Discover Variations of Outdoor Carpeting on Your Deck or Patio

Carpeting in your house is always a benefit, but sometimes it's just as much benefit to have it outdoors as well. Outdoor carpeting brings many luxuries to your patio besides the ordinary plush feeling to your feet as you walk outside on it. It can add a quality appearance and delicateness to your patio or deck.

Some years ago I remember seeing some neighbors of mine using what was known at that time as astroturf or synthetic grass on their decks and patios. In fact some of you may remember that the NFL used to use it on their stadium turfs. Until they realized that the players were getting hurt more easily on it during games.

Then they went back to the real grass turf with ground up tire rubber pieces underneath, to give a more softer landing for the players. Since then many carpet companies have come out with outdoor carpeting made especially for the purpose of patios and such. Astroturf or fake grass turf is more commonly found now in marine vehicles such as boats.

Learn Whats Available

In this article we'll take a look at the different variations of outdoor carpeting that is available to you. This will be a benefit to you, if you are thinking of covering your:

• Patio

• Wood Deck

• Or Any Type Deck

Outdoor carpet comes in a few different variations of types and colors like with regular indoor carpeting. Depending on what your looking for, just like indoors, your choices are...

• Throw Rugs

• Area Rugs

• Full Covering Carpets

• Carpet Tiles

Again just like with indoor carpeting, outdoor carpets come in different piles (weavings). Let's take look at some of those types available to you.

• Marine Carpet

As mentioned before about marine carpet, synthetic carpet or grass carpet, has an absorbent top with a rubber backing on it. This carpeting is best for outdoor carpet where standing water is a problem. Because it is resistant to mold, stains and dirt.

Therefore this makes it one of the more desirable carpeting because of the low maintenance associated with it. This carpet also comes in short or long piles.

• Cut-Pile

This carpet has natural fibers to it and has a smoother texture. It is best used as a compliment to your outdoor area. The drawback is that it is prone to dirt and can become moldy.

• Loop Carpet

These outdoor carpets are more aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Because they come in many wonderful colors. The only drawback to these are the same with the Cut-Pile carpets. They hold water and can become dirty and moldy quicker.

If your outdoor area or deck is covered with an awning or roof, then you'll not have the problem of that worry. Your Cut-Pile or Loop outdoor carpeting will last much longer and your color theme will stay pleasing to the eye.

If rain or water is a great concern for you then by all means go with the grass carpet, short pile. It is far more durable and holds it's color far longer. However as with all materials, another concern is the sun fading. Unless you have lots of shade from trees or awning, you'll need to keep this in mind when choosing your carpet outdoor.

Grass Carpet Properties

Choosing the grass carpeting has the extra benefit because it is made of Olefin on the top and rubber on the back. Olefin is a synthetic material which is also known as Polypropylene. This would be the best choice for your outdoor area if you don't have a cover over the area.

This Olefin material is highly resistant to water, dirt, and mold. It will last for many years for you and still look almost as good as the day you installed it.

When installing the grass carpet be sure to use a marine glue. Marine glue is especially formulated to resist water. Thats why this carpet is usually used in boats and marine vehicles. With it's water resistance becoming greater, coupling it with the specially made glue.

One other thing to consider here, just like with indoor carpeting, is if you want padding underneath the carpet. So be sure to remember to consider this also in your purchasing.



Average Pricing

Here I will give you some average grass carpeting prices to help you in your decision making. These prices are not all inclusive, and are taken from one wholesale company, just to give you an idea. I'll use the company's names for their grass carpet, which just describes the different piles or types that they have.

• Hump-N-Bump
  Outdoor Grass Carpet
  
  Wholesale Carpet Price
  $0.69/sq.ft.
  
  Textured Loop Grass Carpet
  6ft & 12ft Wide - Action Back
  8 Colors Available

• Grass Carpet Values
  Outdoor Grass Carpets
  
  Wholesale Carpet Price
  $0.69/sq.ft.
  
