Work environment in carpet

Carpet, floor, and tile installers and finishers usually work indoors and have regular daytime hours. However, when floor covering installers need to work in occupied stores or offices, they may work evenings and weekends to avoid disturbing customers or employees. By the time workers install carpets, flooring, or tile in a new structure, most construction has been completed and the work area is relatively clean and uncluttered. Installing these materials is labor intensive; workers spend much of their time bending, kneeling, and reaching—activities that require endurance. The work can be very hard on workers’ knees and back. Carpet installers frequently lift heavy rolls of carpet and may move heavy furniture, which requires strength and can be physically exhausting. Safety regulations may require that they wear kneepads or safety goggles when using certain tools. Carpet and floor layers may be exposed to fumes from various kinds of glue and to fibers of certain types of carpet.

Although workers are subject to cuts from tools or materials, falls from ladders, and strained muscles, the occupation is not as hazardous as some other construction occupations.

Recycled Rug Fibers

Nylon Nylon carpet uses one of two types of nylon face fiber – nylon 6 or nylon 6,6. Recycled content percentages are often lower in both types than P.E.T. carpets, but nylon fibers, particularly nylon 6 fibers, are often easier to recycle at the end of its life. All of the following nylon manufacturers’ recycled content levels are Scientific Certification Systems (SCS)-certified.

Honeywell Infinity Forever Renewable Nylon: The Infinity Forever Renewable Nylon is nylon 6 made from recycled nylon 6 carpet fibers. (Recycled content percentages vary). Used in Mohawk Commercial carpets. Recycled content comes from the Evergreen Nylon Recycling program, Honeywell Zeftron Nylon: Zeftron Nylon has three nylon 6 lines of face fiber that use a range of recycled content. Zeftron Savant uses the highest, with 50% total recycled content, 25% of which is post-consumer. Zeftron Select and Zeftron Solure both contain 25% post-industrial recycled content. http://www.zeftronnylon.com/ Recycled content comes from the 6ix Again closed loop recycling program.

Invista Antron Nylon: Invista manufactures three nylon 6,6 face fiber products with recycled content - Antron Legacy, Antron nylon with StainResist, and Antron Lumena. Antron Lumena comes standard with at least 5% recycled content, with all three lines containing 90% post-industrial content on a select basis, depending on the carpet manufacturer. The Invista Reclamation Program will reclaim any carpet when specified in the installation of a new carpet.

Recycled-Content Face Fiber

While many factors contribute to the overall life-cycle costs of a carpet, one way companies can reduce impacts of the manufacturing process is to use recycled content in the face fiber of the carpet. Presently, most recycled nylon comes from post-industrial fiber (waste from extrusion and yarn mills, clean lint and edge trim from finishing lines) but the technology is rapidly improving to convert used nylon fiber into new carpet. As more used carpet becomes available and manufacturing plants adapt their facilities to meet the new technology, the percent of post-consumer content should increase. Keep in mind that the amount of post-industrial content should not be a selection criterion, because as companies become more efficient at reducing waste in the manufacturing process, the percentage of post-industrial recycled content in commercial yarn should drop. It may not be possible to specify the type of face fiber or the amount of recycled content, but you can choose carpet manufacturers who choose one of the following fibers.

P.E.T. Carpet made with recycled P.E.T. (e.g., soda bottles) face fibers often has the highest percentage recycled content. P.E.T. fibers are naturally stain resistant and do not require the chemical treatments used on some nylon carpet. Fibers retain their color and resist fading due to sun or harsh cleaning. Shades can be richer and brighter than those found in nylon yarns. P.E.T. carpet manufacturers claim P.E.T. is superior to lower grades of virgin synthetic fibers and that is has exceptional strength and durability. At the time of this report, no programs to recycle used P.E.T. carpet back into new carpet exist, but fibers can be down-cycled into other products such as car parts, insulation, transportation devices, and furniture stuffing.

Braided Rugs and Handmade Shoes Display

A Tale of Braided Rugs and Handmade Shoes, will be on exhibit at the Mary E. Black Gallery, Nova Scotia Centre for Craft and Design, 1683 Barrington Street, Halifax, from Jan. 28 to March 20.

In 1882, Oscar Wilde wrote: "And what is the meaning of this beautiful decoration which we call art? In the first place, it means value to the workman and it means the pleasure which he most necessarily takes in making a beautiful thing. The mark of all good art is not that the thing is done exactly or finely, for machinery may do as much, but that it is worked out with the head and the worker's heart."

