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	Did You Know? Carpets reduce noise and increase safety... According to the Canadian Carpet Institute, people are choosing carpet for it's ability to absorb noise. It is also considered safer for children. Home theatre designers strongly recommend carpet to maximize the sound experience...<Read More> Carpeted Rooms Dampen Down Noises From Within And Without Anyone who has ever lived in an apartment knows what it's like to have noisy neighbours. You have the thump, thump, thump of footsteps overhead and the revelry or arguments in the next apartment reaching your ears through paper-thin walls. Didn't you wish the people upstairs would be considerate enough to at least put carpeting on their floors to lessen the noise? Or perhaps you have active young children upstairs. Carpeted bedrooms make them seem much quieter. Linda Borman, a Toronto residential interior designer, says her younger clients, especially those with children, are choosing carpeting because of its ability to absorb noise. Jean Claude Carisse, Executive Director of the Canadian Carpet Institute, notes that for institutions such as schools and hospitals, carpeting's sound deadening capacity is particularly advantageous. "Experiments show that not only is carpeting safer but also better for sound deadening," Carisse says. "I heard this at a pollution seminar I attended in Halifax.” He relates a story about a complaint he heard from a school. At first, he thought they were going to complain about a particular carpet. However, the complainants were upset that there was no carpeting in the school. They missed its sound-deadening qualities! More and more condo associations are making carpet mandatory in their condo complexes, for acoustic reasons. Acoustics was also the reason Colin and Margaret Yakashiro chose carpeting in two of the rooms in their new home in Abbotsford, B.C. They didn't want the noises of the home interfering with Colin's work - he works out of his home and has clients worldwide, and Margaret didn't want to feel as though she had to keep everything quiet, especially with three children and a dog, every time Colin was on the phone. Finally, many residential interior designers and home theatre technicians are strongly recommending that carpet be installed in those special rooms in order to maximize the “sound experience” when watching movies. Incidentally, architect and interior designer Ed Calnitsky notes that for those readers with noisy neighbours, you might consider putting carpets on your walls. They will look good and help sound proof the walls! <Close> Porcelain over Ceramic tile? Porcelain is harder and long wearing, but with some drawbacks... <Read More> Most porcelain tile is a ceramic glaze over a porcelain body. The body porcelain base is white or light tan. A chip in the glaze will expose this and cause the need to change this tile. That is not to say porcelain and ceramic tiles are just the same. Porcelain tile does have certain installation advantages that make it a superior product. First, and most important is that porcelain tile is "frost proof", therefore can be used in applications where the temperature drops below freezing, either outdoor applications or in refrigerated freezers. Porcelain is hard, harder than ceramic in general. It is made of a very fine sand "slip" and fired at a very high heat to be closer to a "glass" than to a clay fired product. The hardness that makes it the long wearing, dependable product that it is, however, does have its drawbacks. Porcelain tile needs special tools to cut and shape them, usually homeowner type tools (cutting boards, wet saws, etc.) will not work. Professional type tool equipment with special porcelain blades and bits will most times be required. Also, setting materials differ from normal ceramic tile installation. A multi purpose or latex acrylic thinset mortar is required to assure proper adhesion to this dense material make installation somewhat more expensive. But again, its hardness make it versatile in other ways. The face of a full bodied tile can be polished like stone to a high sheen making it interchangeable with marble or granite for looks and superior in durability. The edges can also be bullnosed with a diamond profile wheel in order to be used as trim for showers, windows, tub and countertops. With more and more manufacturers switching over to porcelain product. The choices in color, size and style are quickly coming in line with the long lived ceramic industries' hold on the market. Overall, if you are choosing a tile for an indoor application, choose based on what appeals to you: color, texture and size. Be it ceramic or porcelain. <Close> - Texas Tile and Stone Distributors - endorsed by Tip Top Carpet One The Latest Carpet Yarns: New types of carpet fabric are softer, stronger and more colorfast... <Read More> NEW SOFT NYLONS: The newest thing on the market is the introduction of the so called "soft nylons" This type of fiber has been around for a long time, but has always been more expensive because of how much of the fiber must go into the carpet in order to give the carpet a good feel (or hand). The fiber feels soft due to its super small diameter. Think of it like baby hair vs. corse hair; or better yet like gauges of wire. The small gauge wire is has a smaller diameter than the larger gauge wire. This is similar to nylon fiber; only instead of gauge we use the term "denier". The new soft feeling nylons are made from a very fine "denier" fiber. Thus, it takes a lot more of this fiber to feel and look like other carpets that may be full of air. Imagine fifteen very fat people in an elevator. The space is full, but there on only fifteen people inside. However, that same space can take 25 very thin people, and the combined strength of the 25 people will be stronger than the fifteen people. These new nylons will go under various brand names i.e. "Tactesse" and "Luxerell" (Invista) or "DuraSoft" (Mohawk), or "Anso Caress" (Shaw Industries). If you are willing to pay a little more for this fiber, I think you will love it,but just be sure to purchase one well constructed. *PET POLYESTER:* This is a new type of polyester fiber that has this long chemical name: Polyethylene Terephthalate, but still falls in the class of fibers known commonly as polyesters. This PET fiber, however, is "not your daddy's polyester". This fiber has natural and permanent stain resistance. PET fiber is stronger than the old polyester and has better abrasion resistance. Unlike the old polyester, the PET product has a higher melting point and is more resistant to abrasion. The fiber is made from PET chips, some of which come from recycled plastic containers, hence the name "pop bottle carpet". Recycling does not affect the quality if the fiber, thus this product could be a future fiber that could be recycled over and over. On a personal note, I had a customer spill hair dye on her 6 month old PET Polyester carpet. Hair dye is on the list of not warranted stains, but this lady got the stain out with a laundry detergent and water. I was impressed. Recently, some PET carpets have been produced in solution dyed form, and these are proving to be even more stain resistant. *TRIEXTA* This fiber is known as SMARTSTRAND (trademark) when marketed by Mohawk. Mowhawk recently received FTC apporval to market this fiber under its own class. This PTT fiber will now be know as TRIEXTA. In the future you will see more about this name change. This fiber is even stronger than PET polyester, and has better colorfastness and cleanability features than PET. PTT is as colorfast as solution dyed nylon. This fiber is extremely soft, and yet behaves better than staple nylon, especially in a shag construction. If you have kids and pets, and are going to be in the home more than 10 years, PTT is a good choice; especially the 3GT Sorona Dupont Polymer offered in some Mohawk carpets. I have not had a comsumer complaint on this fiber in the six years I have been selling it. By the way, PTT is just one step away chemically from 4GT polymer that is used to make tough auto parts. Triexta will indeed be a fiber for the future. Lookout Stainmaster! <Close> - Carpet Guru's Carpet College
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Did You Know?

