Berber is a loop, and a loop cut across the rows instead of along one will run like a ladder in a stocking. Every cut edge is sealed before the sheet goes down, the joins are planned to run with the light from the window rather than across it, and the floor is power-stretched so the loops sit even. Get that wrong and the join reads as a line down the middle of the room for as long as the carpet lasts.
Low loops take traffic better than a plush pile, so berber ends up in hallways, on the stairs down to a rec room, in home offices and in rental units – anywhere the floor is walked on rather than lounged on. It hides footprints and vacuum tracks and does not crush flat in the doorways first.
A pulled loop in berber runs the way a thread runs in a knit, so a repair has to bond the loop back at its base instead of pulling it back into line.
A proud nail head, a lifted board edge or a hollow between joists all print through a berber in a way a deep pile would swallow, so the bare subfloor gets walked before the underpad goes down.
Subfloor prep runs about $1 to $2 a square foot of the area actually worked on, with structural patching quoted once the old floor is lifted.
Wool and dense high-twist berber constructions sit above the mid-grade price band.
Berber comes off a roll of fixed width, so the shape of a room decides how much of it you pay for. Two rooms measured in the same visit often share a cut and waste less than the same two measured a year apart.
Each cut follows one row of loops, so nothing unravels along the join once the furniture is back.
Cut edges are sealed and heat-taped rather than butted together and hoped for.
Berber wants a firm, low underpad. A soft one flexes the backing, and flexing is what opens a loop-pile join.
A power stretcher pulls the sheet tight across the whole room. A knee kicker alone leaves slack behind, and slack in a loop pile ends up sitting at the join.
Berber is bought for the look and kept for the wear, and it is the one carpet construction people ask for by name. It is also the least forgiving to fit. A loop pile records every shortcut a fitter takes and then keeps the evidence for the life of the floor.
Not if it is dealt with early. A pulled loop is cut and bonded back at its base rather than pulled tight, because pulling drags a whole row with it. Keep a hook away from it and call before it travels.
It is a common one, because a low loop takes traffic and furniture well. The slab has to be dry first, and the underpad is chosen for what is under it, so we check moisture before anything is laid.
Yes, firmer and thinner than you would put under a plush. A thick, soft pad lets the backing move underfoot, and that movement is what opens the joins over a few winters.
On a straight flight with a tight loop it works well, as long as each tread is cut on the row and the nosing is wrapped rather than left square. On winders and steep older stairs we usually suggest a cut pile instead.
The same day the fitters leave. Furniture goes back once the joins have cooled and the floor has been rolled, and the offcuts go with us, so there is nothing left to work around in the evening.