Carpet Styles and Textures
from Bane-Clene®
Berber: A bulky knobby-looking loop-pile with much larger loops than commercial grade loop pile carpet, usually made of olefin or olefin/nylon blend. Berber often has random specks of color, which are usually nylon blended in with the base olefin fibers.
Because of its informal look, berber is very popular residentially, especially in family rooms, recreation rooms, and multimedia rooms.
Many professional cleaners are under the mistaken impression that berber is always made of 100% olefin – which is definitely not the case! It refers to a style not a fiber! Berber is most commonly a blend of nylon and olefin but it could be 100% nylon or even 100% wool!
Problems with berber are visible seams, zippering, slow drying, wicking reappearing spots, and streaking after cleaning. If made of olefin, irreversible pile crush and matting are major problems. Additionally, berber is not patchable. Berber is made with wide loops that cannot take much flex; therefore, a thicker, softer cushion is not acceptable. Pad thickness should not exceed 3/8 inch. For pad or cushion under berber, the general rule is the bigger the loop in the berber the firmer the padding should be. If your customer is thinking of buying new olefin berber, do your best to discourage them from doing it! Olefin berber, simply put, is JUNK! Within just a few months, they'll be disappointed with its appearance - severe matting, soiling and graying.
With olefin berber, the larger the loop, the worse the matting problems become.
When cleaning olefin berber, always use extra dry strokes and blowers. Add a peroxide brightener such as Energizer to help remove the graying and yellowing. Why do some cleaners charge extra for cleaning berber?
First, berber is usually very light in color, which means the soil is much more obvious. Also, since it severely mats, the customer is expecting the carpet cleaner to miraculously bring it back to its original height – which won’t happen. But worst of all, because of the large "knobs," you do not get total even contact of the vacuum slot on your floor tool across its entire width. As a result, poor vacuum occurs in the "valleys." This means you must slow down and take extra vacuum strokes to ensure total removal of solution and soil. Otherwise, you will end up with streaking, wicking, and browning after the carpet dries.
Additionally, since berber is usually made of olefin (which does not absorb water), the cleaning solution tends to slide down the fiber shaft into the backing since it does not get absorbed by the carpet. As a result, drying time on olefin berber is often much longer than nylon cut-pile.
NOTES: For berber pad, the general rule is the bigger the loop in the berber, the firmer the padding should be. If radiant heat is used, the cushion used must be a low insulating type, such as a relatively thin, flat cellular sponge rubber or synthetic fiber cushion.
Brocade: A carpet or rug in which a raised pattern or engraved effect is formed using heavy twisted yarn tufts on a group of straight fibers.
Cut-loop pile: Carpet whose face shows a pattern made up of a combination of loop pile tufts and cut pile tufts to give a sculptured design.
Cut Pile: A carpet pile, the face of which is composed of cut ends of pile yarn, as compared to loop pile. Clean with the pile direction if floor tool pops or "chatters".
Chattering will result in streaking and dirty lines after the carpet has dried. Chattering of the floor tool occurs when it bounces up and down when you are pulling it opposite the pile direction on some cut-pile carpet or when cleaning multi-level loop carpet or most sisal rugs. When you do this, the floor tool bounces up and loses its vacuum and drops some of the dirty water back on to the carpet. After the carpet dries, you may get a complaint of streaking or lines.
Pile direction is the direction in which the tufts are pointing.
Frieze: (Pronounced "free-zay"): A tightly twisted yarn that gives a kinked or curled appearance to carpet pile. Pile lifting is too aggressive for this style of carpet.
Fusion bonded: Backing material for fusion bonded cut pile carpet is a system of layered vinyl or plastic compound and fiberglass scrim for dimensional stability. Usually used in fabrication of 6-foot wide carpet or modular tile.
Level loop: 
Loop pile where the loops all have the same length and, therefore, give a smooth level surface. Larger loops would be the berber style. The larger the loops, the greater possibility for crushing.
Loop Pile: Pile surface in which looped yarns are left uncut. Can be level, textured, or patterned. Also called "round wire" in woven carpet terminology.
Modular carpet: Also called carpet tile. Generally 18" x 18" squares.
Multi-level loop: A loop pile construction in which some loops are smaller than others resulting in a sculptured appearance. Rough surface. Clean at 45 degree angle or you’ll get splotching and streaking and lines from the floor tool "chattering".
Plush: Sometimes called velvet-plush or simply velvet. A luxurious smooth-textured, highly finished, sheared level cut pile carpet surface with a very smooth, formal look in which individual tufts are only minimally visible due to its low twist and the overall visual effect is that of a single level of yarn ends. Plush is longer and more dense than a "Saxony".
Random-sheared: Textured pattern created by shearing some of the top or higher loops and leaving others looped. This gives a cut/uncut texture.
Saxony: A dense smooth level-cut pile carpet with surface yarns that are closely packed and even across the face with the yarn ends visible to create a less formal look. Minimizes foot prints
Sculptured: A cut and loop patterned carpet where all of the high pile is cut and the low pile remains a loop.
Shag: A deep-pile texture with long cut surface yarns. Pile height
is greater than 3/4 inch, with density not exceeding 1800. Shag is nearly impossible to clean satisfactorily.
Sisal: 
Strictly speaking, sisal is a tough plant fiber from the West Indian Agave plant and is used sometimes to make rope. However, it is now applied more loosely to a particular woven carpet or rug style normally of natural fibers such as sisal, jute, hemp, wool, sea grass, etc. Natural Sisal water spots severely, has very poor cleanability, and is often dry clean only because it readily browns. Additionally, the pattern usually results in poor vacuum. If wet cleaning, always apply Brown Out® afterward and protect with fluorochemical protector such as 3M Scotchgard™ Brand Carpet and Upholstery Protector or Teflon® Advanced Carpet Protector. The preferred detergent to use when wet cleaning sisal is Natural Fiber Cleaner.
Textured: Curled or twisted tufts make for a textured surface that helps mask footprints. This style is also frequently called trackless. The major difference between a plush or velvet carpet and a textured carpet is the appearance of the color. A plush will have a very uniform looking color. A textured carpet (even if it is the same color as the velvet) will look like it has a random mix of light and dark fibers. This is because the fibers in a textured carpet are twisted to hide footprints.
Related Products:
- Brown Out®
- Natural Fiber Cleaner
- Teflon® Advanced Carpet Protector
