Carpet buying guide

Transform your home with a new sumptuous carpet, whether it’s wall to wall or just your hallway, a carpet offers comfort, thermal insulation and soundproofing to your space.

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Available in a wide range of adaptive styles and rich colours, a carpet is the ultimate in decorative flooring for your home. It is however important to consider a number of factors before you commit to your new investment. Whether you’re considering the difference between woven and tufted? Loop Pile or Saxony? Or how important new underlay is?

Selecting the right carpet to suit your room’s purpose, in terms of appearance, tactility, use and budget has never been easier with our handy carpet buying guide.

Why choose a carpet?


Comfort

A carpet provides thermal comfort for your home and contributes to overall heat retention in the room. Carpets also provide added cushioning and support by absorbing the shock and weight of your body which reduces the stress on your body.

Health

Carpets contribute to an improvement of air quality in your home by keeping the dust suspended in its fibres. Carpets are practically free of VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) and thus contribute to an improvement of air quality in your home.

Sound insulation

Due to its thick padding and soft fibres, carpets are excellent noise reducers compared to hard flooring. Carpets can reduce noise in your home by up to 30db, the noise reduction can be felt in all adjoining room.

Low maintenance

Most carpets now receive a surface treatment during manufacturing that makes it easier to clean your flooring. To clean most carpets, all it needs is a quick vacuum.

Different styles


Twisted, velvet, twisted or looped, the appearance of your carpet is important. But, It’s not only a matter of taste but it’s practicality to.

twist carpet texture

Twist

Twist carpets are hard wearing and are ideal for high traffic areas such as hallways, stairs and landings. These carpets are a versatile choice that creates an ideal compromise between comfort, style and practicality. They feature a textured surface that is ideal for hiding marks and does not stain as easily as other carpets.

loop pile carpet texture

Loop pile

Loop pile carpets are very durable and are also ideal for high traffic areas, much like twist carpets. The looped piles disguise marks in carpets which is ideal for your hall, lounge or bedroom. Pets such as cats and dogs are however likely to pick at a loop pile carpet so you may want to consider this when making your carpet selection.

saxony carpet texture

Saxony

Indulge yourself with a soft and luxurious Saxony carpet. The sumptuous thick pile of these carpets makes it a popular choice for bedrooms and living rooms. Offering a neat and uniform finish, you can choose from straight or textured. A straight Saxony carpet will provide a velvet like feel whereas textured is not as soft but it reflects like differently meaning that it better conceals vacuum lines and footprints.

velvet carpet texture

Velvet

For the ultimate in pure indulgence, choose a velvet carpet. Offering a range of rich textures and colours, velvet carpets show areas of light and dark shading in a similar way to suede. Velvet carpets can be used throughout the home but are particularly popular in the bedroom. These carpets also offer durability and high quality. Velvet is often a more expensive option but it is likely to last a long time so worth the investment.

berber carpet texture

Berber

All Berber carpets come in a loop or twist pile, the lower the loops the more durable the carpet becomes. Their durability makes the Berber carpet perfect for busy hallways and living rooms. Berber carpets are also affordable, stain-resistant and versatile, due to its neutral appearance and availability in a range of patterns and textures.

What about the fibres?


axminister hallway

Wool

A natural material, wool ensures a beautiful appearance and soft to touch. Excellent thermal insulation, it keeps its soft appearance for long. However, the cost will be higher than with other materials. We recommend wool carpets in a living room and for your stairs.

highland bedroom

Polypropylene

A man made fibre, polypropylene carpets are the most economical carpet to own. It has a good dimensional stability and resists moisture and stains effectively. Polypropylene carpet is ideal for adult bedrooms and more generally, in everyday rooms.

brockway living room

Nylon

Nylon has a slightly waxy feel and shiny appearance. It has a number of significant advantages: it has very good resistance to wear, to dirt and will retain its natural feel and appearance for a long time. Nylon is the best choice of carpet for children’s rooms.

cormar town & country

Polyester

A Polyester carpet has a beautiful appearance and is soft to touch. The carpets fibre is also nonallergenic. As polyester is a delicate fibre, it does not repel dirt and stains as effectively as nylon and polypropylene, it would be better suited in low traffic areas of your home.

Colour choice


Darker shades

In the modern day, carpet manufacturers offer a wide range of colours to meet all your needs and are able to adapt them to your home. Before making your choice, think about coordinating your future carpet’s colours with your walls and furniture. It’s an important step for creating the perfect harmony between your carpet and room.

Lighter shades

Be aware that light colours make a room bigger, and therefore are particularly suitable for small rooms. Dark colours are better in large and vast surfaces to rebalance the space.

Also, choose the colour according to the carpet’s use. Do not go for light colours in high-traffic rooms like your entrance, hallway or even children’s rooms!

Carpet underlay


Often neglected, underlay is just as important as your carpet. Choosing a quality underlay allows you to take full advantage of the thermal and acoustic characteristics of your flooring. At Leekes, we offer underlay from as little as £5 per square meter that covers all types from heated flooring, crumb rubber, sponge rubber, laminate and PU.

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Extended lifespan

Underlay will protect the carpet and help keep it looking newer for longer. Underlay can help extend the life of the carpet by up to 50%.

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Insulation

It will help keep a room warmer for longer and saves money on your bills. If you use underfloor heating, our rubber underlay will be more suitable.

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Noise reduction

Carpet with underlay will be twice as quiet than a carpet without. They can also reduce noise in the rooms below making them perfect for bedrooms.

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Luxurious feel

Underlay enhances the elasticity of the flooring which provides cushioning and more bounce when walking which makes the carpet more comfortable to walk on.

How much does a new carpet cost?


At Leekes, our carpet prices start from as low as £10 per square metre for a simple synthetic and can vary for our premium, hand-woven designs. The most important factor to remember when working out carpet costs is that you have to buy the carpet in set widths, so there can be a lot of wastage. Carpets are mostly sold in rolls that are 4 metres or 5 metres wide, and a section will be cut from the roll to match the length of your room. The carpet fitter will trim away any excess from the width, but you’ll still have to pay for this unused carpet.

 
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