1. Suitability and classification

Carpets are rated according to the amount of traffic in a home.

• Light Domestic – Bedrooms or low traffic areas,
• Medium Domestic – Sitting rooms, Bedrooms, Hall Stairs/Landing and
• Landings where there are only 2-3 people living in the house,
• Heavy Domestic – as it says areas that have high traffic i.e. anywhere in the home,
• Extra Heavy Domestic – Would suit commercial areas too.

2. Fibre Content

The fibre is what the most important choice is. This fibre is what helps the carpets keep their appearance. Here is the list according to the best fibre to give the best appearance retention.

• 100% Wool or Woven blends,
• 6/6 Nylon,
• Solution Dyed Nylon,
• Polyester or Polypropylene.

3. Underlays

There are a lot of different underlays available on the market and quite a lot of confusion about what’s best. Here’s the list we feel will help your selection of the right underlay for you starting with the best.

• High Density Rubber – that’s not filled with chalk (to increase the weight) our favourite is Tredaire Elite,
• Hair Felt 54oz – great for a carpet that has a lot of seams (joins) and carpets don’t tend to stretch on hair felt,
• High Density PU Underlays – we use 11mm thickness for heavy domestic areas,
• Low Density PU Underlays the problem with these are the carpet often feels spongy as opposed to luxurious.

4. Proper Fitting

This is as important as the other points. Carpets should be stretched properly onto grippers and glued into your trims with latex glue. Good fitting will help the carpet keep its appearance for the duration of its life.

5. Down Graded

B Grade Carpets – We never buy or sell B Grade carpets as there is a reason that they are downgraded by the manufacturers so buyer beware.

At GOC Carpets we supply and fit Carpets Dublin, and Nationwide – we are the home of affordable luxury.

When purchasing carpets there can be confusion when it comes to the different fibres and how they wear. Some can wear for a long time, but can lose their appearance quite easily hence they can wear ugly. So really people want to know how well their carpet will look in 5 years’ time. So, here’s the simple order of appearance retention fibres. Please note before cleaning or using products to remove stains contact a professional or your supplier beforehand.

Just to understand its how the carpet is constructed i.e. how the molecules are put together the more complicated the construction the more it hides the dirt and the more it can retain its appearance and not flatten easily.

1.   Polypropylene is a thermoplastic polymer i.e. plastic fibre simple in its construction and solution dyed hence can flatten easily but can be cleaned with diluted bleach. Very cheap to manufacture.
2.  Polyester more expensive to manufacture hence more expensive to purchase but would wear similar to polypropylene.

Nylon is much better, different construction of molecules has a better memory (like wool) it’s a stronger fibre and can bounce back and recovers quicker hence it can be mixed in with wool to add durability to the wearing of the carpet. So, nylon is much better than polypropylene and polyester.

6/6 Nylon is very soft and really luxurious but wears really well because of the construction of the carpet is much more expensive. This is very big in the London and New York markets, because it has a great look.

Wool and Wool Mix; Wool has a great memory and has a complicated structure but we believe is still the best carpet for wear and appearance retention. You pay more but it’s the old reliable.

So when it comes to buying a carpet, you can see there are many things to consider including carpet fibres so always consult and expert.

GOC Carpets, the home of affordable luxury with over 35 years experience we have built a reputation based on quality, service and value for money. Our team are with you all the way from choosing the right floor, to measuring and fitting by our own skilled craftsmen.

Our mission is to bring to the market new innovative designs in timber flooring, laminates and carpets. Every customer is important and therefore there is no job too small.

Click here to see our domestic and commercial work

 Condition of Sub Floor

The sub floor means the floor on which you lay your laminate floor on.

Concrete Sub Floor

The concrete must have a low moisture content.  This can be checked by doing a moisture reading.  If the floor is not dry your floor will expand and swell. So do a moisture test to be sure.

Floor Levels

Your floor must be level. If it has bumps or dips you will then have a bounce in your floor, which is both annoying and will also cause joints in your floor to eventually break.  Underlay can help but, in most cases, will not fix the problem. So, you will have to use a levelling compound to resolve the problem.

