Carpet Tiles For The Home
Floor Covering That Is Sustainable and Easy to Install and Repair
Oct 28, 2009
Carpet tiles or carpet squares are a convenient way of laying carpeting in the home. They are particularly attractive to the home owner who is conscious of the environment and wants to reduce his or her environmental footprint. Current advances are making carpet tiles progressively more environmentally sustainable. New attractive designs in a "puzzle" structure can be mixed for unique patterns and borders, according to the Carpet Tile directory.
The tiles consist of fiber on a backing such as vinyl. They measure typically 12 or 18 inches square. They offer several advantages over broadloom for home owners, including those who like to do jobs around the home for themselves.
- They are less costly to buy, largely because there is less wastage.
- They are easier to lay.
- They make it easier and less costly to repair or replace damaged areas of carpet.
- They can be more environmentally sustainable than broadloom, even though the fibers and backing are the same.
Carpet Tiles Save Wastage
The tiles can be less costly than broadloom to buy because there is less wastage in the laying of the carpet, especially for odd-shaped or non-rectangular rooms. With broadloom, the home owner has to buy a roll of carpet as wide as the widest section of a non-rectangular floor and cuts off the excess. With carpet tiles, the home owner buys the number of tiles needed to fill the area. Waste in laying carpet tile is much less; only 4% compared to 13% for broadloom, according to manufacturer InterfaceFLOR.
The tiles are easier to lay than broadloom. They can, and should, be laid directly onto a hard floor (stone, ceramic or wood) according to The Home Improvement Web. Peel-and-stick adhesive are available. InterfaceFLOR, has developed peel-and-stick adhesive pads that are used to attach tiles to each other at the corners.
Wall-to-wall carpeting can be laid that dopes not require the stretching of broadloom.
The tiles are particularly easier than broadloom when there are obstructions in a room, such as a pillar or jack in the middle of a basement rec room. With broadloom, the installer needs to cut the carpet around the obstruction, which can be awkward for the non-professional. With tiles, the person installing will need to cut only a few tiles, which is much easier than having to manipulate a wide section of broadloom.
Worn tiles in heavy traffic areas can be swapped with tiles from less visible, less worn areas. Damaged tiles can be replaced with spare tiles. This is made aided by modern designs of tiles that have random patterns, so that tiles can be randomly matched.
Repairs are not always possible with broadloom. Hues tend to change from one batch or dye lot of carpet to the next, making it difficult to get a good match to replace a piece of carpet. With the tile patterns allowing random matching, differences in dye lots are not noticeable.
Carpet Squares Are Environmentally Responsible
The less wastage and easier repairs make for greater environmental sustainability. The ecological benefits are being enhanced by manufacturing techniques for tiles and for broadloom.
One manufacturer, Shaw Contract, was the first to introduce tiles with a backing that is made of a sustainable, non-PVC material. Its nylon contains at least 25% recycled material. InterfaceFLOR reclaims and recycles vinyl for the backing as well as the nylon for the fiber. Its use of bio-based and recycled materials has risen from 0.7% in 1996 to 23.7% in 2008. Consumption of energy and water in manufacture is declining and use of renewable energy sources is climbing.
Carpet tiles give the home owner choices of patterns, including patterns they can make themselves by mixing and matching tiles. They are easier to lay than broadloom and the cost of ownership can be lower. They are also an environmentally-sustainable means of covering a floor.
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