One of the questions I am often asked is, “What is the best carpet or rug to buy?” After more than 55 years in the carpet and upholstery cleaning business, I can tell you that there isn’t one simple answer. The best carpet or rug depends on where it will be used, how it will be used, how much traffic it will receive, exposure to sunlight, the fibers and dyes used, how it is constructed, what materials are used in the backing, and perhaps most importantly, how it can be safely cleaned and maintained.
A carpet or rug can look beautiful when it is new, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will be a good choice for your particular home.
Start With the Fiber—but Don’t Stop There
There are many different carpet and rug fibers available today. Nylon, wool, polyester, triexta and polypropylene are among the fibers consumers may encounter, and each has different characteristics.
Nylon, for example, has an excellent reputation for durability and resilience. Wool is a beautiful natural fiber that can produce exceptionally attractive and long-lasting rugs and carpets. Other fibers may offer advantages in stain resistance, cost or particular applications.
But the fiber itself is only part of the story.
Where the carpet will be used is just as important as what it is made from.
A carpet installed in a bedroom doesn’t necessarily have the same requirements as one installed in a busy family room. A carpet in a home with pets may have very different requirements from one installed in a home without pets. And a carpet used in an environment where accidents involving bodily fluids can occur may require an entirely different approach to cleaning and decontamination.
Years ago, I cleaned carpets in nursing homes where accidents were an unfortunate reality. In those situations, routine carpet cleaning wasn’t necessarily enough. The carpet and its fibers had to be capable of tolerating appropriate cleaning and decontamination procedures.
That same principle can apply in homes where pets have accidents. The question isn’t simply whether the carpet can be cleaned. You also have to consider whether the fiber and dyes can safely tolerate the cleaning and treatment necessary to address the problem.
What About Sunlight?
Another consideration that many people don’t think about until it is too late is color stability and exposure to sunlight.
I learned this lesson myself.
Many years ago, I purchased a carpet for my office that I absolutely loved. It was a relatively short, dense cut-pile nylon carpet. The predominant color was a reddish-purple, with small gray triangles incorporated into the design. My office had light-gray trim, and the combination looked terrific.
Unfortunately, my office had a large amount of sunlight coming through the front entrance.
After only two or three years, the sunlight had substantially changed the reddish-purple color. The carpet hadn’t necessarily become dirty—it had lost much of the color that made it attractive in the first place. The result was that the carpet simply looked old and dirty.
That experience taught me something important:
A carpet can be very durable from a wear standpoint and still be a poor choice for a particular location if the dyes aren’t sufficiently stable for the amount of sunlight they will receive.
Before buying a carpet, consider where the sunlight will come from and how much direct sunlight the carpet will receive.
Don’t Overlook the Construction
The way a carpet is constructed can be just as important as the fiber.
There is a big difference between a tightly constructed loop carpet and a cut-pile carpet. Pile density, construction and the amount of structural support provided by the surrounding fibers can all influence how a carpet responds to years of foot traffic.
I have a very good example in my own home.
My family-room carpet has been subjected to extremely heavy use for many years. It is a tightly constructed nylon loop carpet, and it has held up remarkably well. In fact, if someone told you the carpet was only two years old, you could probably believe them based on its appearance.
Other carpets in my home that have been there for the same period of time were higher-quality, dense cut-twist-pile carpets. Yet those carpets have been replaced several times while the tightly constructed nylon loop carpet remains.
That doesn’t mean that loop carpet is always better than cut pile. It means that the construction of the carpet matters, and the right construction for one situation may not be the right construction for another.
More Pile Doesn’t Always Mean Better
Another thing I have observed over the years is how carpets with different pile heights can wear.
A carpet with a multi-level design may look very attractive when it is new. But if some portions of the pile stand considerably higher than others, those higher areas can receive more direct foot traffic.
The higher fibers are exposed to the traffic while the lower areas receive less direct contact. The higher portions may therefore wear more quickly.
In a densely constructed, relatively uniform pile, the surrounding fibers provide a degree of structural support. When individual areas of a design stand above the surrounding pile, that support can be reduced.
So when choosing a carpet, don’t look only at how attractive the pattern is when it is new. Think about how that particular construction is likely to perform after years of people walking across it.
Be Careful When Different Fibers Are Combined
This becomes even more important when a carpet or rug contains more than one type of fiber.
Consider a rug that is predominantly wool but has silk used for highlights in the design.