Underlays Vary

There is a standard basic barrier underlay. The most popular are flat rubber underlays with either a gold or silver foil, these vary in thickness from 2mm to 4mm which also acts as a sound barrier.  This is the underlay we use and recommend.

Wood Sub Floor

Again the level of the floor is the most important thing. If not level, you can pack out the floor or sheet the floor with plywood which is available from 6mm to 27mm depending on how uneven the floors are.

Acoustic underlay is important laying over a wood subfloor, which helps in reducing sound and noise travel.

Wearability

Usually, laminates have an AC Rating.
We recommend for the following:
Bedrooms & light traffic rooms or areas – AC3 Minimum
Heavy Traffic Areas – Halls & Living Areas – AC4 / 5
Commercial Areas – AC5
Thickness is not as important as the surface wear layer. This is how the floor is rated.

Different Styles of Laminate Flooring:

Standard Plank – Usually are 1200mm to 1400mm Long

The widths range from 4 inches (100mm to 8 inches)

Long Plank – Usually 1.8mts to 2mts

Herringbone (Parquet)

Herringbone style floors are very popular now, they vary in size from 4ins 100m to 180mm in width, Length 12inch (300mm) to 18 Inches (450mm)

Herringbones can creak and bounce a lot if the fitting procedures aren’t followed.

To Guarantee eliminating this problem we suggest you glue the floor down all over, or break at doorways to each floor area to allow adequate exposure.

Colours & Styles & Appearance:

What we recommend when buying a laminate is to buy one that is difficult to tell if its laminate or engineered.

Obviously, you want it to look as real as possible to natural wood.  The following variables come into it.

Foil Wrapped flooring:

Means the colour on the paper that’s used to make the floor, is wrapped around the edges. The effect is that where the joints meet won’t be a different colour, otherwise the lines between the planks will look like a different colour. This is a more costly process for the manufacturer which can reflect in the price.

Texture:

Slightly embossed instead of smooth makes it more real looking

Colours: Grey is still very popular but taupe, mink and bleached oaks are most popular.  These still blend with greys and can also be used with more traditional beige tones too.

Dark Oaks & Walnuts – These colours are also quite popular and again can be used on either side of the colour pallets which are either beiges tones or grey tones.

Traditional Oak: We are starting to find that people are using natural oak colours with grey colours to add warmth.

Discover Our Perfect Range Of Laminate Flooring. The Very Latest Trends & Styles. Latest Trends.  Speak With Our Expert Team Today.

LVT (Luxury Vinyl Tiles and Woodstrip)

This product is very popular in the UK and has become more popular here in the last few years.

This suits all heavy traffic areas in Domestic and Commercial installations. It’s most popular in wood effect look in domestic areas.

In domestic locations it is mainly sold with a click system which means it can be loose laid on top of underlay. It is a water proof product compared to laminate and is quite soft to walk on. Generally it is more expensive type of vinyl.

Vinyl Flooring

There are different types of vinyl flooring with different uses.

Commercial Vinyl locations

Usually a dry back finish which means it’s installed by gluing down all over, this means is it not as soft to walk on.

Domestic Vinyl locations

In domestic locations we find vinyl is mainly used in bathrooms and kitchens. The main advantages are they are water proof, cost effective and easy installed (mainly loose laid) and soft underfoot.

Some things to keep in mind when purchasing a Vinyl Floor;

• Sub Floor needs to be level. If concrete floor it needs to be smooth and if the floor is tongue and grove it needs to be even.
• The wear layer needs to be good and the vinyl shouldn’t be too soft particularly in kitchen areas as it can mark with furniture, so we recommend solid and strong.
• Joins should be avoided if possible particularly in main traffic areas.

Click here to see some of our Vinyl Flooring

GOC Carpets was established to cater for the domestic, hotel, pub & leisure industry as well as the corporate sector. We have built a superb reputation for offering a personal service so regardless of your budget call into our extensive showroom and let our professional advisors help you with your next flooring purchase.  Every customer is important and therefore there is no job too small.

