Cool Carpets

Many homeowners are returning to elegant carpeting – especially in bedrooms and living rooms. We have also recently spotted bright carpets in stylish kitchens and love that idea too. Carpeting has also become technologically advanced and in this article, we discuss carpets as an insulator and share the latest trends in carpeting. 

The Best Insulator 

Carpets are an excellent insulator. Thick carpets are great on tiles and concrete floors adding warmth and style immediately. Walking on a thick, chunky rug and avoiding the cold floor in winter is one way of keeping warm. Wall-to-wall carpeting also holds a lot of heat and should not be disregarded if you are thinking of ways to keep your house warm in the winter. 

Carpet experts measure a material’s thermal resistance using what they refer to as the R-value. The R-value is a reflection of the thickness of a carpet rather than its fiber type.  The higher the R-value, the better the material insulates. It is always a good idea to find out what the R-value of a product is. 

Saving You Money 

It’s important to take the type of flooring you have into consideration when thinking about how you will keep your home warm in the colder months. Uninsulated floors account for 10-20% of a home’s heat loss. 

Because carpet is such a good insulator, adding a carpet to a room will lower the amount of energy it takes to keep a room warm.  

Carpet Trends 

Carpets have many great qualities – one of those being the wide variety of carpets and carpeting available on the market to choose from. From being displayed like art (see Faig Ahmed’s incredible works here) to keeping warm and cushy at home, homeowners love the use of beautifully, textured carpets to stylise the perfect space.  

On the science front, leading carpet manufacturers have developed waterproof carpets. When exposed to liquid, the fibre reacts with the liquid making it move away from the carpet instead of penetrating it.  

Smart carpets, on the other hand, are “intelligent” floor coverings that communicate with sensors integrated into the carpet edges. These carpets are being designed to measure data, such as weight and impact that can be analysed on a device on-demand via the sensors. The most important use for smart carpets in the future will be for security purposes to detect any changes in your footfalls and to alert people or authorities if necessary. 

Did you Know?  

To date, the world’s most expensive carpet is the Clark Sickle-Leaf carpet. A Persian rug that was sold at auction in 2013 for £43.8 million.  

What the Experts Say:  

“Carpets and rugs are already seeing a resurgence in popularity, and for 2020 this will become even more the case as they offer homemakers the chance to showcase strong design statements – especially in vibrant colours – with the ideal being handmade rugs that are truly one-of-a-kind.” – Jamie Sanford, Home Flooring Pros 

Consumers today are in control of the buying experience and are driving industry expectations. If we as manufacturers aren’t listening to what consumers are telling us and making the products they want, we aren’t using technology to our advantage.” – Tim Braten, Shaw Inc. 

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