The wool may be very stable and durable, while the silk may have different characteristics. The dyes used with the different fibers may also behave differently.
Before cleaning a rug like this, a professional cleaner should determine how stable the fibers and dyes are and whether they will react safely to the cleaning process.
The important point is that you cannot always judge a rug simply by looking at the fiber that makes up the largest percentage of its construction.
The more delicate or chemically sensitive component may determine how the entire rug must be cleaned.
This Is One Reason I Tell People to Be Very Careful With Viscose-Type Rugs
There is another category of fiber that I have repeatedly warned people about over the years: viscose and other regenerated-cellulosic fibers that are marketed under various names to create a silk-like appearance.
Consumers may encounter terms such as rayon, art silk, bamboo silk and other marketing or proprietary names. These materials are not necessarily chemically identical, so the specific fiber should always be identified before purchase.
But from my perspective as someone who has spent decades cleaning rugs, my concern is straightforward:
A rug can look beautiful and feel luxurious when it is new but still have significant limitations when it comes to moisture, staining, abrasion and cleaning.
This is why I have told many people through my business Facebook page that I would personally think very carefully before purchasing a rug containing viscose-type fibers.
The most important thing is to find out exactly what the fiber is and how it can be safely maintained before you buy it—not after something goes wrong.
Don’t Forget What Is Underneath the Face Fibers
There is one more part of a carpet or rug that consumers often never consider: the backing and support materials.
I’m generally comfortable with synthetic materials being used in the backing to provide structural integrity. But jute is a different matter.
Personally, if I found a rug I loved but discovered that it had a jute backing, I would think very carefully before buying it.
I’ve had numerous calls over the years to correct stains caused by jute bleeding.
One example stands out.
A client had a brand-new white wool carpet. One evening, she accidentally knocked over a bottle of water on her nightstand. It wasn’t a large spill. She picked up the bottle and lightly blotted the excess water, assuming that because it was only water, there wasn’t much to worry about.
The next morning, she discovered a substantial brown stain on her brand-new white wool carpet.
Where did the brown color come from?
The jute.
The moisture had caused the jute to release color into the carpet.
On a synthetic carpet, a problem like this may be relatively straightforward to correct. But wool presents a much more delicate situation. You can’t simply treat wool aggressively without considering the potential for damage.
In this particular case, I was able to lightly clean the affected area and then use a carefully selected hydrogen-peroxide treatment to remove or substantially lighten the browning.
The lesson is an important one:
Sometimes what appears to be a stain in the carpet is actually a problem originating from the materials underneath the carpet’s face fibers.
Think About Cleaning Before You Buy
After more than 55 years in this business, this may be the most important advice I can give someone shopping for carpet or a rug:
Don’t just ask how beautiful it is. Ask how it can be cleaned.
Before buying, consider:
- What fiber or combination of fibers does it contain?
- How stable are the dyes?
- Will it receive direct sunlight?
- How much foot traffic will it receive?
- Is it a loop, cut pile or multi-level construction?
- How dense is the pile?
- Does it contain delicate decorative fibers?
- What materials are used in the backing?
- How will it respond if a pet has an accident?
- Can it tolerate the cleaning and treatment that may eventually be necessary?
These are questions that are much easier to answer before the carpet or rug is purchased than after there is a problem.
So, What Is the Best Carpet or Rug to Buy?
After all these years, I don’t believe there is one answer.
The best carpet or rug is the one whose fiber, construction, color, backing and maintenance requirements are appropriate for the environment in which it will be used.
A beautiful wool rug may be an excellent choice for one room but a poor choice for another. A nylon carpet may be an outstanding choice for a heavily used family room. A particular color may look perfect in a showroom but fade badly when exposed to strong sunlight. And a rug that looks like silk may contain a fiber that presents serious cleaning limitations.
Most importantly, don’t choose a carpet or rug based solely on how it looks when it is new.
Think about how it will look after years of traffic, sunlight, spills, pets, cleaning and everyday life.
After 55+ years of cleaning carpets and rugs, I’ve learned that the best purchase isn’t necessarily the one that looks the best in the showroom.
It’s the one that continues to perform well after you have lived with it.
If you’re considering purchasing a carpet or rug and have questions about the fiber, construction or cleanability, I’d be happy to help you understand what you’re buying before you make the investment.
Alec Houle
Alec’s Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning LLC
781-871-1415