So confused! Shopping for carpet, can anyone help?

[dixie]

We live at the lake and so I need a durable carpet. I am confused about which carpet to go with. I know Stainmaster is good, but what about RX2? I am looking at a nylon Frieza that has specs in it. Some have a a 7 year texture warranty and some have a 10 year texture warranty.

Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[pittle]

When we were looking for new carpet, our carpet cleaning guy told us to look for nylon as it cleans up the best. We too wanted the frieza. Our biggest problem was that right after we installed the new carpet, the condo assoiciation sealed the asphalt parking lot and we had to be careful to take our shoes off when we came inside during the sumer. That was the case for everyone. That tar stuff is brutal on ant kind of carpet.

 

[jschmidt]

In Texas carpet is pretty much out! The current trend is tile or laminate flooring with area rugs.

 

[Big Matt]

Not counting hand made rugs, there are three basic carpet types:

Wool - most expensive, beautiful, stains easily, wears like a natural fiber

Nylon - durable, priced from bottom dollar to very expensive, fibers are dyed after the fibers are formed so it can fade and bleach will ruin it.

Polyester - durable, not as soft as nylon or wool, mostly priced in reasonable range, fibers are dyed as part of the formation process so bleach won't discolor

Most people honestly can't tell the difference among the three. I bought polyester for my basement and am very happy with it. Little by little, I've been replacing the nylon carpe in the rest of the house with hard wood.

 

[Aussiedog]

We live at the lake and so I need a durable carpet.

We have 3000sf of carpet in our home (including kitchen, bathrooms and in humid North Carolina no less) and we have 10 large indoor/outdoor dogs! So as you can imagine finding the right combo of durability and looks is critical.

I strongly urge you to consider a commercial grade carpet. The styles are so varied now - not like in the old days when all commercial carpet was a short cut pile or short loop. You can pair a bullet-proof commercial carpet with a great pad and you will have the perfect carpet combo for your lake home. (you can also get one of the new pet stain/odor pads if that is an issue - has a vapor/moisture barrier)

Most cities have special carpet "stores" for professional installers and designers. The prices are half of what you would pay retail. Start with finding a good installer and see if you can work with him/her to make your selection and purchase at that "store". In Raleigh we have ProSource which is part of a national chain.

Have fun choosing!

Ann

 

[Big Matt]

FYI,
I bought from Prosource also. I was able to work with my contractor to get a very good price. He was willing to lower his mark up as long as he got his installation price.

 

[Grand Vic]

Pop Bottle Carpet

We went to a Parade of Homes in our area and two of the homes had "pop bottle carpet" in them. It was very attractive and we were told that it is extremely durable. Here is a description I found online:


PET POLYESTER:
This is a new type of fiber that has this long chemical name: Polyethylene Terephthalate, but still falls in the class of fibers known commonly as polyesters. This PET fiber, however, is "not your daddy's polyester". This fiber has natural and permanent stain resistance. PET fiber is stronger than the old polyester and has better abrasion resistance. Unlike the old polyester, the PET product has a higher melting point and is more resistant to abrasion.
The fiber is made from PET chips, some of which come from recycled plastic containers, hence the name "pop bottle carpet". Recycling does not affect the quality if the fiber, thus this product could be a future fiber that could be recycled over and over.

On a personal note, I had a customer spill hair dye on her 6 month old PET Polyester carpet. Hair dye is on the list of not warranted stains, but this lady got the stain out with a laundry detergent and water. I was impressed. I will keep adding to this fiber page as more info about PET products reach my attention.

Also, in the Polyester family is its superior cousin PTT. This fiber is known as SMARTSTRAND (trademark) when marketed by Mohawk, but other mills just call it PTT. This fiber is even stronger than PET polyester, and has better colorfastness and cleanability features than PET. PTT is as colorfast as solution dyed nylon. This fiber is extremely soft, and yet behaves better than staple nylon, especially in a shag construction. If you have kids and pets, and are going to be in the home more than 10 years, PTT is a good choice; especially the 3GT Sorona Dupont Polymer offered in some Mohawk carpets. I have not had a comsumer complaint on this fiber in the four years I have been selling it. By the way, PTT is just one step away chemically from 4GT polyester that is used to make tough auto parts.

 

[dixie]

Grand Vic another Question

Do you think the PTT is better than Stain Master? Thank you so much for all your information! It is funny, but I just looked at Smartstand today. It looks very nice. Do you think it wears as good as Nylon?

 

[Big Matt]

Dixie, I bought the PET also, and it is more durable and stain resistent than stain master. It doesn't generally have the same look and feel as stainmaster's most expensive carpets. I didn't want to pay $10 per square foot of carpet so mine at $4/sf seemed like a bargain for what I got.

 

[dixie]

Thanks so much for the information Matt!