A.B.C.D.E.F.G.H.I.J.K.L.M.N.O.P.Q.R.S.T.U.V.W-Z

PACKAGE DYED - A method of dyeing wound yarn,
PADDING - A cushion used under rugs and carpet. (See CUSHION.
PAPER AND WIRE: Tar paper and wire mesh (or metal lath) that are used as a backing for the installation of tile.
PARQUET -- a pattern floor.
parquet floor square -- basically a " tile" composed of individual slats held in place by a mechanical fastening. A square may or may not possess tongues and grooves to inter-lock, and is not necessarily " square" or regular in dimension.
parquet floor units -- a unit consists of four (sometimes three) or more squares or "tiles" fastened together.
Particle board -- a generic term for a material manufactured from wood particles or other ligno-cellulostic material and a synthetic resin or other suitable binder.
    flake board -- a particle panel product composed of flakes.
    oriented strand board -- a type of particle panel product composed of strand type flakes which are purposefully aligned in directions which make a panel stronger, stiffer, and with improved dimensional properties in the alignment direction than a panel with random flake orientation.
    wafer board -- a particle panel product made of wafer type flakes. Usually manufactured to possess equal properties in all directions parallel to the plane of the panel.
PATTERN -- Any ornamental feature that is decorative in a fabric and serves to distinguish it from plainness.
PATTERN STREAKS -- Occurs in all pattern carpet to some degree. Results when repeating figures or colors line up in such a way as to form noticeable lines.
PATTERN MISMATCH - At seam, pattern elements line up or match in some places but not in others,
PAVER TILE: Glazed or unglazed porcelain or natural clay tile formed by the dust pressed method and having six square inches or more of facial area.
PENCIL ROD: Reinforcing rod with a diameter of no greater than 1/4 inch.
diameter, made by a small wood boring insect.
PICK -- The number of weft yarns shuttled across the warp yarns, and indicating closeness of weave lengthwise. A high grade Wilton fabric may have 39 picks per inch, or 3 shots of weft to each wire.
Picture Jasper - a tan, opaque stone with medium and dark brown patches that make the "pictures."
PIECE DYED - Entire unfinished carpet immersed in dye bath. Used for dyeing tufted carpet. (See DYEING.)
PILE-The surface fibers or tufts of a carpet, cut or left uncut. The face yarns or fibers of a carpet which make up the surface.
PILE CRUSH - The bending down or flattening of pile yarns from pressure that do not spontaneously recover.
PILE HEIGHT - The height of pile measured from the top surface of the back to the top surface of the pile.
PILE YARN -- The yarn that makes up the carpet pile.
PILLING --A condition in which strands of the yarn fiber separate and become knotted with other strands forming balls, causing a rough spotted appearance. Pills should never be pulled from carpet, but cut off with sharp scissors at the pile surface.
PINHOLES: Imperfections in the surface of a ceramic body or glaze, or in the surface of a grout.
pin worm hole -- in hardwood flooring, a small round hole not over 1/ 16th inch in
PITCH -- The number of ends of surface yarn counting across the width of carpet. In woven carpet, pitch is the number of ends of yarn in 27 inches of width; e.g., 216 divided by 27 = 8 ends per inch.
PITH -- the small, soft core occurring near the center of a tree trunk, branch, twig, or log.
Plain sawn -- the annual growth rings make an angle of less than 45 degrees with the surface of the piece. This exposes the pores of the spring wood and dense summer wood of the annual growth rings in ring porous woods to produce a pleasing grain pattern.
Planer bite -- a groove cut in the surface of the piece deeper than intended by the planer knives.
Plank -- solid board, usually 3/4 inch thick and 3 inches to 8 inches wide designed to be installed in parallel rows. Edges may be beveled to simulate the appearance of Colonial American plank floors.
PLANTING -- A method used to show more colors on the surface of a Jacquard fabric than there are frames in the loom. It consists of using part of the space on one or more of the frames for the spools containing the extra colors. The planted colors are fed into the loom in a straight line and appear always in the same warp rows. The figures showing these planted colors will, therefore, always be in line with each other.
