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Carpet Fibers

By Alan Fletcher - Carpet Expert and Consumer Advocate

 

Selecting the Right Carpet Fiber for You.

 

In this section we will be discussing carpet fibers, one of the most important aspects in selecting the right carpet for the home, office or rental property.  

 

NYLON

Nylon is a synthetic fiber and outperforms all other fibers. It wears well, resists abrasion and is easy to clean if treated with an anti-stain treatment. It comes in all styles and colors. This is the longest wearing, most durable fiber available. There are two types of nylon fiber available. Nylon 6 and Nylon 6.6, they are both very good. Retailers will try to tell you which one they think is better. 

Soft Nylon Fibers

I have found that the "soft" nylon fibers are not quite as resilient as a standard denier nylon fiber. The higher the denier, the heavier the filament. The way they make a standard nylon fiber softer is to make the strand thinner. By doing so, I believe that some of the resiliency is lost. This thinner strand creates a carpet that is softer to the touch but may be more susceptible to matting and crushing. Don't take this the wrong way, I'm not steering you away from buying a soft nylon, but if you want to have the absolute most durable and most resilient nylon for the money, I suggest you avoid the more costly soft nylons and buy a standard  100% nylon BCF carpet.

 

What is Denier?

Note: Fiber denier is easiest understood if you have ever gone fishing and used a nylon filament fishing line. The thicker the line is, the stronger it is. When fishing for Trout most fishermen use a thin 6-pound test line. For bigger Fiber Denier Example for Soft Nylon Carpet Stylesfish like Steelhead or Salmon, a thicker 10 or 12-pound nylon test line may be selected. Some carpet fibers are manufactured thinner to make a carpet that feels softer to the touch, but in doing so some of the strength, durability or resiliency may be sacrificed. Therefore I believe a carpet made with a standard Denier Nylon fiber will be more durable and more resilient than a carpet made with a thinner strand as used in today's branded "Soft Nylons"

 

Olefin is a strong good-looking synthetic fiber that is inexpensive to manufacture. Some carpets that are made of olefin are Berbers or commercial carpets with small loops. Olefin wears well and has good stain resistance when anti-stain treatment is applied. Olefin has good anti-static properties. However, Olefin is hard to clean. It has poor resiliency and tends to look dingy when soiled. It is also called polypropylene or polyolefin. 

 

POLYESTER (may also be called P.E.T.)

(May be manufactured from recycled soda pop containers)

Don't be fooled by the softness of this fiber. This is a very soft synthetic fiber that holds its color well; however it is difficult to keep clean and has very poor resiliency. Traffic areas will usually mat down quickly and may never return to its original appearance. When new, polyester looks great and feels so soft and wonderful, but it won’t be too long before it doesn’t. 

Sales people often recommend this type of carpet to consumers without sufficient fiber knowledge or experience. Because polyester is so inexpensive to manufacture and higher profits using this fiber, carpet manufacturers continually try to enhance carpets made with polyester hoping that they can create a carpet that wears well. So far they have had limited success. 

 

Sorona® aka Smartstrand by Mohawk®

Another somewhat new fiber on the market today is called Sorona®, or Smartstrand®. It is a polymer made from or derived from corn. (Actually it was invented way back in the 1940's but it was too costly to manufacture) Originally invented by Dupont™, they are very proud of this fiber and go so far to say that this fiber has the best anti-stain properties, cleans easier than any other fiber and is very durable too! Reports from my readers and other flooring professionals have been very favorable so far with only a few negative reports. I believe Sorona is a viable option for many consumers if it fits into your budget and you have need for a carpet that is practically stain proof! However, no carpet fiber is totally stain proof. 

I’m not completely sold on this fiber yet because it has not been available to consumers long enough for me to cast my vote, but please understand that it is my job to question and test every product before I recommend it to my readers. My gut feeling is that this is a good product and worthy of consideration. 

Should you buy carpet made with Sorona (Smartstrand)? If you want a carpet that is able to resists stains and clean easily and have good durability, then yes, you should seriously consider buying Sorona. However, if you want the absolute best and most durable carpet fiber known to man for the past 70 years then you should consider choosing a good quality continuous filament Nylon carpet.

UPDATE

 

My Latest Opinion Regarding Sorona® (Smartstrand by Mohawk)

 

 

Alan, Sorona has been around for about 8 years now, do you think it is as good as nylon?


I hear from many homeowners and confer often with my preferred carpet dealers about Sorona, (AKA Smartstrand by Mohawk) and I get conflicting reports. Some homeowners hate it and say it mats down quickly and is hard to clean, others say it's great and are very happy with it. Some carpet dealers say they get nothing but complaints about it and yet others sing about how wonderful it is and say it's better or "as good" as nylon. 

 

What I have come to believe at this point is that Sorona IS a durable fiber, it also cleans easily and resists stains better than Nylon in most cases. However, it is imperative that you choose the right quality or "grade" of carpet in order to be satisfied with the overall performance. This is true with any carpet no matter what fiber it is made of. This means having sufficient face-weight, pile density and adequate tuft twist to meet your needs, goals and lifestyle. I think it is also important to keep the pile height at or below 3/4 of an inch or risk potential matting and crushing.

Knowing what grade of carpet to buy is the secret to success and sadly, most folks end up buying a carpet that is incapable of tolerating their level of foot traffic. This always ends in disaster and makes for an unhappy customer. To help homeowners make wise choices I created a simple Carpet Foot Traffic Test. It gives consumers a general idea about what grade of carpet to consider buying based of the amount and type of foot traffic in the home. Here is the actual link: http://www.homecarpetshopping.com/carpet_foot_traffic_test.htm

This is my take on Sorona so far and I think it will take a few more years to give my final report on the durability of Sorona. For now, I still believe that Nylon is more durable and has better resiliency than Sorona, but Sorona does seem to clean a bit easier and resist stains better.


Thanks for your question I will post this information (and date it) so everyone can be updated on this subject. Most of the information about Sorona (on the internet) is written by the manufacturer or the authorized Sorona dealers. You just don't get the whole story from those sources.

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