We're buying a new carpet and the salesman asked if we'd be wanting to have it "stainguard" treated. We're getting a lightish blue 80/20 (new wool & nylon) for the stairs and landing (with Cloud 9 7mm underlay).
Has anyone any stories to tell about stainproofing carpets?
Jonathan
For heavy use areas, like stairs and hallways, it is a good idea to have the stainguard applied.
Thanks - just checking to make sure I didn't get a chorus of "forget it" so I think I'll give it whirl.
Be careful, extra treatments that manufacturers haven't deemed necessary can be detrimental to the wear life, and may (I stress may) invalidate any guarantee.
80% wool/20% nylon carpets should not require "stainguarding"; wool is naturally resistant to staining, providing you follow the manufacturers spillage guide. I have sold many thousands of square metres to hotels, casinos, nightclubs, cinemas etc that have not had added treatments, and there haven't been complaints about soiling on any untreated carpets. Stain-Guard, Scotch Guard and other "Brand Names" or well-known treatments that protect carpets are normally expensive. However, they are all just water proofing treatments designed to stop anything spilled from actually getting onto the fibres, by coating them in a protective seal. Some affect the colour and feel of the finished carpet. You are spending good money on the carpet so check with the manufacturer and get their point of view, it could just be an extra profit stream for the retailer.Visit
Now THAT sounds like good advice! Thanks!
Don't know specifically about after-market treatments, but it is also possible to get carpets that come stain-protected from the factory; we bought a whole house of the stuff. It seemed cheaper this way than having the stuff applied by the fitters, and is probably better and more consistently applied.
We did *not* have the stuff because we thought it would keep the carpets pristene, nor because we thought we'd ever be claiming on the warrantee. The loops you have to jump through before even thinking about claiming are incredible, but the style of carpet we wanted in the colour we wanted was available with this stuff pre-applied at a price that was within our budget, and with two small children and the front door opening directly into a carpeted area (no porch), as they say, "every little helps".
To be fair, the carpet has been extremely well-behaved in the (nearly)
12 months since it was installed. It is only the section by the front door which is consistently dirty enough to need a bit of a scrub rather than the Hoover but, so far, a bit of a scrub (according to the manufacturer's strict instructions) has been sufficient to get it looking pretty good again.Regarding the Cloud 9, we had it (we were buying so much carpet the company "upgraded" us for free) and it certainly feels much nicer underfoot than normal underlay. Whether it is as hard-wearing as the promises I'm not so sure, and it certainly seems not to recover from point-loads (heavy furniture legs) quite as well as I remember the old stuff doing.
Hwyl!
M.
Underlays come in many qualities, thicknesses and firmness. A poor quality underlay under a good carpet is a waste of money - the old maxim "An expensive carpet deserves a good underlay, but a cheap carpet needs one" still hold true today.
The firmer the underlay the better the recovery, but it will not feel a nice to walk on. "You pays yer money and makes yer choice".
Hi Jonathan
As a carpet cleaner in a former life, yes it's well worth it. There are however two types; silicone and fluorocarbon. Silicone is cheap but I wouldn't recommend it at all. Go for fluorocarbon.
However, the carpet seller will view stain guard as a huge profit centre. Get alternative quotes from carpet cleaning companies - they will quote a sq ft price and compare. Even if you just use the quote to get a better deal from the carpet supplier.
Dave
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