Guide · For the trade
Broadloom carpet: roll widths, seams and what to specify
Broadloom carpet is carpet woven or tufted on a wide loom and sold by the roll, in standard widths of 12 feet, 13 feet 2 inches (4 meters) and 15 feet, with a few mills at 13 feet 6 inches and 16 feet 4 inches (5 meters). Any room wider than the roll gets a seam and a seam in a cut pile over a dense pad, run with the light and out of the traffic line, is close to invisible; the same seam in a loop pile on a soft pad under a window is not. The spec controls which one the client gets.
This guide is for the designer or the junior drawing a carpet plan: what broadloom is, the carpet roll width each of our mills runs, where seams go and why carpet seams show, how quantity is estimated and what to tell the installer.
What is a broadloom carpet?
The word is literal. Until the 19th century carpet came off looms 27 inches wide and rooms were covered by sewing strips together; the 27, 32 and 36 inch runner widths still in use are its descendants. A broad loom weaves 12 feet and wider in one piece and broadloom came to mean any wall-to-wall carpet sold by the roll, tufted or woven, priced by the square yard and cut to the length the plan needs. Carpet tile is the alternative: 18 inch, 24 inch or 50 centimeter modules, replaceable one at a time, standard in offices. Area rugs are the third thing and many of ours are broadloom cut and bound. The wall-to-wall carpet guide covers which rooms get it; this one stays on the roll and the seam.
Carpet roll width by construction and mill
Width follows the loom. American tufting machines run 12 feet and some 15 feet; European Wilton and Axminster looms run 4 meters, which is 13 feet 2 inches and 5 meters, which is 16 feet 4 inches; Milliken's printed broadloom is 13 feet 6 inches. The width decides where the seams fall.
| Roll width | Construction | Mills in our catalog | What it means on the plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 ft | Tufted cut pile and loop, some wool Wilton | Masland, Fabrica, Bloomsburg, Emery Park | A 12 by 12 bedroom is one piece; a 14-foot room is a seam |
| 13 ft 2 in (4 m) | Wilton, Axminster, woven wool, sisal | Kane, Prestige Mills, Couristan, Bellbridge, DMI, Stanton | Clears a 13-foot room; pattern repeats run across the width |
| 13 ft 6 in | Printed tufted nylon | Milliken | Same as 13 ft 2 in with 4 more inches of margin |
| 15 ft | Hand-loomed wool, tufted wool, some Wilton | Stanton, Cella, Masland, Prestige Mills | Most bedrooms and living rooms in one piece; more waste in a 12-foot room |
| 16 ft 4 in (5 m) | Woven wool | Bellbridge, Prestige Mills, Couristan | Great rooms with one seam instead of two |
Masland runs 12 feet on most of its tufted lines and 15 feet on 32 of them; Stanton splits between 15 feet and 13 feet 2 inches. Ask for the width before the plan is drawn, because the same look at 12 feet and 15 feet gives two different seam diagrams.
Carpet seams: where they go
A seam is placed on the drawing, not on the day. The rules: every piece runs in the same pile direction, so the seam does not read as a color change; the seam runs lengthwise with the main daylight, so the light rakes along it rather than across it; it stays out of the main traffic line and never crosses a doorway, though a seam running through a doorway lengthwise is fine; and in a patterned carpet the repeat is matched across the seam, which costs one repeat of length per drop. Fill pieces for closets and bays are cross-seamed from the offcut where they will not be walked; on a stair, the seam is at the back of a tread, never on the nosing. We draw the seam diagram on your plan and send it with the quantity.
Why carpet seams show and how the spec prevents it
Carpet seams show for five reasons and four of them are in the spec. A soft or thick pad lets the seam peak, a ridge where the two edges meet, as the carpet is stretched; under a loop, a Wilton or a Berber the pad is 1/4 to 3/8 inch dense felt, rubber or 32 ounce and under a residential cut pile 7/16 inch 8 pound rebond and no thicker. Loop pile shows a seam more than cut pile because the rows line up and the cut edge frays; where the room needs a seam and the client wants loop, a dense small loop and a sealed edge are the answer. Light across a seam shows it; light along it hides it. An unsealed edge sheds tufts and opens with cleaning, so both cut edges are sealed before taping. The fifth reason is a poor seam, which is why the installation is through our network.
Estimating quantity: drops, fills and pattern repeats
Quantity is taken from the seam diagram, not from the room's square footage. A 14 by 18 foot room on a 12-foot roll is one 12 by 18 foot drop plus a 2 by 18 foot fill made from a 12 by 6 foot cut, pieced with two cross seams so the pile runs the same way: 32 square yards delivered for a 28 square yard room, with one lengthwise seam. The same room on a 15-foot roll is a single 15 by 18 foot piece, 30 square yards, no seam. Add 3 inches at each end for trimming, one full pattern repeat per drop on a patterned carpet and 10 to 15 percent on a complex plan.
Stretch-in or glue-down: what to tell the installer
- Residential rooms: stretch-in over pad and tackless strip, power-stretched, not knee-kicked. This is the method for every cut pile and most wool.
- Long halls and anything on a slab with rolling loads: double-stick, pad glued to the floor and carpet glued to the pad, which holds a seam flat in a long run.
- Commercial and sisal: direct glue-down, with no pad or a thin dense one. Natural fiber does not stretch, so it is always glued or double-stick.
- Any glue: a low-VOC adhesive under 50 grams per liter that the mill has approved, because an unapproved adhesive voids the warranty.
Broadloom as a rug
Any broadloom in the catalog can be cut to size and finished as a rug with binding, serging or a fabric or leather border, in 3 to 5 weeks, which is usually the least expensive route to a 12x18 for a great room or a 10x16 for a long table. The custom size rugs guide and the binding and serging guide cover the sizes and the edges.
Questions designers ask
What is a broadloom carpet?
Carpet made on a wide loom or tufting machine and sold by the roll, 12 feet, 13 feet 2 inches or 15 feet wide, cut to the length a room needs and installed wall-to-wall over pad or glued down. Carpet tile and area rugs are the alternatives.
What is the difference between carpet and broadloom?
In the trade, none: broadloom is what carpet means when it is sold by the roll. The distinction is from carpet tile, which comes in modules and from rugs, which are finished pieces.
Is a branded fiber like Stainmaster better than a mill's own nylon?
Not as a rule. Stainmaster is a fiber brand, not a mill and Mohawk is a mill that uses several fibers. Our mills run their own nylons, Masland and Fabrica in EnVision, Milliken in WearOn nylon 6,6, Bloomsburg in Zeftron, Bellbridge in Econyl, each with its own stain and wear warranty on the spec sheet. Judge the sheet, not the brand.
What does it cost to carpet a 12 by 12 room?
Net pricing is quoted to approved trade accounts, so no number here; what we can say is that a 12 by 12 room on a 12-foot roll is a single 12 by 12 foot 6 inch cut, about 17 square yards, with no seam and no fill, the most efficient room a carpet plan gets. On a 15-foot roll the same room takes about 21 square yards.
Can a 14-foot-wide room be carpeted without a seam?
Yes, on a 15-foot roll or a 16 foot 4 inch roll, which also removes the fill piece and usually uses less carpet. On a 12 or 13 foot 2 inch roll it needs one lengthwise seam, placed with the light and under or behind the furniture. Ask for both takeoffs when a style comes in two widths.
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