Carpets reduce noise and increase safety...

According to the Canadian Carpet Institute, people are choosing carpet for it's ability to absorb noise. It is also considered safer for children.

Home theatre designers strongly recommend carpet to maximize the sound experience...<Read More>

Carpeted Rooms Dampen Down Noises From Within And Without

Anyone who has ever lived in an apartment knows what it's like to have noisy neighbours. You have the thump, thump, thump of footsteps overhead and the revelry or arguments in the next apartment reaching your ears through paper-thin walls. Didn't you wish the people upstairs would be considerate enough to at least put carpeting on their floors to lessen the noise?

Or perhaps you have active young children upstairs. Carpeted bedrooms make them seem much quieter. Linda Borman, a Toronto residential interior designer, says her younger clients, especially those with children, are choosing carpeting because of its ability to absorb noise.

Jean Claude Carisse, Executive Director of the Canadian Carpet Institute, notes that for institutions such as schools and hospitals, carpeting's sound deadening capacity is particularly advantageous. "Experiments show that not only is carpeting safer but also better for sound deadening," Carisse says. "I heard this at a pollution seminar I attended in Halifax.” He relates a story about a complaint he heard from a school. At first, he thought they were going to complain about a particular carpet. However, the complainants were upset that there was no carpeting in the school. They missed its sound-deadening qualities!

More and more condo associations are making carpet mandatory in their condo complexes, for acoustic reasons. Acoustics was also the reason Colin and Margaret Yakashiro chose carpeting in two of the rooms in their new home in Abbotsford, B.C. They didn't want the noises of the home interfering with Colin's work - he works out of his home and has clients worldwide, and Margaret didn't want to feel as though she had to keep everything quiet, especially with three children and a dog, every time Colin was on the phone.

Finally, many residential interior designers and home theatre technicians are strongly recommending that carpet be installed in those special rooms in order to maximize the “sound experience” when watching movies.

Incidentally, architect and interior designer Ed Calnitsky notes that for those readers with noisy neighbours, you might consider putting carpets on your walls. They will look good and help sound proof the walls!

<Close>

Porcelain over Ceramic tile?

Porcelain is harder and long wearing, but with some drawbacks... <Read More>

Most porcelain tile is a ceramic glaze over a porcelain body. The body porcelain base is white or light tan. A chip in the glaze will expose this and cause the need to change this tile. That is not to say porcelain and ceramic tiles are just the same. Porcelain tile does have certain installation advantages that make it a superior product.

