Could your carpet choice reduce your energy consumption?

Could a better carpet make your home more sustainable by reducing your energy consumption? We find out

Your floor can keep up to 10% of the heat within your home. High-tog carpeting matched to a good underlay is ideal for cold sub-flooring. Brintons Perpetual Textures, woven Axminster, 80/20 wool/nylon; various suppliers.

Choosing a carpet is a complex business. There are thousands of book samples to heave though, a wildly disparate price point between what appears to be exactly the same product, and the added confusion of type, tog, and carpet weight (given in ounces). Visual exhaustion alone can drive off every bit of common sense and creative curiosity. Here’s what you need to know to pile on to a value carpet with good staying power that can also increase the valuable insulation properties of your whole floor.

In terms of look and feel — wool, wool mixes, and synthetics come in loop, twist, and sumptuous, toe-swallowing Saxony varieties. The carpet will be rated for its wear from light to heavy domestic. Choosing the finish of the carpet is largely a matter of taste and budget with a couple of exceptions. A 100% wool Berber will be a loop pile — be warned of pussycat-the-destroyer and that ground-scratching fun-loving dog. Longer piles, despite their sensory joy under bare feet, flatten and show wear sooner than a short, muscular twist or loop. Stick the meat of your thumb into the carpet sample and see how quickly it springs back under pressure.