Carpet Tiles vs Broadloom: Which Should You Install?
By Nate Sawyer, Editor · Updated July 2026
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FLOR Peel-and-Stick Modular Carpet Tile
Designer-grade modular carpet tile in solution-dyed nylon that installs with repositionable FLORdot stickers for custom rugs or seamless layouts, swapping a stained tile in seconds without harming the subfloor. It's far pricier than big-box tile at $8-16 each, edges can shift in high-traffic runs, and it has no moisture barrier for a damp slab.
| Fiber | Nylon (most styles) |
|---|---|
| Style | Loop and cut pile options |
| Size | 19.7 x 19.7 in tile |
| Install | FLORdot adhesive stickers (repositionable) |
| Traffic | Heavy |
Mohawk SmartStrand Silk Broadloom Carpet
A soft, dense triexta broadloom whose stain resistance is built into the fiber rather than a topical coat, so it never washes off, making it the comfort and pet champion here as spills blot up cleanly. However it needs a power stretcher, tack strips and seaming plus a separately bought pad, and it can flatten in traffic lanes.
| Fiber | Triexta (SmartStrand) |
|---|---|
| Style | Cut pile / textured |
| Size | 12 ft wide roll (broadloom) |
| Face Weight | 46-70 oz options |
| Install | Stretch-in over separate pad (pro or advanced DIY) |
Our verdict
Carpet tiles like FLOR win on DIY simplicity: no pad, no stretcher, no seaming, and you replace one stained square instead of the whole room. Broadloom like Mohawk SmartStrand wins on comfort and a seamless plush look, but needs a separate pad and real stretch-in skill or a pro. For basements, rentals and DIY rec rooms, choose tiles. For a soft, quiet bedroom or a pet-friendly living room where you want wall-to-wall plush, choose broadloom. Budget also splits them: cheap tiles undercut broadloom, but designer tiles like FLOR can cost more per square foot than mid-range roll carpet.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Are carpet tiles or broadloom better for a DIY install?
- Carpet tiles, by a wide margin. There is no pad, no power stretcher, no tack strips and no seaming - and when one square gets stained you replace that square instead of the room. Broadloom needs a stretcher, tack strips and seaming skill, so it is a pro or advanced-DIY job.
- Do carpet tiles feel as good underfoot as broadloom?
- No. A dense cut-pile broadloom like Mohawk SmartStrand Silk is genuinely plusher underfoot than any carpet tile, which is the reason to accept the harder install in a bedroom or living room.
- Which is better for pets and spills?
- SmartStrand broadloom has a real advantage here: stain resistance is engineered into the triexta fiber rather than applied as a topical coating, so it does not wash off over time and accidents blot up without permanent staining. The counterpoint is that triexta can flatten in traffic lanes and, being oil-loving, attracts greasy soil that needs regular cleaning.
- What do carpet tiles cost compared with broadloom?
- FLOR runs $8-16 per tile, roughly $3-6 per square foot, which is far pricier than big-box carpet tile and well above the $5 range for the Mohawk broadloom - though the broadloom also needs a separately purchased pad. Two practical limits on FLOR: the FLORdot stickers hold tiles to each other more than to the floor, so edges can shift in very high-traffic runs, and there is no attached moisture barrier for a damp slab.