How Carpet Is Made: Everything You Need to Know

by Carpet Right SEO

If you’re planning to buy carpet online or maybe make a purchase from your local suppliers of carpet in Mosman, here is everything you need to know about how carpet is made.

Whether you buy a carpet made from synthetic fibres or you’re planning to buy a pure new wool carpet, each will have been made following this process.

The 3-Step Carpet Making Process Starts with Tufting

There are three main steps involved in making carpet, the first of which is tufting. This is the process where the fibres are woven into a primary backing material which is usually made from polypropylene. The backing material is used to hold the yarn in place during the tufting process.

Tufting machines have between 800 and 2000 needles which pull the yarn through the backing material.

The yarn is caught by a small hook known as a looper to make the characteristic loops seen in loop pile carpets. Since there are no exposed tips of yarn, these carpets are great for heavy traffic areas.

However, as you’re probably aware, when you’ve looked at carpet in Manly, many of them have a tufted or cut pile rather than looped finish. For this kind of construction, the loops of yarn are cut with a knife; the length of the yarn determines the pile height.

The cutting is computer controlled, with programs designed to selectively cut the loops to different heights and patterns. Some carpets are made with a cut and loop construction that leaves a patterned surface to the carpet.

The Carpet Is Then Dyed

There are two different dyeing process used in carpet making. One is yarn dyeing where the yarn is coloured prior to tufting while the second involves applying colour following the tufting process and is known as carpet dyeing.

Carpet dyeing can take place in a number of ways. Beck or batch dyeing is suitable for smaller production runs and involves stitching the two ends of the carpet together to form a loop and then running this loop through vats of dye and water for several hours.

Continuous dyeing follows a similar process, but the dye is applied to the surface by printing or spraying and is used when patterns or multi-coloured effects are required.

Some carpets may be screen printed, with the dye being applied through up to eight silk screens to create the desired effect. All the carpet dyeing methods offer greater flexibility in finished colours and patterns and cost less than yarn dyeing.

Before Undergoing the Finishing Process

As the name suggests, this is the final part of the carpet making process and involves applying a latex coating to both the primary backing and a secondary carpet backing before they are forced together in a heated press.

Once the backing is firmly in place, the carpet is sheared to remove any loose ends and projecting fibres and to define the tips of the yarn of the finished carpet. Before the carpet is rolled and ready for sale, it will be inspected for uniformity of colour and defects.

So the next time you go shopping for carpet in your local supplier of carpet in Chatswood, spare a thought for how the carpets in store have been made.