Shrinking Of Carpets

Ingrain carpet with a cotton chain is liable to shrink and should, if possible, be laid as soon as cut. A "union" carpet is, in this respect, worse than any other and will sometimes shrink a couple of feet in twelve hours and especially if the atmosphere is damp. Such a carpet should always be cut longer than the room or trouble will he experienced in laying it.

Carpets Fading

Any carpet, regardless of its cost, will change color or shade. Nothing is made which will not fade.

The above table will be a great help to those- want ing carpets for their home. It is a table of different sized rooms and gives the number of yards of 36-inch carpet, 27-inch carpet, made plain without a bonier, also 27-inch carpet made with a border, which would be required to cover a room.

If the size of the room is not given in this table, allow enough for the next larger size. In figuring the amount of carpet needed in fitting these rooms, the ordinary waste is included. Perhaps one will wonder why there should be a waste of carpet in matching the patterns. Patterns in the different style carpets do not match at exactly the same distance, some patterns being 30 inches apart, some 52, 34, or 36 inches. In a room which measures 14 by 15 feet, one will readily see, by the table, that it requires five widths of 36-inch ingrain carpet, each width being 14 feet long, to actually cover the room. The pattern will not match at 14 feet exactly, as it cuts at 14 feet and 9 inches, so to match the carpet, the strips must each be cut 14 feet and 9 inches. On five widths of carpet, one would be obliged to use 45 inches more carpet than is actually needed to cover the floor, and would be charged with the 1 1/4 yards of waste carpet used in this matching. This waste in matching also applies to Brussels, velvet and Axminster carpets as well as to ingrains. Should a room be 14 by 14 feet, it will require five widths of ingrain carpet to cover the floor and there will be a strip of one foot on one full side that will either have to be turned under, or it can be cut off and used in matching at threshold, or saved to be used for patching.

Notice that two rooms of different sizes will require the same amount of carpet. A room 14 by 14 will require as much ingrain carpet as a room that measures 15 by 14, due to the widths of the carpets and to the waste in matching.

It often occurs that one will ask for 25 yards of carpet to cover a floor five yards square. Owing to matching of the figure, this size room may require 26 or 27 yards, and consequently a 25-yard strip when matched would be found lacking and would necessitate another trip to the store for more carpet.