A warm house is something we all love to come home to after a hard day’s work, especially in the cooler months. If your home isn’t as warm as you’d like it to be, it may be time to consider the benefits of what a 100% wool carpet could do for your home and your family. Warm, comforting, soft and luxurious, wool carpet provides a truly unmatched sensory experience. Sit on it, lie on it, play on it, read on it, take a nap on it – just enjoy it. A winter’s night has never been cozier!
Here are several reasons why wool is a natural choice for your home or project:
Naturally Comfortable⠀
Wool carpets just feel better. You’ll love sliding your shoes off at the end of the day and running your toes through the soft, natural fibers. Wool will also absorb sound and will cushion the home against echoes and noise from the family.
Naturally Insulating
Due to wool’s ability to regulate humidity and its superb insulation properties, wool carpet helps keep you warmer in winter and cooler in summer. Studies have shown energy costs can be significantly reduced for both heating and cooling by up to 12% with a wool carpet when there are temperature differences between the indoor air and that under the floor. Remember – the thicker your wool carpet, the better the level of insulation provided.
Because wool has natural insulating properties, underfloor heating may take a little longer to heat up but, once hot, wool retains heat in the room for longer to increase energy efficiency. Wool carpets are suitable for use over electric or water underfloor heating systems.
Naturally Resilient
Each strand has a 3D spiraling crimp which gives it natural elasticity. That allows the fibers to stretch up to 30% more than its original length and then bounce back, kind of like a miniature spring. This natural resilience permits wool carpet to withstand all the daily traffic you can give it.
Naturally Stain Resistant
Each wool fiber is naturally coated with a thin, protective membrane that allows it to shed water and prevent it from penetrating the individual fibers. Nature created wool to be a miracle fiber that can repel water, yet absorb its vapors to resist static electricity.
Naturally Resistant to Soil and Water
If you look at wool fiber under a microscope, you'll see its structure is made up of overlapping scales, much like roof shingles. These scales keep dust and dirt near the surface of the pile, which it can be easily released by vacuuming. Fiber abrasion is also minimized with wool carpeting because relatively few soil particles actually reach the base of the pile.
Wool does not attract lint so vacuum cleaning is easier and in wet cleaning fibers swell and release dirt particles.
Naturally Biodegradable and Non-Allergenic
Sheep use wool to protect themselves from a variety of climate changes throughout the year, and that toughness isn’t lost when it’s moved to the floor. This renewable resource is durable, non-allergenic, and can even help to insulate your home and lower heating costs. You’ll be going green by choosing a comfortable, warm, natural fiber for your carpets. And there’s no need to worry about chemicals or allergies with the all-natural wool carpets lining your floors.
Wool gives off no VOCs, so it's safe for homes and landfills. Wool fibers prevent water from penetrating, but allow vapors such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and formaldehyde to be trapped in the core thus helping to improve air quality. Along with purifying the air, wool fibers don't affect asthma sufferers because they're too long and course to inhale. Because wool biodegrades, it puts nutrients back into the ground, producing more robust plants and gardens.
If your home is prone to excess moisture and often feels damp in winter, a wool carpet could help combat this. Wool has a natural ability to regulate the humidity of an interior – it quite simply ‘breathes’. Wool absorbs moisture when the atmosphere is damp and releases it when the atmosphere is dry, creating a more comfortable, warmer environment. It does this without feeling damp or cold to the touch like some synthetics can. A European Community Respiratory Health study found that it is the growth of indoor mold due to dampness in the home that has the biggest impact on adult asthma sufferers – wool’s ability to regulate moisture levels can prevent mold growth.
Naturally Sustainable
Not only is wool nontoxic, it is the ultimate renewable fiber – it grows continuously on a sheep’s back all year round. During summer, the wool from sheep is removed (sheared) by skilled craftsmen and the sheep return to their pasture. At the end of its useful life, the pile from wool carpet can be returned to the ground, where the nutrients released as it decomposes promote further grass growth, and the natural production cycle starts all over again.
Wool carpets can be recycled at the end of their useful life in a number of interesting ways. Wool carpets are naturally durable so they can be re-formed and re-used as decorative area rugs. Wool pile from old carpets, along with waste wool from the manufacturing process, can be used in environmentally-friendly insulation products.
Discarded wool carpet can be cut into strips and used to protect newly planted trees and to prevent erosion and soil loss. The slow breakdown of wool provides rich nutrients and mulch to nourish the saplings and promote faster growth.
Naturally Flame Retardant
As the use of electric blankets and heaters rise during winter, it’s good to know that wool is the safest carpet fiber because it is the most difficult to ignite. The high moisture content of the fiber, along with wool's protein constituents, gives wool carpets excellent natural flame resistance. The fiber will not support combustion - it is difficult to ignite and is self-extinguishable. Charring can easily be brushed away. As well as being extremely safe, wool carpet retains its appearance even after minor burn damage from fireplace embers or cigarettes.
In a major fire, wool carpets contribute much less in terms of smoke and toxic gas formations than most other materials. Wool carpet provides an added insulation against heat and flames for the underlay and underlying floor surface.
Naturally Perfect for Dyeing
New Zealand wool is naturally the whitest wool in the world with excellent dyeing characteristics. The wool fiber's natual affinity for dyes makes possible a myriad of colors and design combinations. Wool carpets sustain their original color over years of wear and cleaning. The molecular structure of wool accepts dye very well and locks it in. Wool fiber’s protein-based chemical makeup readily accepts dyes and locks in the color for superior intensity and color fastness. This characteristic allows wool carpeting to be available in a wide range of colors and patterns, which accommodates subtle variation in shades to achieve a high level of aesthetic appeal.
Naturally Adds Value to Your Home
Wool carpet is a sign of success, and adding it to any room or area in your home can immediately increase the value of the house. Make a statement with your carpeting and show off your lavish, new style to friends and family. You’ll be basking in compliments every time they come over.
There is a misconception that wool carpet is more expensive than synthetic carpet like nylon and polyester. This may be true in the first cost install, but if you look at the longevity of a wool carpet and the way it retains its look, it is a bargain. Include energy savings in heating (up to 20% better than a same weight synthetic carpet) and the regulation of moisture in the home, and you end up saving money in the long run.
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