergens. However, this could be harmful if regular cleaning is not done.

Pros of Installing Carpet

Now that we have examined the characteristics of carpeting, it is time to get into the advantages of installing carpet in your home.

1. Protection and easy upkeep

As explained above, carpeting offers the best protection for your floors. This can be greatly beneficial for those of you who are homeowners and even for those who are tenants renting out a home. Protecting your floor with carpeting can prevent it from getting seriously damaged and as a result, save a lot of money. Carpeting also aids in easy maintenance of flooring as you only have to worry about regularly keeping your carpet clean, not the covered surface underneath.

2. Adds style to your home

Carpeting can be added to your indoor spaces to accentuate the rest of your furniture while adding fresh textures and vibrant colours. It can help connect all the elements that make up the personality of your home while representing your one-of-a-kind style. Made in a myriad of colours, materials, and styles, carpet is a very important component of home decor that you can use in your own personalized style to enhance the appearance of your home.

3. Highly durable and sustainable

A notable advantage of carpet is how durable it can be when constructed with tough, resistant materials like wool and nylon. It is even more sustainable and environment-friendly when made with low-chemical processes and recycled material. Carpet is also comparatively less expensive than hardwoods and tiles, making it a cost-effective and longer-lasting floor covering.

4. Acts as insulation

The dense surface of a carpet makes it a very good insulator of heat and noise. Soft surfaces like carpet absorb sound and stop it from travelling too far in the room. Carpet fibres can also trap heat from its surroundings, improving the general indoor temperature and helping you keep your rooms warm in the harsh winters. You’ll be saving electricity and money used on radiators and heaters and your environment will be quieter and more tranquil.

5. Provides comfort and luxury

One of the most common reasons for why people get carpeting installed in their homes is the level of comfort and luxury it provides while making day-to-day activities like standing and walking easier and less painful. Among the different carpet styles available in the market, there are cut-piles like Saxony that offer homeowners a plush, rich appearance while not being very suitable for high traffic. There are other styles like Berber that offer both comfort and durability.

6. Creates a healthy indoor environment

When you spend so much time inside your house, it is important that your carpeting contributes to your home’s indoor climate. Luckily for us, natural materials like wool and sisal are processed with little or no chemicals, making natural-fibre carpets contributors to a healthy indoor environment. Carpets, including those made of synthetic materials, can trap dust particles and other allergens that are harmful and cause health problems in the inhabitants of a home. Carpets also have a cushiony effect on our feet which is necessary to prevent back problems.

7. Makes your home safer

Another great advantage of installing carpeting is how it increases the safety of the people living in a home. In a house with small children who run around a lot, there is a high risk of trips and falls which can be softened to a great extent with the addition of carpeting. Slippery, hard surfaces like tiles can be covered with carpet that mak[roes it safer for people to walk on.

Cons of Installing Carpet

Despite being a very effective floor covering with all the above-mentioned advantages, carpet can pose problems to homeowners.

1. Maintenance and cleaning

The most bothersome feature of carpet is how it sometimes is difficult to take care of and clean. Durable materials like wool are not easy to maintain because of their light-coloured fibres and ability to absorb a lot of moisture. However, with the discoveries of modern technology, a lot of easy-to-clean synthetic materials have entered the industry that are worthy alternatives for hard-to-maintain natural fibres. Nylon and Polypropylene are great examples of this.

This is why carpet cleaning should be done regularly along with professional deep cleaning every once in a while.

Find the best carpet cleaners in your area using this

2. High costs

Installing carpet for your entire home can be an expensive project. Even though it is a long-term investment that will last for at least a decade or for as long as you live in the same house, shelling out a huge amount of money for carpeting, especially if it is a natural, durable material, can be costly. This is why you need to save up and research well before picking the best carpet for your home.

If you have always wondered why carpet is so expensive, here’s your answer

3. Allergies and VOCs

Carpets, unlike tiles, can be the source of allergies for sensitive individuals if they haven’t been cleaned out well. Dust mites and other allergens get deeply embedded in carpet fibres and remain there if regular vacuuming is not done. This can be harmful to sensitive people with allergies and respiratory issues. Another commonly-mentioned limitation of carpeting is how awful it smells in the first few weeks of installation.

4. Accident-prone

Although I have mentioned how carpets reduce the impact of falls and tripping accidents, they can also cause accidents in some cases. Long-haired carpets like shags and cable carpets can create an obstacle for wheelchair users. The long, uncut fibres can get twisted in the wheel and cause an unfortunate accident. Long-haired carpets can also be unsuitable for homes with young children and/or pets. This is why you need to carefully pick the perfect carpet based on the material, construction, and pile height.

5. Sensitive

Some materials used in the production of carpeting are very sensitive to liquids and dirt, unlike hardwood flooring. These materials may be highly-durable but not very resistant to substances that exist in every household. Wool carpets stain easily. Polypropylene absorbs oil and takes time to completely get rid of it. Nylon is comparatively a better option for liquid-resistance. Carpets also capture unpleasant smells like pet odors, smoke, dirt, etc. and it is quite a task to remove these smells from its fibres.

6. Lifespan

Most carpet materials are highly durable and resistant to wear-and-tear. However, compared to other floorings, synthetic carpets wear out sooner and they may not last as long as hardwood floor panels. Carpets begin to show depreciation in a few months of installation in case of regular use in high-traffic.

The disadvantage of having to remove and replace the entire carpeting in case of damage is always there. However, it isn’t impossible to patch your carpet up, even if your dog chewed up part of it. Find out more here

7. Everchanging Trends and Styles

Another limitation of carpet is how it comes in styles that are “in” at the time you purchase and install it. This style may go out of trend anytime but you will be left with it for another few years, at least. It is not a very huge disadvantage but the long-term investment can be quite difficult to get rid of when you want something new because of its high price and the difficulties in installing a new carpet again. Rugs are a more suitable option if you’re the kind of person who likes to switch things up every now and then!

Is carpet the right option for you?

Despite the limitations of carpeting, it is still the most comfortable and durable flooring option for people who want both features at an affordable cost. It is also long-lasting and does not need to be replaced very often. Carpet can last long and if you follow the essential usage and upkeep tips while regularly cleaning your carpet and your home.

Try your best to prevent spills and staining and ventilate your room well to make sure the carpet remains clean and smells fresh. Train your pets well and don’t wear outdoor shoes on the carpet. Keep indoor humidity at optimum levels with the help of a dehumidifier and fans to prevent mold growth. If you think you can handle all of this, carpet maintenance is easy and yes, carpet is the right option for you.

Conclusion

Now that you have an accurate understanding of the floor coverings important characteristics, benefits and limitations of its installation, you should be able to decide whether you want to go for it. Use the Carpet Buying Guide to help you through the process of picking the perfect one for your home to elevate its appearance and overall comfort.

Discover the best option for you based on visual elements like colour, texture and patterns to make sure everything is in harmony. Decide on the best material and construction method that is well-suited for your requirements. Confirm the dimensions depending on how many rooms you want to install carpet in and its placement.

And if you ended up deciding that you don’t want to install carpet, look at other options like rugs that are more compact and less expensive. Here’s a comprehensive guide into the world of rugs.