Madden Mischief

That’s me.  I’m King of the Condo, the title of one of my books.  I wrote it while I was president of one in South Palm Beach.  You see, when selecting a carpet for a condo, often discord arises sometimes requiring one of my specialties, carpet crisis management.  If so, here are steps I’d recommend that you consider.

Condo boards, even at upscale residences, must first consider cost effectiveness, longevity and resilience (durability).  Next is to be mindful of costs and benefits of maintenance, sound insulation, fire resistance and environmental repercussions. 

But the icing on the cake, what will impress residents the most, will be beauty. How luxurious that carpet’s going to look when laid down!  

Wool carpets are most suited for residential use and carpets made of nylons are best for commercial applications such as in airports, gyms and schools.  Best overall is a wool/nylon blend, a carpet combining the benefits of both, making it the preferred choice for both hotels and condominiums.  

Choosing the right carpet

The benefits of a blended carpet come from wool being a natural fiber, which can regulate humidity, and made without harsh chemicals is also flame retardant, strong and durable.  Because nylon is a synthetic material, having it blended in helps to resist mold and mildew, making it an ideal combo for residential hallways, maybe even Presidential hallways such as at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago!

Condo boards must keep in mind, however, that some materials and products required will have been manufactured outside the United States, so recent tariffs can have an impact on both availability and cost.

At many condos, design selections will have been in the works for quite some time before the procurement stage.  Also, requests for proposals now should be focused on sourcing within the U.S. as much as possible, purchasing materials upfront and negotiating protections from an onslaught of price escalations.

Condos should favor vendors and sources with better pricing and product availability, so it’s best to have multiple general contractors bid on the work.

Ingredients

There will always be some condo residents who will not find wool, or a cut pile carpet, the best choice for hallways.  They say it will look beautiful on installation but won’t hold up with humidity and wear and tear hallways always experience. 

These critics will prefer a synthetic nylon, a level loop carpet, which they feel would be far better as within a short time a cut pile wool carpet will hold odors, become disgustingly stained and be difficult, if not impossible to maintain. 

This dissident condo crowd will criticize the board of directors or wreckers by pointing out that blended carpets in luxury hotels don’t have long term viability. Here is the argument they’ll make:

“We are not a luxury hotel that replaces the carpet every 4 to 6 years.”

They will argue that the current condo carpet will have been in place for over 14 years by the time it’s replaced or put to rest.

Sorry, I don’t agree

While I commend critics for speaking out on carpets, I don’t necessarily agree that a carpet needs to last 14 years, especially as a good percentage of the mostly senior and retired residents may not last that long themselves. 

Frankly, after six or seven years I get tired of the same old, same old, which inevitably begins to look its age just like us.  But I say bravo to critics for their courage especially when offering educated points of view from relevant professional experience, as it did from a friend of mine recently. 

And certainly, what they say makes sense financially, but aren’t most residents in condos on the South Florida coastline pretty well off, especially in Palm Beach County in that regard, or how else could they afford to be where they are? 

The latest message from the board at my condo about the material alterations program and design package was in my opinion presented as clearly, as detailed and cogently expressed as can be. 

So, those who are still objecting need to reevaluate, rethink or maybe have their heads examined because this is an excellent plan that needs to be executed and we’re wasting valuable time.  So, I urge that we vote in favor and move ahead!!!

Oh well, that’s my two cents for as an author, the only carpeting I do is with words on pages.  And I hope you’re carpeting your bookshelves with my books and reading my blogs at www.maddenmischief.com!

Once a president of a South Florida condo himself, Tom Madden swears he’ll never go through that again, but he finally got satisfaction by satirically portraying his most outspoken critics back then in one of his books, King of the Condo. When not writing books and blogs to illuminate or to get even, Madden and his illustrious daughter Adrienne Mazzone are running their enterprising public relations firm, TransMedia Group, which also has expertise in crisis carpeting.