Stain resistant carpet

georgiac

We have decided to decorate our lounge.

OH would prefer good quality engineered laminate whilst I prefer carpet.

The problem with laminate , for me, is the warmth issue and in the lounge I would like something more luxurious.

We have seen some carpets that claim to be guaranteed food and beverage stain-free for 10years.

Has anyone got any experience with these sorts of carpets and guarantees?

There seem to be a few conditions - professional fitting ( which we would have anyway) and cleaning every 2 years.

The make we looked at was

http://www.abingdonflooring.co.uk/product.php?ID=10448

Any help gratefully received.

TomsMom

Personally, I would be wary of any guarantee that requires me to carry out a regular maintenance programme - chances are that if you have a claim they will find a way of saying you did something wrong and the warranty is void. But then I'm cynical .

Taken from the warranty details on the site you mentioned:
All we ask of you is common sense cleaning and that a regular maintenance programme is followed.

If you want to research a bit more, you can google for Chem-Dry or ScotchGuard or just carpet stain protection and compare them and the conditions of warranty.

Also, be aware that it also says
Please Note : The Abingdon Flooring free Stain Resist Warranty applies only to carpets manufactured from man-made fibres and not to carpets containing wool.

Have you thought about what type of carpet you want, e.g. man made or 80%/20% wool/man made mix.

From experience of my own and other family members' carpets over many years (and bearing in mind man made may be better now than it was previously - I don't know), once you've cleaned a man made carpet then it seems to get dirty more quickly and needs frequent cleaning.

I had a 80/20 wool/man made carpet in my lounge, lightish peach colour, that I somehow managed to spill a cafetiere of coffee on :eek: . Did the emergency mop up and tried to clean it but it was still badly stained. We had the local Chem-Dry chap in who said he could clean it but there would still be some evidence of the stain left and he suggested we claimed on our insurance. Insurance company replaced it.

The replacement was again 80/20 wool/man made and we've been more careful about coffee . It's been down about 3 to 4 years and looks like new.

My son has a nice 100% man made carpet which looks lovely but my d-i-l has to shampoo it at least twice a year (that's a dark peach/terracotta colour).

Also, have you thought about colour? Are you going to be practical or fashionable? Cream/beige or something a bit darker that wont show every bit of dirt?

One other thing, if you do go for carpet make it a rule that no outdoor shoes go into your lounge, particularly if you go for a light colour. Besides the dirt, soles can carry rough bits (grit etc) that you don't notice that will cause excess wear. We have this rule in our house and we don't even have a "walking trail" in the carpet from the door to the seating.

Have to agree with you about the warmth aspect of a carpet, especially for the lounge. My nephew moved into a house with laminate in the lounge, within six months it had been replaced with carpet as both he and his wife found the room to be cold.

Blimey, sorry for the length of my reply .

georgiac

TomsMom, I award you the services to common sense carpet buying award!

What a brilliant reply. So much information and personal insight that I can't do justice with a response.

Suffice to say that I have taken everything you say on and will look deeprer into the shagpile.

I too was hesitant about man made fibres but with two small children + 1 OH stain resistant was a phrase that caught my eye.

Unfortuntaley we want a light beige carpet ( it appears everyone does these days) and I know I'll be walking on eggshells* everytime the children are home.

* for eggshells - see shreddies, buttered toast, vimto etc etc etc.

I saw a carpet today that seemed to suggest that it offered stain protection that was 80/20 so maybe there are others out there to investigate.

Thanks again gc

on_a_money_mission

I had a 'stain-free' carpet fitted in April on the stairs and office/play room. It does clean up well after wet stains if you get to them when wet (so far tested with a dropped ice lolly and various drinks) : but (and a friend with one agrees) they are a pain to hoover as they seem to attract fluff and hairs which seem statically and firmly attracted to the carpet. I think it may be all polypropylene carpets as our previous carpet was the same although not stainfree. Wool blend carpets I've had, hoovered really well but wet stains were a nightmare even when tackled straight away. So it depends how many stain producers you have in your house...

One thing worth mentioning: if you have asthma be aware that the fumes from new manmade carpets can trigger attacks. I ended up in casualty after mine was fitted but invested in several pot plants which absorbed the fumes within a few days.