First, and most important is that porcelain tile is "frost proof", therefore can be used in applications where the temperature drops below freezing, either outdoor applications or in refrigerated freezers.

Porcelain is hard, harder than ceramic in general. It is made of a very fine sand "slip" and fired at a very high heat to be closer to a "glass" than to a clay fired product. The hardness that makes it the long wearing, dependable product that it is, however, does have its drawbacks.

Porcelain tile needs special tools to cut and shape them, usually homeowner type tools (cutting boards, wet saws, etc.) will not work. Professional type tool equipment with special porcelain blades and bits will most times be required. Also, setting materials differ from normal ceramic tile installation. A multi purpose or latex acrylic thinset mortar is required to assure proper adhesion to this dense material make installation somewhat more expensive.

But again, its hardness make it versatile in other ways. The face of a full bodied tile can be polished like stone to a high sheen making it interchangeable with marble or granite for looks and superior in durability. The edges can also be bullnosed with a diamond profile wheel in order to be used as trim for showers, windows, tub and countertops.

With more and more manufacturers switching over to porcelain product. The choices in color, size and style are quickly coming in line with the long lived ceramic industries' hold on the market. Overall, if you are choosing a tile for an indoor application, choose based on what appeals to you: color, texture and size. Be it ceramic or porcelain.

<Close>

- Texas Tile and Stone Distributors - endorsed by Tip Top Carpet One

The Latest Carpet Yarns:

New types of carpet fabric are softer, stronger and more colorfast... <Read More>

NEW SOFT NYLONS:

The newest thing on the market is the introduction of the so called "soft nylons" This type of fiber has been around for a long time, but has always been more expensive because of how much of the fiber must go into the carpet in order to give the carpet a good feel (or hand). The fiber feels soft due to its super small diameter. Think of it like baby hair vs. corse hair; or better yet like gauges of wire. The small gauge wire is has a smaller diameter than the larger gauge wire. This is similar to nylon fiber; only instead of gauge we use the term "denier". The new soft feeling nylons are made from a very fine "denier" fiber. Thus, it takes a lot more of this fiber to feel and look like other carpets that may be full of air. Imagine fifteen very fat people in an elevator. The space is full, but there on only fifteen people inside. However, that same space can take 25 very thin people, and the combined strength of the 25 people will be stronger than the fifteen people. These new nylons will go under various brand names i.e. "Tactesse" and "Luxerell" (Invista) or "DuraSoft" (Mohawk), or "Anso Caress" (Shaw Industries). If you are willing to pay a little more for this fiber, I think you will love it,but just be sure to purchase one well constructed.

PET POLYESTER:

This is a new type of polyester fiber that has this long chemical name: Polyethylene Terephthalate, but still falls in the class of fibers known commonly as polyesters. This PET fiber, however, is "not your daddy's polyester". This fiber has natural and permanent stain resistance. PET fiber is stronger than the old polyester and has better abrasion resistance. Unlike the old polyester, the PET product has a higher melting point and is more resistant to abrasion.

The fiber is made from PET chips, some of which come from recycled plastic containers, hence the name "pop bottle carpet". Recycling does not affect the quality if the fiber, thus this product could be a future fiber that could be recycled over and over.

On a personal note, I had a customer spill hair dye on her 6 month old PET Polyester carpet. Hair dye is on the list of not warranted stains, but this lady got the stain out with a laundry detergent and water. I was impressed. Recently, some PET carpets have been produced in solution dyed form, and these are proving to be even more stain resistant.

TRIEXTA

This fiber is known as SMARTSTRAND (trademark) when marketed by Mohawk. Mowhawk recently received FTC apporval to market this fiber under its own class. This PTT fiber will now be know as TRIEXTA. In the future you will see more about this name change. This fiber is even stronger than PET polyester, and has better colorfastness and cleanability features than PET. PTT is as colorfast as solution dyed nylon. This fiber is extremely soft, and yet behaves better than staple nylon, especially in a shag construction. If you have kids and pets, and are going to be in the home more than 10 years, PTT is a good choice; especially the 3GT Sorona Dupont Polymer offered in some Mohawk carpets. I have not had a comsumer complaint on this fiber in the six years I have been selling it. By the way, PTT is just one step away chemically from 4GT polymer that is used to make tough auto parts. Triexta will indeed be a fiber for the future. Lookout Stainmaster!

<Close>

- Carpet Guru's Carpet College