 Choosing a Dunlop foam carpet underlay will help extend the life of your carpet. The underlay actually absorbs impact, which makes your carpet more comfortable and helps keep it looking new. When choosing carpet, the last thing on anyone’s mind is what should go underneath it however this is one of the most important decisions you can make. New carpet is a significant investment so it’s vital you choose a quality carpet underlay to support it and deliver the comfort you want, and we at The Floor Store only want the best for our clients.
A Dunlop underlay also helps reduce our impact on the environment because it’s 100% recyclable and Green Label accredited. In addition, it protects against allergies and asthma attacks thanks to the addition of an antimicrobial that reduces mould, mildew, and bacteria. Furthermore, a Dunlop underlay can save you money by reducing heating bills thanks to its outstanding thermal insulation properties. It reduces noise transfer too and improves acoustics between floors, which makes choosing Dunlop & The Floor Store a sound investment. And because a Dunlop underlay is Australian made, you can be confident you’ve chosen a quality product. In fact, Dunlop guarantees it for the life of your carpet. A Healthier Home. Dunlop Carpet Cushion is accredited by the Carpet and Rug Institute’s Green label program , a program that identifies products that are low VOC’s which help promote superior indoor air quality. Breathe Easy. Dunlop Health Plus promotes healthier living and a healthier home for our customers. Selected Dunlop underlays are carefully treated with a proven antimicrobial, which protects against dust mites, damaging bacteria, mould and mildew – significant triggers for asthma, hay fever and eczema. It also prevents odours’ and provides hygienic freshness. Lightening our Footprint. Dunlop Floorings & The Floor Store are committed to reducing our impact on the environment by helping to reduce landfill. Dunlop Carpet Cushion is manufactured from 90% recycled materials and is 100% recyclable. In addition, we run our own recycling program, Recycle by Dunlop, encouraging installers to return their used underlay to us. Choose Australian Made. Dunlop carpet underlay is proudly Australian Made so you can take comfort knowing that you’ve chosen a quality product. The Dunlop Guarantee. By combining your flooring with a Dunlop underlay, you can be confident that it will keep performing for many years to. All of the products are backed by the Dunlop Guarantee which is their promise that your new carpet will be supported for its lifetime. Quality Assured. There’s no better name to entrust your dream to than Dunlop Flooring & The Floor Store. Dunlop underlays have been specifically designed to be better for longer, and meets the AS4288 standard for soft underlays. Building a Sustainable Future. Dunlop Carpet Cushion meets the requirements set by the Green Building Council of Australia’s Green Star Program, achieving maximum rating points for building interiors. Disclamier: This column is offered as advice only. All care has been taken to ensure that information is correct at time of publishing.
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 When it comes time to put your home on the market, make your property stand out by removing clutter, making necessary repairs, and cleaning your residence from top to bottom. One of the first things buyers may notice when entering a home is the condition of the carpeting, so make that a main focus of your cleaning efforts. A thorough shampooing, vacuuming and grooming will erase years of wear and tear and make your carpet look fluffy and new.
