How Carpet Is Made

The carpet that is made today is a mix of old world craftsmanship and a touch of 21st century innovation. By combining the two, carpet is able to become the household feature that we all know and love - and get tired of cleaning.

Carpet can be manufactured in one of two ways; weaving or tufting. Carpets that are woven are primarily wool and are very durable, and very expensive as well. The woven carpet types can be hand produced, as it has been for centuries, or by machine. No matter what method is chosen, the same procedures are followed.

The yarn for the carpet is woven through or around vertical fibers known as warps, and then locked into place with horizontal strands known as wefts. The woven carpets can utilize a variety of colors as well to create intricate patterns in the highest quality of carpets.

Tufting machines can be utilized as well, as they use computers to determine the patterns, styles, construction, and density. No longer does someone have to do everything by hand or mentally, as the tufting machines will take all of the guesswork out and make things easy on the operator.

Once the fibers have been locked into place, the carpet is dyed using a variety of methods that will create patterns or effects. For cut pile carpets, the final stage is stretched, cutting the pile loops. This is an important stage, as it will determine the softness and feel of the carpet.

The carpet will also receive a secondary stretch backing as well to give it stability and allow it to be stretched during the installation process. Most of the carpets of this day and age will receive stain protection as well, which happens during the manufacturing phase.

The way that a carpet is made will greatly affect how the carpet is installed. In the past, the creation of carpet was a very complicated process, as there were no computers or technology to do most of the work. Back then, it was all done by hand. The carpets were great, although there wasn't any colors or textures that we have to choose from today.

The carpet manufacturers of today have a lot of technology at their disposal, which makes life at the plants easy. Operators can watch and operate machines to do a lot of the work, which makes their job a lot easier.

The continuous fibers found with carpet are heat set and twisted at the mill to give a tightly twisted product that is commonly found with frieze carpets. This type of yarn is less bulky although it will hold its shape for a long period of time, which is great for those who don't like to replace their carpet every couple of years.

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Rhonda Morin, owner of http://myinteriordecorator.com and author of The Decorating Bible, enjoys writing and teaching others how to decorate the homes.

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Copyright (R) Rhonda Morin, MyInteriorDecorator.com. Article may not be reprinted without permission and may not be reprinted without author byline including the active links.

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