When searching for the best carpet for your home or office, you’ll often hear flooring experts mention face-weight and its importance. But what does that actually mean, and how do you know what’s right for you? Discover how flooring companies advise you to take face-weight into consideration for your carpet flooring.
What to Know About Face-Weight Carpet
What Is Face-Weight?
A carpet’s face-weight is the weight of a carpet pile (fibers) per square yard of carpet measured in ounces. It’s imperative to remember face-weight only includes carpet fibers and not the backing. Carpet backing is included in the carpet’s total weight. While face-weight in carpet is essential, it’s not the single most important detail when considering your flooring options. Rather, face-weight can be indicative of other factors to help you decipher between options.
Traditionally, a higher face-weight does mean more durable carpet fibers. This is especially helpful when comparing carpets that are identical in fiber and style. That’s why face-weight is an important aspect of determining carpet quality, but it’s not the sole component. A carpet’s face-weight points to the style and durability of the carpet to also be considered when discerning quality.
Face-Weight and Carpet Style
Your carpet’s look is shaped by the style of carpet fibers. This, in turn, affects the face-weight of your carpet. Consider traditional office carpet and your family room’s carpet. The style for both is completely different, and your residential carpet is going to have a higher face-weight. A higher face-weight requires more carpet fibers, which would also mean more durability.
Cut, looped, or cut-loop are a few different carpet styles with varying patterns, face-weights, and durability. The cut style looks clean and uniform, but it isn’t as durable. Think velvet––you’re really going to see that foot traffic over time. Looped carpet fibers have more texture and pattern to them, and they’re going to provide a great cushion flooring option. This is what you’ll want in hallways and family rooms, where you have a lot of people spending a lot of time. The cut-loop style is a patterned surface that hides wear well. These fibers are going to be best used for the most high-traffic areas in your home or office, such as on stairs.
Face-Weight and Durability
Most people will tell you that face-weight and durability go hand-in-hand, meaning a higher face-weight means longer durability. This is mostly true. However, this only stands when comparing similar conditions––carpet style, fibers, etc. Comparing wool and nylon, for example, wouldn’t be effective because the face-weight of each does not indicate durability. You’d want to consider other factors instead of relying solely on face-weight because the objective and performance of each carpet fiber is vastly different. Now, if you were to compare cut wool fibers to looped wool fibers, you’d have a better chance to discern longer durability and higher quality because the product is similar and comparable.
The face-weight of a carpet does indeed carry a lot of weight in the discernment of carpet quality. It can be indicative of high durability, but it shouldn’t be the only factor considered. Whether you’re looking for commercial carpet or residential flooring, consider letting Ozburn-Hessey Company lead the way. With decades of experience, they’re sure to offer the right guidance for your individual experience.