1 Remove the clutter from the carpeted rooms you'll be cleaning. Store the items in another part of the house or arrange to use a storage facility. You can temporarily move large furniture pieces, like a bed or a dresser, if you wish to clean under them. 2 Get on your hands and knees and examine your carpet closely. Crawl around the room, and cut any threads that are sticking up with a pair of sharp scissors. Do not pull up the thread when cutting it; lay the scissors perpendicular to the carpeting and cut to even the surface. 3 Spray hardened stains with a stain remover formulated for carpeting, we have a great selection here at The Floor Store. Leave the cleaning agent in place for the amount of time specified on the instructions. Blot with a rag to absorb the cleaner and the stain. 4 Place an ice cube onto dented areas of the carpet that were underneath furniture. Allow the ice cube to melt completely, unless of course you have a SmartStrand product and the pile should just brush back up. 5 Blot the wet area gently with a paper towel until no more moisture can be absorbed. Avoid pressing the towel into the carpeting, which will reinforce the dent. Run the edge of a spoon against the direction of the dented carpet to fluff it up. 6 Wet a hand towel and wring out the excess liquid. Lay the towel over the dented carpet. Heat an iron to the cotton setting, and gently iron the towel for one minute, concentrating on the area above the dent. Leave the towel in place until it dries. Remove the towel, and fluff the area with your hand. You can try this method as an alternative to using ice cubes. 7 Vacuum the carpeting to suck up all the dust and dirt using a “beater head” on your Vacuum, choosing a suitable vacuum is just another option available at The Floor Store. Pay attention to high-traffic areas, as well as corners and spaces where the carpet meets the wall. Use an attachment, if necessary, to get suction into spots the vacuum can't adequately cover. 8 Use a professional service to “Power Clean” your carpets, we don’t recommend hiring a machine, as they usually leave more liquid in your carpets, than they suck up and are not recommended by any carpet manufacturer we have spoken to. We recommend the professionals, either JAE or Chem-Dry. 9 Sprinkle an unscented or scented carpet deodorizer over the entire floor. Leave the powder on the carpet for the amount of time specified on the instructions. 10 Vacuum the carpeting one last time to suck up the deodorizing powder and any other cleaning residue and dirt. There you go 10 easy steps to freshen up the look of your carpet. Or the easiest “1 step” would be to invest in a new flooring option, in a modern colour to freshen and excite that new potential buyer. Give us a call at The Floor Store and we will happily discuss some investment options with you. Disclaimer: This column is offered as advice only. All care has been taken to ensure that information is correct at time of publishing. The type of Carpet Fibre you select will determine how long your new carpet lasts, how soft it feels, what colours are available, how easily it cleans and how much it costs. This is one of the most critical factors when choosing and comparing new carpet. You must compare apples to apples. For example, you cannot compare a NYLON carpet to a POLYESTER carpet, or a WOOL carpet to an OLEFIN carpet. This would be like comparing apples to oranges. You have to compare similar carpets and narrow it down to the one that best meets your needs and lifestyle as well as your budget.
Nylon Nylon is a generic name or designation for a family of synthetic polymers first produced in 1935 by the DuPont Company. As far as fibres go, Nylon is the most durable and the most resilient of all carpet fibres. A resilient fibre is defined as having the ability to return to its original form or position after being bent, compressed, or stretched. Nylon is the most resilient fibre used to make carpet. This is what keeps a nylon carpet looking like new longer than any other fibre. Nylon is one of the more expensive fibres second only to wool. I would consider choosing a Nylon carpet if you have a lot of traffic and longevity was my biggest concern. "Do the "softer" nylons hold up as well as the "regular" nylon fibres do?" This is an excellent question. From my experience, I have found that the "soft" nylon fibres are not quite as resilient as a standard denier nylon fibre. The higher the denier, the heavier the filament. The way they make a standard nylon fibre softer is to make the strand thinner. By doing so, I believe that some of the resiliency is lost. This thinner strand creates a carpet that is softer to the touch but may be more susceptible to matting and crushing. Don't take this the wrong way, I'm not steering you away from buying a soft nylon, but if you want to have the absolute most durable and most resilient nylon for the money, I suggest you buy a carpet made with a standard nylon denier fibre. What is fibre denier? Fibre denier is easiest understood if you have ever gone fishing and used a nylon filament fishing line. The thicker the line is, the stronger it is. When fishing for Trout most fishermen use a thin 6-pound test line. For bigger fish like Steelhead or Salmon, a thicker 10 or 12-pound nylon test line may be selected. Some carpet fibres are manufactured thinner to make a