  6ft & 12ft Wide - Rubber Back
  12ft Wide - Action Back
  8 Colors Available

• Cape May
  Outdoor Grass Carpet
  
  Wholesale Carpet Price
  Roll: $0.79/sq.ft.
  Cut: $0.99/sq.ft.
  
  12oz Outdoor Grass Carpet
  12ft Wide Material
  6 Colors Available
  Action Back
  Outdoor Carpet Warranty

These are just a few of what this company has available. As you can see there are many types and piles to choose from.

To Sum It Up

If you're looking to put some pizazz to your patio or deck, you can't go wrong with outdoor carpeting. Remember though if you have a covering over your area, then you have quite a few choices for yourself. However, if theres no covering you should choose the grass carpet.

Even with the grass carpet you have many styles and colors to choose from. And no added worry of rain or weather of any type to destroy your carpet. Your family will have outdoor deck enjoyment for years to come. As well as it's much easier on the feet to.

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How to Measure Your Carpeting Costs before Choosing the Right Carpet

When your looking to add new or replace carpeting in your home, one of the first things you'll want to consider is should I do it my self or hire a professional. A professional carpet installer may charge you anywhere from $2.50 - $6.25 dollars and up per square yard depending on the type and quality of the carpet you choose.

Hiring a carpet professional is hardly feasible for many folks in todays economy. It just makes good sense to do the work yourself today. It's not hard to go through the process of measuring, purchasing and doing the work of installing the carpet yourself. Providing you are physically able to do so.

Save Your Money

If your on a limited budget and still would like to have good quality carpet in your home then doing it your self will be the best bet. If you don't mind a little elbow grease (work), then you can save a ton of money and get that perfect carpet that you've always wanted for your home.

In this article we will talk about how you can do the work yourself and save big money. I will tell you about 2 things associated with getting the job underway that are the most important parts. Those are:

• How to Measure your Room(s)

• Carpeting Costs

Get the Right Numbers

The most important of these being your carpet cost. When starting out the process use a measuring tape to measure your room(s). For this process I will use a simple 15' ft. by 20' ft. room for example. The process of measuring is the same for any size room(s). Let's get started:

• Simply measure the width of the room and the length of it

• Multiply the width by the length to get the total square footage of the room(s). 15' ft. x 20' ft. = 300

(Note that most carpet comes in 12' ft. wide rolls.) So for our example to get the total square yardage needed you divide by 9:

• Divide the 300 total square footage by 9 which comes out to 33.33 square yards

For our example there would need to be a 3' ft. x 20' ft. seam along one of the walls in the room. The reason being is because as mentioned a moment ago, carpet comes from the factory in 12' ft. wide rolls. Of course if at all possible you would rather complete the job without having any seams. Makes less work.

You should always add about 10% percent more square foot to the total to make up for any extra carpet needed to complete the work.

There are other widths that may be available other than 12' ft. wide. Such as 13'.6" and 15' ft. Depending on the size of course of the room your doing. Check with your carpet store where you are planning on purchasing from.

Count Your Pennies

Thats a fairly simple process of coming to the conclusion on the amount of carpet needed to get your carpeting job completed. Now, let's move to the important part in my opinion, understanding the carpeting cost. Carpet costs can range anywhere from $7.00 dollars a square yard to $50 dollars per square yard depending on the quality.

So what are the advantages and disadvantages of the different qualities of carpets. Simply just, wear ability. For example the cheap carpet will most likely look just as good to the eye as the expensive, but in terms of longevity is where you'll see the difference.

Then theres the cost of the padding if you want that cushy feeling under your feet when you lay or walk on it. Padding cost can run anywhere from $1.75 to $5.50 per square yard. So thats something also to consider when figuring in your carpet costs. Measure it the same way as before.

Ok, let's have a look at some examples to help you when considering carpet costs and the price of carpet.

Cheap Carpet or Low Grade Carpet

       Average Lasting or Longevity:

• Low Traffic - ~ 4 years

• Medium Traffic - ~ 3 years

• High Traffic - ~ 2 years

Carpet Cost $7.00 to 10.00 per sq. yd.

