Carpet buying guide · Kirksville, MO
How to choose carpet for your Kirksville home
Carpet is still the floor most people want in bedrooms, family rooms and on the stairs. It is soft, warm on a cold northeast Missouri morning, and quieter than any hard floor. With dozens of styles on our showroom floor, the trick is knowing what to compare. Here is what matters, in the order we walk through it with customers at Kirksville Carpet One.
Start with the room
Before you look at a single color, think about how the room is used.
- Bedrooms and guest rooms get light traffic, so you can choose for softness and feel.
- Family rooms and basements see kids, pets and snacks. Durability and stain resistance matter more here.
- Stairs and hallways take the most wear in the house, because every step lands in the same spot.
- Rooms with pets need a carpet that cleans up easily and that claws are less likely to snag.
If one carpet will run through several rooms, choose for the busiest one.
Fiber: what the carpet is made of
The fiber decides a lot about how a carpet wears and cleans. These are the ones you will see most:
- Nylon is known for bouncing back from foot traffic, which makes it a common pick for busy rooms and stairs.
- Polyester is soft, holds color well and is often easier on the budget. It is a good fit for bedrooms and lower-traffic rooms.
- Triexta is a newer fiber that is soft and stain resistant.
- Wool is a natural fiber with a rich feel, usually at a higher price.
The label or spec sheet for each style tells you the fiber. Ask us to pull a few styles in different fibers so you can feel the difference.
Style: how the carpet is built
- Cut pile has yarn tips cut open. Plush and saxony styles look smooth and formal. Textured styles have twisted yarns that hide footprints and vacuum marks, which is why they are so popular.
- Loop pile, including Berber, keeps the yarn in loops. It is tough and hides dirt well, but pets' claws can catch on loose loops.
- Cut and loop mixes both to make a pattern, like the patterned carpets you see on stairs.
For wear, look past the color. A carpet with tightly twisted yarns packed close together tends to hold its look longer. Bend a sample back: if you can easily see the backing between the tufts, the carpet is less dense.
Pad matters more than people think
The pad under your carpet changes how it feels and how it wears. A good pad makes carpet feel softer and helps it hold up to traffic. In our estimate, pad is its own line, so you see its price before you decide. Ask us which pad fits your carpet and your room.
Color and light
Carpet looks different under showroom lights than it will in your home. Take samples home and look at them in daylight and at night, next to your walls, trim and furniture. Mid-tone colors and flecked or multicolor carpets hide everyday dirt better than very light or very dark solids. If you have a pet, a color close to its coat hides hair between vacuums.
Carpet with pets
Our lineup includes Mohawk PetPremier styles, along with carpets from Dream Weaver, Godfrey Hirst, Tarkett Home and others. For pet homes, look for stain and soil protection and a low, tight construction that claws are less likely to snag. Tell us about your pets and we will pull styles that fit.
Stairs and seams
Stairs take extra planning. Each step is cut and fit by hand, and patterned carpets have to line up from step to step. Carpet also comes on rolls of a set width, so in larger rooms there may be seams. The best seams are placed out of main walkways and away from where light from a window would catch them. Talk through seams, stairs and pad with us as part of your project estimate, and we measure every room at your free in-home measure.
What it costs
Every carpet on our carpet page shows its material price per square foot, and our carpet cost guide shows how a room is priced. Your installed price adds installation and pad, and includes tear-out and haul-away of your old floor. Floor prep is added only if your floor needs it.
For a number for your own rooms, our online estimator prices every room and shows an installed price and a materials-only price. We ask for your name, phone and email before showing prices, and we honor your online prices for 14 days. Your final total is confirmed at your free in-home measure. Curious how the rest of the project goes? Read what happens from measure to install day.
Come feel it in person
Carpet is a floor you have to touch to choose. Visit us at 1200 N Baltimore St in Kirksville, bring a photo of your room, and we will help you narrow it down. We serve Kirksville, La Plata, Lancaster, Edina, Macon, Milan and Memphis. Start your carpet estimate online, or call (660) 956-4560.