Carpet Tile (e.g., FLOR) vs. Wall-to-Wall Carpeting
What is the advantage of carpet tile? Is it more difficult to care for than regular carpeting?
dweinkrant
in Carpet and Upholstery 13 years and 4 months ago
7
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7 replies
CRussen | 13 years and 4 months ago
I don’t really like Flor; the adhesive is not very strong and the tiles slip if you don’t do the whole floor (some use the tiles to make an “area rug.”) We used inexpensive industrial carpet tile for our basement and we love it–and when our basement flooded, it was easy to pick up the wet tiles and swap in new ones. I’d look at other brands; you can find some quite luxurious materials.
rcltrh | 13 years and 4 months ago
We used Milliken Legato, a thick pile frieze style (new-school shag) in both upstairs bedrooms and one bedroom we turned into a walk-in closet in our remodel and they installed easily. The old floors had this peel and stick tile on them and were old soft pine unfinished underneath that was all splintery and covered in glue, so we just put them down over the peel and stick, and removed any of the old tiles what were loose so the carpet would have something firm to attach to. You can’t tell any difference where there were and weren’t tiles underneath. We did them ourselves, and they look great. They are very comfortable on your feet especially on cold mornings – they have a thicker pad than the commercial type, although they are thinner than normal installed carpeting with a thicker separate pad. Still, they are very comfortable to walk in bare feet. We bought them online from a company in Georgia and they shipped them for free. We bought all the same color although I think there were 3 to choose from so you could mix and make your own pattern if you wanted to. Total cost for the entire upstairs (around 900 sq ft) was around $1000\. The company was running a sale, which I think the website said ended in September, but they said they really run that sale all the time. You can slightly see the seams, but when done in the whole room as wall-to-wall and layed squarely, the regularity of the square depressions where the seams are actually appears to be part of a whole-room pattern much like scupltured shag. Make sure you turn all the arrows in the same direction as you install them as the pile appears to be a different color if you accidentally reverse one. After vacuuming, when looking across the room the seams are hard to notice, but after a few days of walking on them the slight depressions reappear. Everyone just thinks its scupltured shag in a 20″ square pattern until we show them they are actually tiles. They don’t move around at all, and we didn’t use any other glue than the “traction back” semi-sticky stuff that they come with. We were afraid they would shift, since when you first lay them they really don’t appear to be stuck down too tightly – although they don’t budge if you try to skid them – but after a few days they seem to attach themselves more firmly. They don’t try to come loose at all when you vacuum them. They are still easily lifted and replaced if need be. We love them. Supposedly you can steam clean the whole room just like you would with regular carpet, but being in the upstairs bedrooms ours haven’t gotten dirty yet.
adam_dahill | 13 years and 4 months ago
My wife and I looked at FLOR for our home. We wanted to do a random mosaic of color tile in our living room but decided against it. I got a bunch of samples home and left them on the floor and found that they picked up a lot of debris and started to get a little pilly. I just felt that they were a little on the cheap side and worried that they would look old fast.
jockdeboeraia | 13 years and 4 months ago
These are used for business areas. It also allows you to use several types to create patterns. Once again, I would think only good for a business.
housepoor | 13 years and 4 months ago
I have seen pieces replaced in a business setting and the new squares look fine. But if your rug is in a place where it might fade, I might stay away from mono-chromatic floor coverings for fear that a replacement square might look off.
dweinkrant | 13 years and 4 months ago
If you take an old stained one out and pop a new one in, does the new one look different from the surrounding tiles because of their disparate ages?
housepoor | 13 years and 4 months ago
I’ve never used them at home, but businesses love these because if one tile is stained/ruined, you can always just take it out and pop a new one in — no need to keep looking at the stain or replace the whole carpet. I think there is a Flor showroom at 142 Wooster Street in Soho and another @ 307 Altantic Avenue.