1. Repair or Replace?

If your carpet is in disrepair, it is important to know if it can be repaired or if it will need to be replaced. Are the fiber themselves compromised? If so, is it in one section of the carpet, or throughout the carpet? Is your problem a stain, dirt, or an odor? If so, how much of the carpet is effected? If your problem is a stain, is the stain a color that has been added to your carpet, or has something caused the color to be leached from your carpet? Do you have any spare yardage of this carpet in storage? If you do, how much spare carpet do you have? The answers to these questions go into determining whether the carpet can be cleaned or restored, whether a portion of your carpet can be removed and a patch inserted, or whether you will indeed need to have your entire carpet replaced.

2. Brand

Manufacturing carpet is a major undertaking. Most of the major brand manufacturers are large companies with a wide selection of carpets. If you are looking for a carpet made of a common fiber, in a neutral color, and in a common type of carpet, you may well be able to find that carpet produced by most of the top brand manufacturers. However, if your requirements for design, fiber, or carpet type are very particular and not common, you may need to search for a brand manufacturer that can meet your needs.

3. Get Help or Do It Yourself?

If you have experience installing carpet, you may want to do this yourself. If you do not have experience, you run the risk of ruining your carpet as part of your learning process -- so mistakes have the potential to be very expensive. For this reason, we recommend you use a professional installer.

4. Performance Rating

Many carpets are rated according to an expect wear performance rating (PR). The performance rating scale is 1 to 5, and is based on the amount of surface appearance change to be expected in major traffic areas during the first year of service for a typical four-person household. A high performance carpet rated at 4 or 5 can expect little of no change of appearance in the first year. A carpet rated 1 or 2 can expect a significant change and will show signs of wear. Consequently, carpets rated 1 or 2 should be avoided, or used only in rooms that experience very little traffic.

5. Types of Carpet

Cut Pile: This is the best-selling type of carpet. It is made by taking loop carpet and cutting the looped fibers at the top. There are a number of style of loop pile carpet, including frieze, saxony, textures/textured saxonies, and velvet/plush.
Cut and Loop Pile: Cut and loop pile takes some of the piles and cuts them (like the cut pile) but also leaves a portion of the piles uncut. This provides a carpet surface that has variation to its texture.

Level Loop Pile: Level loop pile weave both ends of even loops of yarn into a carpet backing. The result is a resilient, easy-to-clean carpet that is perfect for high traffic areas of your home. Berber is a type of level-loop carpet made from extra thick yarn.

Multi-Level Loop Pile: Multi-level loop pile is manufactured in the same manner as level loop pile (weaving both sides of loops of yarn into a carpet backing). However, multi-level loop pile uses several lengths of pile, resulting in a more varied texture.

6. Types of Fiber

Acrylic: Also known as art wool because it has the appearance of wool. However, pure acrylic carpets do not maintain their appearance under heavy traffic.

Blends: Nylon and olefin are the most common fibers combined to form a blend. This combination of fibers is resilient under traffic, but is susceptible to staining.

Nylon: This is the most popular fiber for residential carpets, representing 90% of the market. It is resilient under traffic and resists staining and soiling. Nylon carpets vary in manufacture method as well as quality. Nylon carpets can be purchased for as low as $8 a square yard to over $30 a square yard.

Olefin: After nylon, the most popular carpet material. It is made of polypropelene. Olefin is resilient under traffic and resistant to staining and soiling. Most commercial carpet is olefin.

Polyester: Polyester carpets are among the least expensive available. They are subject to compression, staining, and fading.

Recycles: Carpets are beginning to be made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a material made from recycled plastics. PET carpets are resilient, water resistant, and static resistant.

Wool: Wool is luxurious, resilient, and has a great feeling under foot and is stain resistant. However, wool does tend to generate static and it is susceptible to fraying. If wool gets wet, you've got a problem.

7. Design/Style/Pattern

Choosing the look and feel of your carpet is a personal choice. Look in magazines and your friend's homes to get ideas. If you want some expert advice, some decorators will visit your home and will only charge you for one hour to give basic advice on colors for rugs, walls, and furniture. This is one way they can gain exposure, and it may turn into a more extensive engagement. Get samples of the rugs you are considering and look at them in the room where they'll be installed. Look at the samples in artificial and natural light, and at different times of the day.

Keep these rules of thumb in mind.  Darker carpets tend to make a room seem smaller and cozier, though they show dust and lint and may need more regular care.  Lighter carpets tend to make a room seem larger.  Lighter colored carpets tend to hide lint and dust but to show dirt. 

8. Installation Method

Direct glue-down: The carpet is glued directly onto the floor in this installation method.

Double glue-down: The carpet pad is glued onto the floor first, and then the carpet is glued onto the pad.

Stretch-in method: Each section of carpet and padding in positioned and installed using a power stretcher.

9. Cost

There is a wide variation of cost per square yard in carpets. Buying a high priced carpet will not even guarantee that you'll get what you want. It is important to think about your rooms, analyze your environment, and comprehend your lifestyle. Then you need to match your needs to the factors presented here. Try to get a sense of how long your carpet will look good, based on the amount and type of traffic in your home. This will help you to not only understand the immediate cost of the project, but to calculate the value you will receive over time.