FLOORCOVERINGS lexicon

• axminster Thick, tufted, cut-pile rug imitating Turkish carpets, usually with ovals and cartouches.

• broadloom Literally, carpet woven on a wide loom (invented 1877). Generally it’s a tufted carpet that will be installed wall to wall.

• brussels A looped (uncutpile) carpet type loomed in 27-inch strips that are sewn together during installation.

• drugget A coarse, plain wool floorcovering used under the dining-room table or over an expensive carpet for protection.

• flat-weave (-woven) A loom-woven carpet without tufts or pile, including ingrains and kilims.

• floorcloth The 18thcentury precursor to linoleum, a canvas-based, decoratively painted and varnished covering.

• ingrain Aka Scotch or Kidderminster, a flat, reversible carpet, more affordable than pile carpets, generally loomed in 36-inch-wide strips. Geometric block designs were common in early rugs, but later ingrain designs include florals and figures.

• linoleum A resilient flooring and countertop material traditionally made from linseed oil, ground cork or sawdust, rosins, pigments, with a burlap backing.

• pile Carpet with a face formed by uncut or cut loops of yarn. Once mass-produced in the late 19th century, pile carpets superseded flat-weaves.

• resilient Firm, durable flooring with “give” in the surface, such as cork, linoleum, and vinyl.

• matting Floorcovering made from grassy fibers like straw, hemp, jute, or rush. Used under expensive carpeting, as summer covering when wool rugs were stored, or year-round. • vct Vinyl composition tile.

• venetian Affordable, flat, reversible carpet, woven in widths from 27 to 42 inches Most have striped patterns.

• wilton A traditional, cutpile carpet loomed in strips that are sewn together when used wall to wall.