Average Cost per square yard installed - $12.00 to $15.00 per yard

Professional installation costs - $2.50 to 3.00 per sq. yd.
----------------------------------------------------------------

Medium Grade Carpet

       Average Lasting or Longevity

• Low Traffic - ~ 12 years

• Medium Traffic - ~ 9 years

• Heavy Traffic - ~ 7 years

Carpet Cost $15.00 to 20.00 per sq. yd.

Average cost per square yard installed - $23 to $30 per yard

Professional Installation Costs - $3.75 to 6.25 per sq. yd.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

High Grade or High Quality Carpet

       Average Lasting or Longevity

• Low Traffic - ~ 20 years

• Medium Traffic - ~ 15 years

• Heavy Traffic - ~ 12 years

Carpet Cost $20.00 to 50.00 per sq. yd.

Average cost per square yard installed - $28 to $55 per yard

Professional Installation Costs - $5.75 to $8.25 per sq. yd.
--------------------------------------------------------------



There you have some of the primary costs associated with purchasing carpeting. To show you how much money you can save by doing the installation yourself we will use our example above. In our example we came to a total square yards needed of roughly 36.33. Remember, we added 10% more to make sure we have enough to complete the work.

Feast on the Savings!

Now, let me lay out for you the savings by doing the work yourself in all 3 categories we talked about above, for carpet costs. Using just a rough average of the professional installation costs mentioned in each.

• Cheap Carpet or Low Grade - 36.33 x $2.75 per Sq.Yd. = $99.91 or 100 dollars saved!

• Medium Grade Carpet - 36.33 x $5.00 per Sq.Yd. = $181.65 dollars saved!

• High Grade, High Quality - 36.33 x $7.00 per Sq.Yd. = $254.31 dollars saved!

Pretty significant isn't it? Thats money in your pocket by doing the work yourself. Installing or laying carpet isn't hard. Specially if you have someone helping you do it. You'll want to also remember to figure in your carpet padding as well to your purchase if you choose to have that.

The Conclusion

You certainly can have the carpet you want and save a significant amount of money in the process. I highly recommend if your physically able, to do it this way. Especially if your on a tight budget and have need for or want new carpet in your home.

If you have any questions about how to lay or install the carpet, just leave them in the comments section and I can help you with that. If there is enough questions asked and interest, I may just write an article on how to do it.

Hope this article brings good ideas and benefit to you...

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Home Remedies - How To Remove Stains from Your Carpet

It's a very high possibility that we have all experienced the frustration of trying to get out those annoying stains from our carpets and rugs. Most of the time it seems that even those supposedly, high powered, store bought expensive cleaning solutions don't even work. Usually the best you can hope for with those elixirs is to dull the stains.

Then we've all been through the hiring of the professional carpet cleaners, who come in and when you just want some stubborn stains removed, want to charge you an arm and a leg to do the whole house. Even if you elect to not have your whole house carpets cleaned and you opt for just the room where the stains are at, it's still gonna run you close to a hundred bucks to get it done, with no guarantee of getting the stain that bugs you the most out.

How to remove stains is no joke. It's hard. And its stressful and time consuming. Who likes it! Removing stains on a hard surface is usually not as bad to undertake. But who looks forward to any of it...not me thats for sure. If your like me it sucks to see those carpet stains everytime you walk by it.

So you buckle down and try your darnedest to get it out. I hope you have better luck than me. So I decided to try and bring to you in this article some self made home remedies to stain removing. I scoured the internet to find some of the best I believe, of carpet stain removal ideas from other people who have tried them and seem to have had good luck with them.



Maybe we can pick up a tid bit or 2 that will help us out as well. So without further growling let's get on with it and see what they are. I'll use mostly remedies for some of the toughest stains in this article for you.

Up first -

• Blood Stains

The person that used this idea said blot the majority of the blood stain up with a paper towel. Then neutralize it with a mixture of 1/2 cup of water and 1 Tbsp. of clear ammonia. Blot the stain with this to remove the excess moisture using a white paper towel.

