It is made from either polypropylene, polyester, or a blend of the two. Polypropylene is by far the strongest and most robust of the two, while polyester is known to be less hard-wearing over time.
Cheaper garage carpets can also contain heavy metals such as lead in the dyes and chemicals such as formaldehyde in the manufacturing process. These are not good to be in your house, or for the wider environment. You should only choose a carpet that has a relevant environmental certification such as Produs-GUT.
Jazz 5000 UV is a 100% polypropylene carpet that is certified by Produs-GUT.
The raw materials start out as small, coloured beads that are melted and extruded into thin fibres. These fibres are then mixed together (blended) by massive fans in massive rooms to mix the colours to an even consistency. Most carpet is blended once or twice to keep the cost down, but this typically results in an uneven shade consistency which is noticeable through the width and length of the carpet roll once laid. The best carpet is blended four times which reduces this shade variation hugely.
Jazz 5000 UV is 4 times blended and, therefore, has little shade variation through the roll.
How the carpet is installed will play a big part in how good it looks, and how long it will last. Many installers, often installing for the big retail outlets, cut corners to “get in and out” as fast as they can. This often results in visibly noticeably joins, poor cutting into skirting boards, joins lifting, bubbling of carpet (where the glue hasn’t bonded properly), and fraying of exposed edges (due to the lack of transition strips). Considering it cost around $2000 to remove a failed carpet and prep the floor ready for relaying, it is important to understand the process the installer will follow.
GaragePro installs to the AS/NZS 2455.1:2007 standards for floor coverings, and to the building code. This includes evaluating and preparing the floor surface to ensure a maximum bond between the carpet and the substrate. We explain the process at the time of our pre-quote inspection, so you are fully aware of what is required.
Like most things, you get what you pay for. There are often adverts offering an installed price of under $1000 for a double garage. GaragePro has been installing garage carpet for over 10 years (into thousands of kiwi garages) and we know that it isn’t possible to provide a professional installation of a high-quality product at this price.
Make sure you do your homework and ensure you compare apples with apples!
Most garage carpets do not contain any UV stabilisation due to the cost. This process involves mixing UV stabilising beads with the raw Polypropylene beads, so the UV protection is infused with the polypropylene. The more UV beads used the more protection is added. This is an expensive process and is only economical if many thousands of metres of carpet are manufactured and sold. Garage Carpet in colours other than the common dark grey have no UV stabilisation because other colours are sold in such small volumes worldwide.
The best garage carpet has 5000 hours of UV stabilisation, which makes it suitable for full outdoor exposure and even marine environments. A lack of UV protection will allow the fibres to fade and eventually break down in sunlight. You may think “but the carpet is in a garage and doesn’t get much sunlight”. You would be surprised how often your garage door is open allowing the damaging rays to affect your carpet.
Jazz 5000 UV has 5000 hours of UV stabilisation.