PLASTER: A cementitious material or combination of cementitious material and aggregate that, when mixed with a suitable amount of water, forms a plastic mass or paste which when applied to a surface, adheres to it and subsequently hardens, preserving in a rigid state the form or texture imposed during the period of plasticity; also the placed and hardened mixture.
PLIED YARNS -- Two or more strands, ends or plys either twisted or otherwise cohesively entwined, intermingled or entangled into a heavier yarn.
Plugs -- Dowels that simulate the Colonial American plug, or pegged plank look, sometimes used to cover counter-sunk screws when installing plank.
PLUMB: Perpendicular to a true level.
PLUMB SCRATCH: An additional scratch coat that has been applied to obtain a uniform setting bed on a plumb vertical plane.
PLUSH FINISH --A term used to describe a dense cutpile carpet in which the surface has a solid, smooth appearance. The ends of each tuft tend to merge into a common surface.
PLY -- The number of strands of yarn twisted together to form a single yarn, as in "2-ply" or "3-ply."
POINT -- One tuft of pile.
Pointing --See Tuck Pointing
POLYESTER -- A manufactured fiber in which the fiber-forming substance is any long chain synthetic polymer composed of at least 85 percent by weight of an ester of a dihydric alcohol and terephthalic acid.
POLYMER -- In synthetics, the basic chemical unit from which fibers are made. It is made of large complex molecules formed by uniting molecules (monomers).
POLYPROPYLENE -- (See OLEFINS
POOLING -- (See SHADING
Another characteristic of some carpet, which is a type of shading
Poppy Jasper - another lovely stone (jaspers are really pretty). Opaque, with lots of autumn colors - brick red, whites, browns and blacks.
PORCELAIN TILE: A ceramic mosaic tile or a paver tile that is generally made by the dust- pressed method from a composition which results in a tile that is dense, impervious, fine grained and smooth, with a sharply formed face.
Portico - a porch, with a roof supported by columns
POT LIFE: The period of time during which a material maintains its workable properties after it has been mixed.
POWER STRETCHER -- A carpet installation tool which is used to stretch larger areas of carpet that cannot be handled by the knee kicker.
Precast --A concrete product not poured in place.
Pre-finished -- a completely finished flooring that requires installation only.
PREFLOAT: The term used to describe mortar that has been placed and allowed to harden prior to bonding tile to it with thin-set materials.
PRE-GROUTED TILE: A surfacing unit consisting of an assembly of ceramic tiles bonded together at their edges by a material (generally elastomeric) which seals the joint completely. Such material (grout) may fill the joint completely or partially and may cover all, a portion or none of the back surfaces of the tiles in the sheets. The perimeter of these factory pre-grouted sheets may include the entire or part of the joint between the sheets or none at all. The term "Edge-bonded Tile" is sometimes used to designate a particular type of pre-grouted tile sheets having the front and back surfaces completely exposed.
PRIMARY BACK--A woven or non-woven fabric into which pile yarns are tufted or sewn
PRIME URETHANE CUSHION -- A carpet cushion made from virgin polyether urethane foam
PRINTING -- The process of producing a pattern with dyestuffs on carpet and rugs. May be done by several methods, such as screen printing (e.g., on Zimmer equipment, which may be flat bed or rotary screen printing), or on roller equipment operating on the relief-printing principle (e.g., Stalwart equipment).
PSI: Pounds per square inch.
PUCKERING -- A condition in a carpet seam, often due to poor layout or unequal stretching, etc., wherein the carpet on one side of the seam is longer than on the other side, causing the long side to wrinkle or develop a "pleated" effect. (See BUCKLING.)
PUNCHED CARPET -- (See NEEDLEPUNCH.)
PURE COAT: Neat cement applied to the mortar bed.
Pyrite - a mineral ("fool's gold") composed of iron sulfide: FeS2
Pyroxene - a silicate mineral containing two metal oxides: CaMgSi2O6, CaFeSi2O6, (Mg,Fe)SiO3