carpet that feels softer to the touch, but in doing so some of the strength, durability or resiliency may be sacrificed. Therefore I believe a carpet made with a standard Denier Nylon fibre will be more durable and more resilient than a carpet made with a thinner strand as used in today's branded "Soft Nylons SmartStrand Forever Clean If you want a carpet that is durable, soft and resist stains, SmartStrand Forever Clean may be the fibre you are looking for. SmartStrand Forever Clean has permanent stain resistance that is engineered into the fibre and will never wear or wash off. But remember, no carpet is completely stain proof. SmartStrand Forever Clean derives from Triexta or PTT and was developed by DuPont™. It is a polymer derived from corn. It is said to have the best anti-stain properties and cleans easier than any other fibre. They also say it is very durable. SmartStrand Forever Clean is clearly more durable than PET or Polyester, but is it as durable as Nylon? I do believe that SmartStrand Forever Clean resists stains and cleans easier than Nylon, but the durability and resiliency of Nylon is hard to beat. Either way, SmartStrand Forever Clean may be the fibre you need for your busy home and lifestyle. Triexta is not a new fibre, it was invented back in the 1940's and was deemed too expensive to manufacture at that time to be able to compete with other carpet fibres like Nylon. Carpet prices have increased enough over the past 10 years to allow SmartStrand Forever Clean to be manufactured at a comparable cost. Polyester or PET Polyester Polyester is one of the least expensive fibres to manufacture. A thick polyester carpet may feel nice and soft, but it is not a resilient fibre, and it does not a make a long-lasting carpet. Polyester carpets mat down in a hurry, and that has always been the problem with carpets made from this fibre. When you walk on a carpet, with every footstep you bend and compress the fibres and soon they begin to fall over. Once polyester fibres are crushed, they won't spring back to their original position. This is why warranties for polyester carpets do not cover claims against matting or crushing. Don’t be fooled by salespeople who recommend carpets made with polyester. It may be acceptable to buy a carpet made with polyester as long as you know what to expect and don’t pay a lot of money for it. I wouldn't expect to get a life span of more than 5 years on a polyester carpet, regardless of its tuft twist, density rating or warranty claims. I might consider choosing a carpet made of polyester if I wanted to spend as little as possible on a carpet that looks nice for a very short amount of time. Fibre Blends Some carpets are made with a blend of polyester and nylon. Usually a small amount of nylon is added to the mix. They do this to try to make a polyester carpet a little bit more resilient and durable. While this may have a benefit in some situations, I personally do not believe it makes a worthwhile or more valuable product. It's like putting a Mercedes hood ornament on a Ford Fiesta. It doesn't make much sense to me. But carpet makers have long tried to come up with a way to make polyester more durable because it is so cheap to make. Olefin (also called polypropylene) Olefin is a very strong fibre. It is often used to make Berber carpets, commercial carpets and outdoor grass carpets. Olefin wears well and has good stain resistance when anti-stain treatment is applied. Olefin also has good anti-static properties. However, Olefin is not easy to keep clean and tends to look dingy when soiled. It has poor resiliency so smaller looped Berber styles wear better than do larger looped styles. Commercial looped carpets wear very well, as the loops tend to be very small which leaves little room for the loops to become matted or crushed. Wheelchairs roll easily over commercial level loop Olefin carpets that are glued-down without padding and may be a good choice for handicapped areas, hospitals and retirement home applications. When comparing Berber carpets made of Olefin smaller loops, in a tighter weave will yield a longer wearing carpet. Wool and Wool Blends Some carpets are offered with a blend of nylon and wool in varying amounts. Usually I see 20% nylon and 80% wool. This gives wool some of the characteristics of nylon like increased resiliency and durability as well as lower cost. This can be a very good blend to consider having. Wool carpets are considered the most elite of fibres and are the most expensive of all carpet fibres. Wool is a natural fibre and is very soft. It has excellent insulating qualities and is naturally fire resistant. However, wool carpets must be professionally cleaned by specialized carpet cleaning methods and is more expensive to maintain and install than synthetic carpet styles. Comparing wool carpets based on price and quality can be more difficult because well known brand names can increase the cost dramatically and the quality may be more difficult to determine. If you can afford wool carpets it would be an excellent choice for most people. However, children and pets can be very hard on any carpet so careful consideration should be taken if you have small children or pets prone to having accidents. Disclaimer: This column is offered as advice only. All care has been taken to ensure that information is correct at time of publishing. |
