subject: Carpet Tiles - Better Than Broadloom Carpet? [print this page] Carpet tiles have been around for quite a while - clever and enterprising souls have been using them for decades in fact! But when it comes to flooring decisions, the benefits of carpet tiles are just beginning to make themselves widely known. If carpet is the obvious choice, here is a catalogue of good reasons to think beyond broadloom for your next flooring project.
Health and Safety Benefits
This is important in homes - but doubly so in commercial spaces. Hardwood floors, linoleum and tiles have slip and fall issues to deal with especially with wet spills.
Some innovative carpet tile manufacturers have patented in built treatments which protect against stains and bacteria, Even in hospitals and medical facilities, over 99% of microbes can be eliminated when using particular brands of carpet tiles. Along with this feature, certain carpet tile brands also protect against mould and mildew, and are 100% impermeable, preventing odours and improving indoor air quality compared to regular carpets.
Design Benefits
With broadloom carpet you have a finite amount of choices. Add up all the different colors and patterns available from every different manufacturer, and you might have a range numbering in the hundreds. With potentially a different design available for every square metre of flooring, carpet tiles offer options numbering in the millions. Your imagination is the limit.
Maintenance Benefits
Most people assume that if they choose carpet, they are choosing at some point to have to break out the wet and dry vacuum and mop up a spill. In fact, if you choose carpet tiles, all that is needed to clean up spills is an absorbent cloth, just as with hard flooring.
An additional, and even more compelling point about maintenance of carpet tiles is that you only need to replace the relatively narrow areas that become worn over the years. The perfectly good areas under furniture and along the edges of rooms can be left - saving substantial amounts of money when re-carpeting. Many brands of carpet tiles resist colour fading as well - so the old tiles will look just as good as the ones you've replaced.
Installation Benefits
The wastage factor with broadloom carpet installation is typically 6-10%. With carpet tiles this usually gets down to 4%. Additionally, it just isn't possible to install broadloom carpet with furniture still in place. Carpet tile manufacturers offer a patented furniture lift system that allows re-carpeting to be done with all the furniture left in place; in some cases in just an overnight timespan.
Transport benefits
Trucks are not set up to transport large, heavy rolls of carpet. They are set up for pallets and boxes - and here carpet tiles offer additional savings, through reduced cost of freight.
Environment Benefits
With all the innovation that has been incorporated product-wise, it is not surprising to learn that carpet tile manufacturers are leading the industry in green initiatives also. You'll find that some flooring suppliers are carbon-neutral, offering a product with a percentage of recycled content and a take-back program to help increase that percentage as time goes on.
