Wool vs polypropylene carpet

Hopeful_5

Hard for traditionalists like me to believe but synthetic materials have improved dramatically in the last few years. There are synthetics now that are difficult to tell from an 80/20 mix which are guaranteed stain and wear proof for 15 years - but can be bleached if you don't believe that red wine spill wlll really come out. These carpets are about the same price as a cheaper/mid range 80/20. My daughter had one throughout most of her house a year ago and it looks just as it did when first fitted. I'm currently having a property refurbished and will probably go for a synthetic.

They really have come a long way from those awful flattened, static ridden, dirt attracting things of the past.

Hope

vegasvisitor

We have recently fully recarpeted our new house. Well, we've still to finish painting the hall and have that laid, but the rest are all down. We went for the same carpet right through, including bedrooms. We got 80/20 and I think it is much better than polypropelyne. I accidentally let some radiator water fall on it when bleeding the rads (need to cut a bit of scrap carpet to put down when doing that:o), and there was a nasty looking black patch on the carpet about 5cm or so wide. I nearly died when I saw it. I ran and got a cloth, soaked it up, wet the cloth, repeated, put on vanish, rubbed, repeated etc. I can't see it now, and it was honestly a really black stain. I'm thinking it wouldn't have came out a synthetic carpet then?

I've read that if you have kids or pets you should go for synthetic with scotchguard.

We went for Cormar Home Counties from Hammond Hill online. Local shop price is £22 per metre. We got it for just over £13 per metre. We got cloud 9 cirrus underlay, and the carpetfitter said he though it complemented it very well and seemed pleased with the overall finish. Fitter works for a low budget local store, but was recommended to me. He did a great job, and probably enjoyed working with decent quality stuff. Hammond Hill checked stock before confirming delivery schedule to us (prior to order) and all went to plan on that front too. Hightly recommend this approach if you can get a good fitter.

morizot

There is no formedahyde in wool carpets these days and as a consequence more people are getting moth damage
We get clothes moths periodically, moths tend to hide in dark places and when I moved a bed in our old house (which must have had wool carpets) found some moth grubs
Has an untidy person, I cannot see myself moving all the furniture when I hoover to expose all the carpet to light so going for the minimum maintenance option, synthetic for me!
If I could I would go for a hard floor upstairs as I think carpets harbour dust, but alas carpet is much cheaper

arachne

We had carpet beetles in our flat and they munched their way through a good chunk of the wool carpet underneath and behind furniture so we only realised when we moved the furniture for cleaning - not a regular event! The critters were really hard to get rid of - hoovering, steaming, smoke bombs and chemical sprays. We thought we'd got rid of them but found some more larvae when we moved out. This has made us a bit paranoid so we've only bought polypropylene carpets for our new house. They look and feel lovely (with good underlay) and I can't tell the difference. It's too early to say how they'll wear but I'm sure the one we put in yesterday had a 15 year warranty. The guy in the carpet shop said it was similar to the one they had down in the showroom - ie. lots of footfall - and they'd had one that lasted 10ish years and then they'd only replaced it because they were changing the colour scheme rather than because it needed changing. They'd replaced it with the same sort 4 years ago and it looked good to us.

sunshinetours

I also think you will struggle to see the difference between a higher end poly and a mid range wool mix carpet. like most things you get a certain amount of what you pay for and money well sopent on decent underlay will improve durability and feel of any capret, even cheap ones

Fen1

I am also concerned about moths. My very old wool carpet is fine ( 19 70's ), but my modern carpet is susceptible to attack. As Morizot wrote, modern carpets don't have chemicals in to protect them.

Wool is definitely much nicer under foot, but I would be happier knowing that nothing was festering under my bed and wardrobes!