Slippy stair carpet!

[JammyGeorge]

Hi, this is a random one.

Moved into a new house 3 months ago. Since we've been here my ds1 (5) and ds2 (2.5) are slipping on the stairs and falling. Poor ds2 had just rolled down 3/4 stairs bless him.

If it was just ds2 I would revert back to a stairgate at the top (although this worries me as he's a big lad and he could surely get over it if he put some effort in).

DH and I have no problems with the stairs, it's normal staircase with a normal beige carpet, doesn't seem slippy to me but there must be something going on with it. Ds1 just says they are slippy and he keeps bashing his back.

What on earths going on mumsnet? I really don't want to buy a new stair carpet but it's looking like we'll have to or someone's going to end up in a&e!

The people before me left some of that carpet power stuff you Hoover up in the cupboard can that make carpets slippy? Is there such a thing as slip resistant strips for the edges of stairs?

I'm at a loss and am going to have to start supervising all stair climbing or fork out for a new carpet unless I can work out a solution.

Any ideas?

[FlabbyFlabbyBits]

Is it an old carpet? We have a 23+ year old carpet on our stairs, and I think it's slippery. Sort of waxy slippery. It is clean! It's hoovered regularly. Just old and very flat. (Will replace when the cat departs this world).

[JammyGeorge]

It doesn't look that old, it's not worn in the middle where people walk as can happen.

It doesn't seem very good quality but at the same time the stair carpet in my old house was a cheap one and we all seemed to manage to navigate them without injury.

[Iloveonionchutney]

I've got the same problem, been here 4 weeks and dd(4) has slipped twice, me and dh have so far been ok. Dd has started coming down on her bum instead sometimes.
Not idea what to do about it, can't afford new carpet.

[JammyGeorge]

It's got me beat chutney.

To get a new carpet we'd have to replace the hallways upstairs and down.

I've got one of those carpet cleaning machines might give it a try and see if it makes any difference, problem is the only way I know if it's working or not is another slip or fall.

[Iloveonionchutney]

That's what I think, how will you know if they've just got used to the stairs or if it's worked lol!
I'm Just hoping for the best at the moment!

[MooMaid]

Is it possible that the carpet is just loose in one particular place so the actual carpet is slipping forward, causing them to trip?

[JammyGeorge]

Thats not a bad theory moo I'll give it a good check over.

[Paramaribo0]

Just a word of warning, we had this problem after we had new carpet fitted before Christmas. After a couple of small slips my DD7 fell top to bottom down the stairs breaking her collarbone in several places. She had her first operation on Boxing Day and the second a month ago. So it is a dangerous problem and we have now made sure she and her brother 5 only come down on their bottoms.!!

[JammyGeorge]

Oh your poor dd I think I'm going to put a gate at the top for the little one, I'm quite stressed out about it, I do feel like it's only a matter of time before one of them is hurt but we've not got the money for a new carpet.

I have started a sustained campaign of stair behaviour, I'm shouting be careful, go slowly, on your bums.

[Iloveonionchutney]

My dd took it upon herself to come down on her bum for a while. She walked down earlier fine but she always holds the rail and that's what stopped her falling far last time.
I'll check all our stairs too though in case it's loose.

[Artistic]

We had this problem in our previous house. It was rented so we had no option to change anything. Ironically the carpets were new. We 'understood' that the problem was that there wasn't sufficient pile on the carpet i.e. they were quite 'flat' & as a result slippery. All of us including adults had slipping incidents. Then we got real careful & came down really slowly. In our new house we got the carpets changed to ensure the stairs are slip free.

In the old house I found some parts of the bedroom & hallway slippery too! I suppose it's the type of carpet which is too thin & after a certain amount of wear & tear tends to go flat..hence slippery.

Changing might be the only option!

[Artistic]

We had this problem in our previous house. It was rented so we had no option to change anything. Ironically the carpets were new. We 'understood' that the problem was that there wasn't sufficient pile on the carpet i.e. they were quite 'flat' & as a result slippery. All of us including adults had slipping incidents. Then we got real careful & came down really slowly. In our new house we got the carpets changed to ensure the stairs are slip free.

In the old house I found some parts of the bedroom & hallway slippery too! I suppose it's the type of carpet which is too thin & after a certain amount of wear & tear tends to go flat..hence slippery.

Changing might be the only option!