Then mix a solution of 1 quart cool water and 1/4 tsp. of dish detergent. The unbleached type. Joy or Dawn dishwashing liquid are good for this. Blotting the stain to work the solution into the area. If you see the stain being removed continue on. Then use a spray bottle filled with cool water to rinse. Then make a pad of paper towels, lay them on the area and place a heavy book over the top of that to absorb the moisture.

If all the stain doesn't come out, moisten the outer area with 3 percent hydrogen peroxide. Let that stand for an hour or so. Blot and repeat until carpet is stain free. Using the heavy book each time.

• Grease and Oil Stains

This person said for this stain, to spray the area with an ammonia and water mix (50-50) with a few drops of liquid soap added for increased "wetability". Don't let the liquid set for more than a few seconds, then use a shop vacuum or wet vac and suck up the stain. Repeat until the stain is gone and then vacuum till the area is dry. This is about a 5 minute process.

• Ink and Nail Polish

This person says, use hair spray to remove these. Just spray the stained area and dab with a paper towel. Also, I have heard that even WD-40 works good for this as well.

• Chewing Gum - The Ground in or Stepped in kind

This person says to spray WD-40 on the area and rub it with a cloth after a minute or two. It may take a couple applications, depending on how much gum is in the carpet. The WD-40 breaks down the gum. This person says they had been trying for 6 months to get the gum out of the carpet, and it took just 10 minutes with WD-40. Good stuff!!

• Red Wine, Coffee and Tea Stains

This person's idea for this is to pour soda water over the stain then use a clean dry towel and blot dry. Sounds pretty simple, I'd have to try that in a conspicuous place first to see.

• Tar Carpet Stains

A couple people had some good ideas here. Here we go with WD-40 again. This person says, spray WD-40 on a paper towel then blot the tar spot using a clean towel each time (don't rub it). The WD-40 dissolves the tar. Another person says, I use baking soda and Mr. Clean and it really works.



Another person said, I find the best thing to use on tar is Eucalyptus Oil. And it works great on all fabrics. Carpets, Clothes, and Shoes etc..

• Grape and Grape Juice Stains

This person says to use Dawn Dishwashing liquid for these. Pour a little bit on a clean towel and blot it out but do not rub the area. Repeat the process until the stain is gone. Hmmmm....wonder if WD-40 will work for this to? Oh well, just sayin...

• Kool-Aid Stains

This person says for Kool-aid, take a wet white cloth and place it on top of the stain. Then place a warm iron on low setting, on top of the white cloth. Leave on the stain for 15 minutes. Repeat until the stain is gone.

The Unstainable Conclusion

Wow these are some interesting home remedies for removing stains and some of the toughest stains known to man! I probably haven't covered them all but I think I got most of them for you here. While searching for these ideas I came across a lot of things for which WD-40 will take care of. Not just carpet stains and fabrics.

But, perhaps thats a post for a later date. If you have any more ideas for carpet stain removal of your own that have worked for you then, please by all means share them here with us in the comments section. The more homegrown ideas we can come up with that work, the more money we'll all save from spending it on those store bought elixirs that don't work most of the time.

We all look forward to your ideas, so please share them with us.....

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Inspirational Hardwood Cleaning Tips for You

If you have hardwood floors you know that cleaning them can be a chore. Especially if you haven't cleaned them in quite a while. After a while the hardwood floor can begin to show paths through it just like your carpet can. Commonly known as the high traffic area of your room.

Then again you could be one of those who have a formal living room that hardly ever gets used and it has beautiful hardwood flooring in it. I call these kinds of rooms "museums". They're there for looks mostly. Hardly ever used except maybe at the holidays or some special occasion when the family gets together.

Then when you do use it you usually have everybody take off their shoes before entering in the room. So it doesn't get scuffed up with shoe marks and so on. So therefore you would need only to clean those hardwood floors every couple years or so. But what a shame to have beautiful flooring like that and never use it.

