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Original poster

Wool vs man-made carpets

115 replies

Indecisivelurcher · 30/12/2020 20:14

Talk to me about your carpets! I would like to get a wool mix 80/20, it's natural, warm, hard wearing and long lasting 15yrs maybe. Apparently better for air quality and in a fire?! However, less easy to remove stains, apparently have to get at them quick, risk of moths.

Dh would prefer a polypropylene or nylon man-made carpet, which would be more stain proof - you can even bleach clean (although why on earth you'd need to!) Downsides are not as long lasting although looking at one that says 10yrs, not natural so made with oils and won't degrade after disposal.

This is to go up the stairs, hallway and 3 bedrooms. Kids aged 3 and 6, ddog who does not really go upstairs and dcat who sleeps up there. We plan to stay in this house at least primary school, may move when we've got huge teenagers.

Really appreciate any voices of experience to inform this costly purchase 🙏

OP posts:
lockdownbreakdown · 30/12/2020 20:21

Wool carpet chewed to death by moths in five years. Polypropylene still going strong after 10 and no stains. Easy choice unless you have a woodburner in the room as they melt!

Mybobowler · 30/12/2020 20:24

Like PP, I would never have wool after the carpets in our last rented flat got destroyed by destroyed by moths. The whole lot needed replacing. I shudder just thinking about it, it was biblical.

Original poster
Indecisivelurcher · 30/12/2020 20:26

I'm really surprised, are carpet moths common?!

OP posts:

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sorenipples · 30/12/2020 20:26

Also wouldn't have wool due to moths.

MobLife · 30/12/2020 20:27

Polypropylene carpets are vile and shiny

Wool is a natural fabric and when maintained properly will last absolutely years and years. Great for heat retention and wool is far more environmentally friendly too

Ilovechoc12 · 30/12/2020 20:28

We have Wool carpets 80/20 and the sun has turned a metre square pinkish colour by the patio windows (south facing)

At £40/sq m - I’d never buy them again

I do like cloud 9 underlay

I’ve got nail polish on them 8 yr old girl, slime spots 7 yr old boy. I wouldn’t buy them again , red wine husband - apart from those stains they are going strong (apart from sun stains and odd accidents by the family)

Xx

Julestherabbit · 30/12/2020 20:30

I’ve only ever had100% wool carpets until this house. I was always able to get stains out and they never seemed to wear. We got 50:50 wool:poly carpets a year ago (tempted by the hugely cheaper price) and they are the worst. They stairs and landing look worn and started going bobbly at about 6 months and it’s impossible to get any marks out of them- mud, coffee, dust (yes dust). It’s literally impossible to keep them clean. 3 rooms are ruined already :(. Never again.

YourWurstNightmare · 30/12/2020 20:31

We also swapped ours due to moths! In London, our estate is riddled with them.

Julestherabbit · 30/12/2020 20:32

And I never had moths in the wool carpets in 3 houses.

GU24Mum · 30/12/2020 20:33

We put Cormar upstairs - looked and felt
lovely but has worn really badly and shrunk which apparently is a known problem. The old wool carpets are still going strong years later.

User415373 · 30/12/2020 20:35

We were going to get them until a friend showed me hers where the kids had spilled squash/been sick etc. I love the look of them but not worth the risk for me with Dd on the way! We're getting some from the unnatural flooring Co that's made to look more natural.

tanguero · 30/12/2020 20:36

Wool has MUCH BETTER INSULATION QUALITIES, and will - after you have laid it - save you money every day.
Wool is more resistant to dirt/staining than artificial fibres.
I am writing, sitting on an 80% wool carpet laid 30 years ago; the backing has worn under my chair, but not the weave or wool.
Moths ? I live in Yorkshire, and have never heard of carpet moths being a problem here. Is this a southern thing ?

Bluntness100 · 30/12/2020 20:36

We have one hundred percent wool on the stairs and upstairs, it was here when we moved in nearly seven years ago, no issue with stains, and it’s cream, we do habe it cleaned though and no issue with moths either. However it’s an expensive carpet, you can tell it’s very high quality, I am unsure if that makes a difference.

steppemum · 30/12/2020 20:37

we have moths in our house. Were here when we moved in and while I no longer see them, I am not 100% convinced they are all gone.