When considering buying a stairs and landing carpet here are some of the variables to consider for making a good decision. Make sure it carries a very heavy wear or heavy domestic classification. Depending on whether you want a practical carpet or a visual look, or both.

Practical Carpet for Stairs and Landing

We recommend a short pile carpet with a really strong thick underlay, short pile carpets do not flatten easily.

Plain Carpet for Stairs

There are four categories in a plain carpet

1. Velvet – this can look very opulent and classy but does take a little more care and maintenance.
2. Twist Pile – not as sharp or velour looking as a velvet, looks a little more coarse, however it can be very easy to maintain. It can also be available with a blend of colour giving it a tweed look.
3. Natural Fibres –  this has a flatter finish, with a loop or often a ribbed look. These are available in wool or often in a sisal finish. Normally quite easy to keep and maintain.
4. Bleach cleanable – (synthetic) wears best in a dark colour or a blend of a couple of colours.

Fibre Content for Apperance Retention on Stairs Carpet

We always recommend wool or a wool mix as best choice,  nylon as second choice and bleach cleanable as last choice. So the fibre is what we believe is the most important variable in a carpet keeping its appearance

Stair Runners and Binding

Pretty much any carpet can be made into a stair runner, any width stairs and any shaped stairs.

The width can be to suit the clients taste and stair width.

We normally recommend 3-4 inch gap on each side, depending on how much of the stairs you want showing.

Patterns

Choices in patterns vary.

Traditional designs, these would be used in hotel lobbies but are as popular as they were 20 years ago and when used are extremely practical, what tends to sell are traditional designs with four or less colours which can look more subdued or subtle.

Bindings

There are basically three types of binding

1. Whipping – usually made with wool yarn , this is how most samples are finished around the edges
2. American Tape Binding – this is a very robust , neat binding
3. Linen Binding – usually two inches wide on each side, this is a fabric

Binding is usually used in a contrasting colour – examples of this can be seen in our photo gallery.

Chevron or Herringbon

These are very popular for stairs and landings, they look rally good and are very easy to maintain.

Stripes

Not as popular as they were five years ago, now a more subtle pin stripe is more popular (two colour mix).

Abstracts for Heather Blend Carpets

Again a blend of no more then three colours, so quite subdued but practical.

For your stairs and landing carpets, we at GOC Carpets we work with all the major brand names. You can be guaranteed quality products, from classic pieces to current trends. Our patterned ranges are designed to enhance modern living and provide elegance and style to any living space.

Stairs and Landing

Here at GOC Carpets  our team are highly qualified with vast years of experience in the flooring industry. We take pride in our customer service and our 100% commitment to our clients, so when it comes to buying a carpet we are happy to give you some expert advice.

Here are some top tips to consider when purchasing a carpet.

First thing to consider is the traffic in the area where the carpet will be fitted.

• Carpet suitability for wear -according to traffic and area carpet is being fitted
• Light domestic: bedrooms are rooms with light traffic.
• Medium domestic: bedrooms with heavy traffic, downstairs rooms with moderate traffic.
• Heavy domestic: anywhere in the house that has heavy traffic.
• Extra heavy domestic / contact :  very heavy traffic areas including hotels, guesthouses, all areas of public wear.
• Heavy contract: this covers all contract areas that have high volume of traffic.

The Second item to consider is Pile Height & Density of Pile

When purchasing a carpet lots of people are drawn to heavy high pile carpets because they feel soft.

In general if the pile height is long it can lack density, hence where it can certainly feel and look luxurious in general they can also flatten and get matted quite easily.

When asked for advice in this area I like to recommend short pile height and dense pile content, which tends to keep its appearance longer.

So rule of thumb is the longer the pile the quicker it flattens. The shorter the pile with high tuft content the longer it keeps its appearance

Carpets can wear for a long time but can wear ugly (loose their appearance quite fast).

You should also consider the different textures in plain carpets

Plain carpets, more so than patterned carpets have been more popular in the last 15 years.

