By Werner Braun
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It is hard to imagine a cold morning in Georgia when the summer humidity has already rolled into town, but think back with me to the winter we Daltonians experienced this year. I believe it was by far the coldest January and February since the Blizzard of 1993, as I remember three or four different occasions when my kids made snow angels and built snowmen — not to mention, I remember being decked by a few snowballs, too.
You might be asking, what does carpet have to do with snow? Plenty. Put yourself in your bed during the coldest morning you remember, and how warm you felt all snuggled under the covers. Not wanting to move.
I do know one thing for certain: If I hadn’t been stepping onto carpet all those chilly mornings, I may have never gotten out of bed.
Carpet provides the warmth our bare feet seek — the next benefit of a carpeted environment. I have written about carpet as a safety measure and began discussing its overall comfort. Comfort is also connected to the warmth carpet provides a home or business atmosphere. If you did start any of your mornings on a cold floor this past winter, then you understand how nice it is to step onto carpet.
It used to be carpet was commonly associated with the residential sector, with wall-to-wall carpeting blanketing homes during the 1970s. Today, not only have those carpets become more durable and aesthetically pleasing to the eye through a myriad of designs and colors, but they’ve also branched out to take the same warmth and comfortable atmosphere virtually everywhere.
Businesses, schools and health care facilities have all jumped on the carpet bandwagon, advertising the many benefits the floorcovering provides. Businesses are finding it’s not only enough to get people into their stores, but keeping them in there for a longer period of time is essential. The comfort of carpet on the foot, and the home-like environment, provides just the right motivation. The softness of carpet also adds extra benefits in helping with employee productivity and comfort, too.
Carpet as a floorcovering choice in nursing homes and assisted living homes is increasing in popularity. As a result of increased competition, these facilities are making even greater efforts to provide a pleasant disposition, more like a home environment for patients and visitors. Carpet is a floorcovering material that provides visual enhancement in addition to a variety of functional benefits. Carpet in all health care facilities represents a market estimated to be over 22 million square yards yearly, and it is growing.
The prestige that carpet lends to any nursing facility is widely recognized. The sophistication of carpet dramatically enhances the feeling of quality and comfort in interior design and has the ability to “deinstitutionalize” a facility. This tone improves both patient attitudes and staff morale.
Carpet continues providing profit by keeping your home insulated and works to maintain warmer surroundings for the whole family during the winter months. Physically, the pile construction of carpet is a very efficient thermal insulator, reducing energy consumption for heat and air conditioning. You can measure carpet’s insulation through its R-value. An R-value indicates an insulation’s resistance to heat flow — the higher the R-value, the greater the insulating effectiveness. The surface temperature of carpet is substantially higher than that over cold, hard surfaces, thus relieving coldness at foot and ankle levels.
Even though a cold floor may feel great to your feet as the humidity settles in, take advantage of these summer months to evaluate the carpet warmth and comfort of your home or business. Is there a new room you want to carpet or re-carpet before winter arrives? If so, then don’t hesitate to ask your local carpet experts about what kind of carpet would complement your family or business lifestyle. But more importantly, don’t start out your mornings this winter by dreading putting your feet on the ground.