Curator Noreen Battaglia has considered this quote for the exhibit, which features braided, hooked and painted rugs, embodiments of her statement, "Old cloth made useful contained family memories and acted as a family diary."

The works range from traditional braided rugs by Bill Barrett and Eleanor Rinehardt to contemporary pieces such as Rosemary MacAuley's welcome mats braided with encylopedia texts, and a painted rug by Rose Adams. Rosanne Nicholson's display of a hooked rug was made in memory of her beloved cats. The rug, which reveals images of cats, will be presented as part of a cat's corner complete with a scratching post and pottery feeding bowls. Handmade shoes by Jude Major, Kay Stanfield and Ken Nye provide the rug's counterpart.

"The carpet and shoe are metaphors to enhance a wider understanding of the human and animal imprint of an earlier time, said Ms. Battaglia. "Creative play allows the artist to search into deeper levels of identifying methods to envisage into those imprints. A journey begins with the spark that ignites once the foot imprints a surface, telling the story of everyone involved."

The centre is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, and on Saturday from 10 a.m to 4 p.m.

Raising Rare Sheep and Creating Wool Rugs

Growing up in the town of Mt. Sterling, Elizabeth Ann Brown was always fascinated by sheep. In 1984 she and her husband moved to their 125 acre farm on Grassy Lick Road and began raising sheep. She now tends a flock of 70, including the seven rare breeds of Dorset, Lincoln, English Leicester Longwool, Rambouillet, Karakul and Border Leicester. The fleeces from each breed have a variety of colors and textures – from pale gray, dark gray, and soft brown to creamy white. Once common on American farms, these breeds are “rare” meaning that today there are fewer than 1,000 registered in North America and fewer that 5,000 worldwide.

Elizabeth soon learned that the wool from each different rare breed, had very different characteristics - some being lustrous, some long and curly, and some with incredibly strong fibers. She learned how to spin, and with so much wool on hand began making braided rugs. Rug making has now become a full time occupation. After shearing her sheep in May, she washes the wool fleeces, sorts them and takes them to a woolen mill to be cut into un-spun strips called roving. She then dyes this wool roving using natural dyes she creates from plants growing on her farm. The dyed wool roving is then braided and sewn to make one-of-a-kind, warm and woolly rugs.

Works by Elizabeth Ann Brown are regularly available at the Kentucky Artisan Center located just off Interstate 75 at exit 77 (Berea). The Center’s exhibits, shopping, and travel information areas are all open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and the café from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Admission is free. The Center currently features works by more than 650 artisans from all across the Commonwealth. The Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea is an agency in the Commerce Cabinet of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Installation of Area Rugs

Carpet installers use hand tools such as hammers, drills, staple guns, carpet knives, and rubber mallets. They also may use carpetlaying tools, such as carpet shears, knee kickers, wall trimmers, loop pile cutters, heat irons, and power stretchers.

Floor installers and floor layers lay floor coverings such as laminate, linoleum, vinyl, cork, and rubber for decorative purposes, or to deaden sounds, absorb shocks, or create air-tight environments. Although they also may install carpet, wood or tile, that is not their main job. Before installing the floor, floor layers inspect the surface to be covered and, if necessary, correct any deficiencies, such as a rotted or unleveled sub-floor, in order to start with a sturdy, smooth, clean foundation. They measure and cut floor covering materials. When installing linoleum or vinyl, they may use an adhesive to cement the material directly to the floor. For laminate floor installation, workers may unroll and install a polyethylene film which acts as a moisture barrier, along with a thicker, padded underlayer which helps reduce noise. Cork and rubber floors often can be installed directly on top of the sub-floor without any underlayer. Finally, floor layers install the floor covering to form a tight fit.

Nature of Area Rugs

Carpet, tile, and other types of floor coverings not only serve an important basic function in buildings, but their decorative qualities also contribute to the appeal of the buildings. Carpet, floor, and tile installers and finishers lay floor coverings in homes, offices, hospitals, stores, restaurants, and many other types of buildings. Tile also may be installed on walls and ceilings.

Before installing carpet, carpet installers first inspect the surface to be covered to determine its condition and, if necessary, correct any imperfections that could show through the carpet or cause the carpet to wear unevenly. They measure the area to be carpeted and plan the layout, keeping in mind expected traffic patterns and placement of seams for best appearance and maximum wear.