Carpet tiles, planks or roll: how to choose
Choose carpet tiles or planks when you want to zone a floor by colour and pattern, or change one piece later. Choose a roll when you want one continuous field of carpet, as in a home theatre or a hotel room. Inlife shows all three in Choolai.
Tiles, planks and rolls
Carpet tiles are square modules. They let you build a floor in blocks of colour, borders and focal points, and they suit large offices where furniture moves.
Carpet planks are long, narrow modules. Laid in a herringbone or a brick pattern they give a floor direction, much like timber.
Roll carpet gives one continuous surface with no module lines, for bedrooms, suites, banquet halls and home theatres.
Sizes and construction
- Carpet tiles are 500 × 500 mm and about 5 to 6 mm thick, with a pile of polypropylene, PET or nylon.
- Carpet planks are 25 × 100 cm and about 5 to 6 mm thick, in the same pile materials.
- Carpet rolls are polypropylene, from about 5 to 10 mm thick, for wall-to-wall rooms.
The tiles have a brushed, diagonal hatch on the face. It catches the light, so the floor shifts a little as you walk across it.
The colour range
The tiles start from neutrals: light and medium grey, light and dark brown. Alongside them sit accent and transition colourways in red, violet, purple, yellow, blue and green. An accent tile carries a strong colour; a transition tile blends that colour into the neutral, so colour can run through a floor and fade out again.
The planks come in mottled, linear stripe and pinstripe designs, in colours from dove grey and beige to navy, forest green, mustard and red.
Zoning with colour and pattern
With modular carpet, the layout is part of the design. Use a darker field to mark circulation, a lighter one for work areas, and a contrast tile to frame a meeting zone. Turning each tile a quarter turn gives a chequered, textured look; laying them all one way gives a plain, even field.
- Monolithic. Every tile in one direction, for a look close to broadloom.
- Quarter turn. Each tile turned 90 degrees to the next, for a soft chequerboard.
- Ashlar and brick. Rows offset by half a tile, like masonry.
- Herringbone. Planks set at right angles, for a floor with movement.
- Colour runs. Accent and transition tiles that lead people along a corridor or mark a zone.
Where each one suits
- Offices. Open workspaces, cabins, meeting rooms and boardrooms, in tiles or planks.
- Hotels. Corridors and pre-function areas in tiles; rooms and suites in roll carpet.
- Banquet halls. Roll carpet, for one wide, continuous field.
- Home theatres and bedrooms. Roll carpet for a soft, unbroken floor underfoot.
- Lounges and receptions. Zones of colour within a larger hard floor.
Changing a floor later
Because tiles and planks are separate pieces, a floor can be changed in parts. A single module can be swapped, a zone can be recoloured when a team moves, and spare tiles from the same batch can be kept aside for later. Roll carpet is chosen for the opposite reason: it is meant to be one piece.
Before you choose
Bring the floor plan, the approximate area in square feet and the furniture layout. Note where people walk most and where they sit. We will work out the number of tiles or planks from the plan, and lay samples side by side so you can judge colour and texture against your other finishes.
Questions people ask
What is the difference between carpet tiles and carpet planks?
Tiles are square modules; planks are long and narrow. Planks give a floor direction and can be laid in herringbone or brick patterns.
Where does roll carpet suit best?
Rooms that want one continuous surface with no module lines, such as bedrooms, hotel suites, banquet halls and home theatres.
What size are carpet tiles?
Inlife carpet tiles are 500 × 500 mm and about 5 to 6 mm thick. Carpet planks are 25 × 100 cm.
What are carpet tiles made of?
The pile is polypropylene, PET or nylon, depending on the range. Carpet rolls are polypropylene.
Can I mix colours in one carpet tile floor?
Yes. Neutral tiles form the base, and accent and transition colourways bring colour in by the tile, to mark zones or lead people along a corridor.
Which carpet suits a home theatre?
Roll carpet is the usual choice, because it gives one continuous, soft floor with no module lines.