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Commercial carpet types compared: broadloom, tile, woven and cushion-back
Broadloom rolls, modular tile, loom-woven carpet and cushion-back each go down, wear and come clean in their own way. Here is how the four formats compare.
Four formats behind almost every commercial floor
Walk through an office tower, a school and a hotel in the same week and the carpet will look different in each, but it will almost always be one of four formats. Tufted broadloom arrives on a roll and covers a room in a few wide pieces. Carpet tile is laid in squares or planks. Woven carpet is made on a loom, with the face and back formed together. Cushion-back carpet has its padding bonded to the underside at the factory.
The format is set long before anyone calls a cleaning crew, yet it shapes every visit afterward. It decides how the floor handles moisture, where seams sit, what can be swapped out when a section is ruined and which details a written cleaning plan has to respect. Knowing which format is under your feet is the first step toward a plan that suits it.
The four types side by side
The table compares the formats on how they are built, where they suit a building, the life figures published for them and what each means for cleaning. Only two life cells carry a number, because those are the only formats with a published figure.
| Type | How it is built | Where it suits | Published life | What it means for cleaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tufted broadloom | Yarn needled into a primary backing, made in rolls | Large open floors, corridors and public areas | 11-year model assumption for nylon (NIST BEES) | Whole-room extraction works; seams and edges need moisture control |
| Carpet tile (modular) | Squares or planks on a stable backing | Offices, classrooms and floors with cabling below | 15-year model assumption for nylon (NIST BEES) | Low moisture protects seams and adhesive; single units swap out |
| Woven (Axminster, Wilton) | Face and back formed together on a loom | Rooms where an intricate pattern matters | No published figure | Check the fiber first; wool needs low-pH products |
| Cushion-back | Cushion bonded to the back by the manufacturer | Floors wanting comfort without a separate pad | No published figure | Keep water out of the cushion layer |
NIST’s BEES life-cycle model plugs in a 15-year life for nylon tile against an 11-year life for nylon broadloom. Those are modeling inputs, not measured service lives. By contrast, the assessor who surveyed a Minnesota state office building gave broadloom and tile an identical 10-year lifetime. How long any one floor actually lasts comes down to its traffic and its care.
Tufted broadloom
Tufted carpet is made by needles that drive pile yarn through a primary backing fabric, as CRI’s installation standard puts it, and CRI defines broadloom simply as carpet produced in a roll. A secondary backing is then laminated to the underside for strength and stability. The result covers a large room with few seams, which gives lobbies, corridors and sanctuaries a continuous look.
Broadloom is either glued down or stretched over a pad. CRI notes that broadloom laid without power-stretching can delaminate, wrinkle and buckle, and that ripples are corrected by re-stretching. That repair belongs to an installer or flooring company. On the cleaning side, broadloom takes a full restoring flush well, so long as the crew recovers the water and keeps edges and seams from staying wet.
Carpet tile and modular planks
Carpet tile breaks the floor into units, often held with a releasable adhesive. The appeal is practical: a stained or burned unit comes out alone, the floor can be rotated to spread wear, and access floors and cabling stay reachable. Swapping a damaged tile for spare stock is a job for your own staff or an installer, and our carpet tile cleaning then brings the replacement area into line with the floor around it.
Every tile has four edges, which is why moisture matters more here than on broadloom. Too much water loosens adhesive and draws soil down into the seams. Our carpet tile care guide covers the daily habits and methods in detail. Tile and broadloom can also carry different warranty terms: Shaw, for example, publishes a lifetime warranty for its commercial carpet tile but a 10-year warranty for certain broadloom made with non-solution-dyed yarn. That gap reflects the product line, backing and dye method. It is not a measure of how long either floor will last.
Woven carpet: Axminster and Wilton
Woven carpet is produced on a loom, with the pile and backing interlaced as one fabric. CRI’s installation standard names Wilton, Axminster and velvet as its main constructions. Weaving allows detailed, multicolor patterns, which is why woven carpet turns up in spaces where the design carries the room. The yarn can be wool, a wool and nylon blend or a synthetic.
No published source gives woven carpet a life figure, so the table leaves it blank rather than guessing. What the makers do publish is care guidance. Brintons, a woven carpet manufacturer, recommends hot-water extraction every three months and warns that wool and wool-blend carpet should not see cleaning products with a pH higher than 7.0. A crew working on a woven floor confirms the fiber content before choosing products, and works with the pattern rather than against it when grooming the pile.
Cushion-back carpet
CRI’s definition of attached cushion is padding the manufacturer fixes for good to the underside of the carpet. It gives a softer step without a separate pad, and some cushion backings are built as moisture barriers; Milliken’s Moisture-Bloc broadloom cushion is one example. The Access Board’s ADA guidance points the other way for accessible routes: soft padding raises rolling resistance, so the guidance favors carpet with no soft pad underneath.
For cleaning, the cushion layer is the part to protect. Water that soaks through to it is slow to leave and can weaken the bond. Methods that hold moisture near the surface, with strong recovery on restoring visits, keep the layers together.
Matching the cleaning plan to the format
One building can combine formats: broadloom in the lobby, tile across the open office, perhaps a woven runner in a boardroom. Our office carpet cleaning plans each of those areas on its own terms, with hot-water extraction where the pile needs a full restoring clean and low-moisture visits where seams, adhesive or a cushion call for restraint. Each manufacturer writes its own maintenance terms, so read the cleaning section of your own warranty and have it on hand at the free walkthrough. We record the format in each area, and the written quote assigns each zone a method and a slot that fits your building’s hours.
A few useful answers
Common questions.
Is carpet tile or broadloom the better choice for an office?
Each has a place. Tile lets you replace one damaged unit and reach cabling below, while broadloom gives a seamless look over a large room. NIST’s life-cycle model assumes a longer life for nylon tile than for nylon broadloom, but a Minnesota facility assessment used the same 10-year figure for both, so traffic and care matter more than the format.
Can carpet tile be cleaned with hot-water extraction?
Yes, with controlled moisture and strong recovery so water stays away from the seams and adhesive. Tile makers set their own restorative terms, so check the maintenance section of your warranty before the walkthrough.
How can we tell whether our carpet is woven or tufted?
Turn back a corner of spare stock or check the spec sheet. A tufted carpet shows rows of tufts through a backing fabric with a second layer laminated on, while the back of a woven carpet shows the interlaced yarns of the loom. Your installer’s records will also name the construction.
Who replaces damaged carpet tiles?
Your own staff or an installer, using spare tiles from the original order so color and dye lot match. Once the new units are in, a cleaning visit helps them blend with the tiles that have been in service longer.
Can cushion-back carpet be deep cleaned?
It can be cleaned thoroughly, with moisture kept near the surface and water recovered well so the cushion layer stays dry. The walkthrough notes which areas have attached cushion, and the plan sets the method for each one.