What's Best Material for Carpet Runner in Wheelchair Users Home?

Hi, I need to replace a 27" x 10' runner in my apartment as my old one is shot. It held together pretty well considering I paid only a few dollars a foot at Home Depot yrs ago. I use a heavy power wheelchair and so need something sturdy w/a rubber backing. I saw the runners listed below but on the 1st onelisted many reviews complained of lint etc sticking to it and that even with a vacuum it was hard to clean and recommend getting a neuteral color. Problem with that is the runner is by my front door and my chairs tires can get very dirty (even greasy) when I go out.

I'm wondering which of these runners do you feel would be least prone to attracting lint, dirt etc. and is easiest to clean? To me the second listed looks a little less fuzzy than the other and therefore may not track as much lint? It also looks stronger.

Thanks in advance for all the info you can provide!

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Reply to
quadzila
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I cannot answer your question, but haae a couple of my own Do you need a runner or is there a better floor covering? I'm thinking that vinyl sheet goods, ceramic tile, laminate, engineered hardwood, could be a better choice and are easy to clean with a damp sponge mop.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

Quadzila:

I like to think I know a little bit about carpet.

I looked at all three runners you linked to, and from what I can see, they're all pretty well the same thing. The only difference is that one of them (the one from House, Home and More) has a ribbed texture going lenghtwise, and I don't see any advantage in that except under extremely wet conditions.

You see, there are only three kinds of plastic used to make carpet fiber:

  1. Nylon
  2. Polyester, and
  3. Olefin

Olefin is the least expensive of the three, and it's typically what's used to make inexpensive "disposable" carpets. All three of the runners you linked to are made of Olefin fiber.

Nylon is the strongest fiber, so if you can find a carpet runner in nylon, it'll be the longest lasting, but it'll probably also be the most expensive.

The advantage to Olefin is that it's highly water and UV resistant, which is why it's used to make indoor/outdoor carpet. Also, Olefin fiber cannot by dyed by conventional dying techniques. It gets it's colour from tiny coloured particles (called "pigments") that are added to the plastic before drawing it into a fiber. So, these coloured pigments are suspended inside the fiber very much like raisins in raisin bread. As a result, you can use bleach straight out of the jug on olefin fiber carpets without harming the carpet. The carpet doesn't get "bleached" because the source of it's colour is encased in Olefin plastic and therefore never comes into contact with the bleach. Olefin fiber is also the most naturally resistant to water based stains. It is more prone to oil based stains, like cooking oil or even engine oil, but all of these can be easily removed from Olefin fiber carpeting by just wetting them down with mineral spirits and vaccuuming out the soiled mineral spirits with a wet/dry vaccuum cleaner.

The only stain that I've ever encountered that will stain an Olefin carpet is candle wax dye. You see, some candles are made from pigmented wax, where the wax has tiny coloured particles mixed into it. Other candle waxes are dyed. If you spill molten candle wax on your carpet, if the colour comes out with the wax, then it was pigmented wax. However, if you remove the wax and the coloured stain remains behind, then that is dye. But, that dye can be removed by using bleach right out of the jug on the stain without affecting the carpet (or, in this case, runner) at all.

As I say, all three links are showing Olefin runners that are very much the same. So, if it was me, I would work out which one is the cheapest when you add in taxes and shipping and everything else, and just go with that one.

Also, because you can use bleach to remove otherwise impossible stains from Olefin carpet fiber, you don't need to buy black. Certainly, black hides dirt the best, but if you're wanting a lighter colour of runner, I wouldn't hesitate to get a red, green or blue runner because if they're all Olefin, they will all be unaffected by bleach, and equally cleanable.

Nylon is a stonger fiber than Olefin, so a nylon runner would last you longer, but normal nylon is more susceptable to water based stains. If you want a nylon fiber that's made the same way as Olefin fiber (with the pigments suspended in the fiber like raisins in raisin bread) make sure the nylon fiber the runner is made with is "solution dyed" nylon.

Get the cheapest one, because from what I can see, the differences are tiny compared to the similarities.

Reply to
nestork

Lucite sheeting..

Reply to
clare

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