Simple and Easy

In this article I'm going to give you some simple inspirational hardwood cleaning tips to help relieve some of the hardship of keeping your hardwood floor clean. It can be hard work but it doesn't have to be. When it comes to how to clean hardwood floors there are many elixirs and potions if you will, to how to do it and what to use to accomplish that professional finish that your looking to achieve or keep.



Here are some simple tips you can do to keep your hardwood floor looking brand new. Especially if its a floor you use on a everyday basis...

• Soft Bristle Broom

Have a good quality soft bristle broom to sweep with. If the hardwood floor is used regularly, there can be small stones and dirt particles that can scratch the surface of the flooring. Everytime these get stepped on they will create more scratches to the surface of the floor. Sweep regularly.

• Terry Cloth Mop

When cleaning wood floors one of the things you want to do is mop it after you sweep. This will be sure to get up any dirt that the broom couldn't or didn't. As well as any light scuff marks and dried mud or dirt. You can get one that has a rotating head on it so you can get those hard to reach places up close to the baseboards, and under furniture etc.. Don't use a full wet mopping, rather use a damp mopping on your floors. To much water can damage your finish.

• Use Carpet Remnants

Hardwood floors usually have a very high gloss urethane finish on them. Using rubber backed mats and abrasive backed rugs can and will damage your your finish. A better alternative is to use carpet remnants. You can get these sometimes for free at your local carpet store.

When they get new ones in they will likely get rid of the old ones for free. Just make sure that the backs of them aren't abrasive or rough enough to scratch your hardwood floors finish. You can use these in your high traffic areas to help reduce the wear to the finish as well.

• Use High Quality Urethane Finish Products

About every 3 years for regularly used floors you should re-finish your hardwood floors with a high quality finish. This will help to maintain the floors lustre and keep it looking brand new. Follow the products recommended way to apply the urethane finish.

If screening is required because of severely damaged hardwood floors then seek professional help to do this process. Screening is a process to abrasively grind down the old finish so you can re-apply a new finish again. Restoring that brand new look again to it.

• Clean Spills Immediately

Always be sure to wipe up or mop up spills on the floor immediately when you see it. Especially if its soda pop or anything carbonated and acidic as this will eat through the finish rapidly. Also once the hardwood gets wet with spills this will cause the wood to expand. Thereby warping the wood. Destroying the hardwood floors.

• Don't Allow Long Periods of Direct Sunlight

Just like a car left in the sunlight over time will fade the paint and color of it, so will hardwood floors fade over time with direct sunlight on them. To protect them from this fading I recommend keeping sunlight at a minimum on your floors. Also move your carpet remnants and rugs around to different places every so often to keep the wear even on the flooring.

This will help to maintain a longer lasting lustre to the floor.

• Use Hard Rubber Furniture Coasters

Not sure if thats what they're called but the point is the same. Just like coasters you use to place your drink on to keep your hardwood tables from getting stained, use these same things under your furniture posts. Only use the hard rubber kind. This will minimize the sliding. Thereby protecting your finish even more from scratches.

• Don't Let Your Wife or Girlfriend Wear Stiletto Heels on Your Hardwood Floors!

Uh huh, I know those shoes make her look sexy and all, but if you want to make your hardwood floors last longer tell her "no no" before walking on that floor to take them off. Or stay on the carpet remnants you have down. Also make sure your dog's nails are trimmed short and don't play ball with him on the hardwood floors. Talk about some giant long scratches!...Wow.

The Sum Up

I hope I didn't make it seem like hardwood cleaning is hard work because it's not. Now if you have severely damaged floors and you're looking to get them back up to par, you have some work ahead of you. But these cleaning tips should help you to keep a close eye on your hardwood floors.

By doing some of these cleaning tips I've mentioned you'll be sure to have the best looking hardwood floor anybody could ever have for a long time to come. Now you know how to clean hardwood floors and you didn't have to go to school to learn it.

It's just a matter of watching it for these things so you can take care of it sooner....good common sense tips.

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