There is a wool carpet in dining room, and under the piano it is threadbare (hoovering removes moth larvae, but i don't hoover under the piano) it is also badly faded by the french windows (to be fair it is pretty old)

So when buying a good carpet for our living room, we reluctantly decided on not wool. Our carpet is lovely. You wouldn't really know it isn't wool, it is a soft and warm finish and looks good, no shininess, no artificial feel, honestly I can't tell it isn't wool. It wasn't overly expensive. (but we did make sure we had a decent underlay) But the best thing is that you can clean anything off it.

We had my cousins lovely well behaved dog to stay and quite out of character he had diarrhea in the night on new carpet. Cleaned out 100%.
tea/coffee/wine/pizza/muddy shoes/dog etc etc all clean off beautifully. 3 kids and 10 years later, still looks good (and it is a light beige colour)

Bluntness100 · 30/12/2020 20:37

@User415373

We were going to get them until a friend showed me hers where the kids had spilled squash/been sick etc. I love the look of them but not worth the risk for me with Dd on the way! We're getting some from the unnatural flooring Co that's made to look more natural.
Why doesn’t she habe them professionally cleaned?
nevergoingoutagain · 30/12/2020 20:38

Had 60:40 in my old house. Showed every single speck of dirt and was stained awfully after 5 years although I kept it way beyond that! Even professional cleaning made no difference and hoovering never got the dust out.

Now in my new build for year and half with the basic carpet we got free and everything wipes clean straight away and it hoovers up brilliantly!

IJumpedAboardAPirateShip · 30/12/2020 20:39

We went for wool because more environmentally friendly

Original poster
Indecisivelurcher · 30/12/2020 20:40

@MobLife

Polypropylene carpets are vile and shiny

Wool is a natural fabric and when maintained properly will last absolutely years and years. Great for heat retention and wool is far more environmentally friendly too

We are quite 'green' so this was my thinking. We're almost plastic free with everything else.
OP posts:
tanguero · 30/12/2020 20:44

Wool carpets are effective thermal insulators, saving 8-13% of heating and cooling costs, with the greatest thermal insulation provided by thick carpets on underlays. ... The superior resilience of wool means that wool carpets retain their pile height, a key factor in the insulation value of carpets, for longer.15 Mar 2016

(PDF) The Thermal Properties of Wool Carpets - ResearchGate
www.researchgate.net › publication › 298352974TheT..

sproutsnbacon · 30/12/2020 20:45

I love wool but because of local moth issues (I’m in Yorkshire) went for polypropylene. It is not shiny, it was fairly expensive and it doesn’t show any marks and is easy to clean. I’m thorough with the housekeeping but I don’t move wardrobes every week so to Hoover so no point in having wool.
I’ve had carpets nibbled and seen others completely consumed in a matter of weeks!

FindHungrySamurai · 30/12/2020 20:48

I love my pure wool carpet but the moths have been disastrous.

Original poster
Indecisivelurcher · 30/12/2020 20:49

Is there a carpet moth map of the UK 😂 We're in Gloucestershire. One friend has said she had moths. Only time I've ever heard of it.

OP posts:
MTwhyowhy · 30/12/2020 21:00

In wiltshire here, whole house wool carpets have been eaten by carpet moths, it's costing us a bomb to put right. There are some excellent synthetics now. Don't go for Berber loop style if you have a cat though, we've found that out the hard way! Shock

User415373 · 30/12/2020 21:03

@Bluntness100 she has had it done professionally but the marks are still there. The cleaning ppl said that's just the nature of wool 🤷‍♀️ also not keen on having to get professionals in for every stain.
I'd be happy to be persuaded otherwise as I love it! I think it looks so good and would much prefer a natural material. I just don't want to regret it later.

LynetteScavo · 30/12/2020 21:04

My 100% wool carpet was eaten by moths (the same thing also happened to a friend- we were both freaking out at the same time) I replaced mine with a synthetic carpet which is bleach cleanable. I spilt red wine on it last night band didn't notice until this morning. It sponged off really easily. There probably are benefits to wool, and I would usually go for natural. My friend wouldn't entertain the idea of synthetic carpet and chose to put down tiles.