There are basically four different types of plain carpet and each have their own variations, in each finish, however to keep it simple there are the following categories:

• Velvet texture – this is a solid velour type finish and generally has a short pile with a dense pile construction.
• Twist pile  –  this has a more coarse look and can have one colour of a blend of colour (tweed look), usually as a short pile and can vary in density.
• Natural texture – also known as loop pile texture this look has a loop or textured finish which does not  feel as soft to handle but can be very durable . With a heavy underlay it can feel soft underfoot.  So this is a visual look which appeals to a lot of people often used on stairs & landings with a runner on the stairs.
• Saxony – this is usually a longer pile carpet which always feels soft to walk on, particularly if it has a thick underlay. Often it will have on the label – suitable for heavy domestic wear, but as i have said before it tends to flatten quicker.

GOC Carpets was established to cater for the domestic, hotel, pub & leisure industry as well as the corporate sector. We have built a superb reputation for offering a personal service so regardless of your budget call into our extensive showroom and let our professional advisors help you with your next flooring purchase.

See some samples of our extensive carpet range here

An old saying in our trade”a cheap carpet needs a good underlay a good carpet deserves one”.

There are 3 different types constructions in underlays, and different qualities in each

1. Hair felt

2. Rubber underlays

3. PU underlays (this one you got to pick wisely )

Hair felt is bought by the weight,  you  need a 50 oz weight in this as it suits commercial plus domestic areas because in our experience carpets sit well on it and seldom the carpet stretches or bubbles.  It doesn’t feel bouncy, but more solid to walk on.

Rubber underlay , this has been used for the last 40 years, this is sold again by the weight. Some of rubber underlay if made cheaply use chalk as a filler so to beef up the weight.  We still use the old reliable “tredaire brand” mainly tredaire elite. Again, we find very few problems with stretching and bubbling,  it will stay soft and firm for the life of your carpet and it doesn’t tend to lose its bounce. This underlay suits both domestic and contract installations.

Flat rubber underlay is used under carpets that need to be glued down to prevent them from shrinking (Ex sisal) or on very large contract areas where trolleys moving heavy goods are wheeled over the carpet.

Also rubber underlay with a low tog rating is the only real recommended underlay to be used over underfloor heating, otherwise no heat comes through.

PU underlays, these are fairly new to the Irish market. If using a PU underlay we advise that you pick wisely as this underlay has a lot of cheap versions and we find with these if a low density Spongy (not solid ) version is used your carpet it will feel spongy and not soft and will more that likely need to stretched every so often. We tend to use high density 9 to 11mm quality but not on all types of carpets. They will feel soft but can cause call backs for the Fitter’s which is never good for our reputation so we are selective where we use them.

So as you can see buying a carpet and buying underlay is a science.

Glen O Callaghan has over 20 years experience in the carpet and flooring industry. Come to our showroom or contact us for expert professional advice, – GOC Carpets the home of affordable luxury.

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Our ranges of high quality carpets offer the style and design to suit the decor of any room.

GOC Carpets Affordable Luxury Carpet Sale

GO’C Carpets are located in Glasnevin, Dublin. With over 35 years experience we have built a reputation based on quality, service and value for money. Our team are with you all the way from choosing the right carpet, to measuring and fitting by our own skilled craftsmen.

Our one to one personalised service allows us answer all your questions and ensures you make the best choice for your home and stay within your budget. Talk to one of our team today.

Every customer is important and therefore there is no job too small.

Phone us on 01 860 1845 or call into our showroom on 131b Slaney Road, Dublin Industrial Estate Glasnevin, Dublin11

Welcome to GOC Carpets Dublin

A Irish-owned carpet and laminate shop providing customers with innovative and exclusive carpet and flooring designs at a great price.

Transform your property’s interior into something that you can be proud of with GOC Carpet.

Based in Dublin, our carpet and flooring installation company is a family-run business with over 35 years experience. We boast a large showroom with thousands of varieties of carpets and flooring that we supply and fit for your convenience.

Herringbone Laminate

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