Wool vs man-made carpets

[Indecisivelurcher]

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 🙏

Are carpet moths the same moths that have eaten my cashmere and wool ponchos, jumpers and wraps?

Yup!

We changed 3 carpets in the summer and went for the man made ones due to a long furred cat with a hobby of furball barfing. Wool wouldn't survive the number of times the rug DH doctor has been out

20 year old wool blend carpet - fine but faded by the window.
20 year old man made fibre carpet - looks fine, not much fading, but it is actually disintegrating, a powder comes off it if you run your hand over it - I can't decide if this is actually bad for us residents but it's in a room seldom used.

DH didn't want wool as he said it goes bobbly/hairy.

All fibres produce bobbles but the difference with wool is that the fibre are weaker so the bobbles can be easily removed. Wool fibres also have a ratchet-like structure on their surface which means the fibres can be easily tangled together (hence why you can make felt from wool or any animal fibre).

Synthetic fibres have a smooth surface so bobbles are less likely but when you do get them they are harder to remove because the fibres are stronger.

I’ve gone for synthetic and bleachable carpets this time. I really loved my wool carpet, but youngest DC is a fiend and I just can’t get all the stains out. I am in the NE of Scotland and both my in laws and parents carpets were badly damaged by carpet moths 2 or 3 years ago. Apparently the milder weather means this is more likely up here now.

My drawers and cupboards are full of moth deterrent things but all my jumpers have new moth holes every time I look at them. My wool carpets, though, have no moth damage at all, despite my lazy hovering techniques. So the moth proofing must work. I'm surprised there's any pile left though - my Shark vacuum sucks up an unbelievable amount of fluff even now the carpets are 3 years old....

Hoovering not hovering!

It’s the larvae that eat the wool (and usually leave the hessian backing). So just because you don’t see any moths doesn’t mean they haven’t already laid their eggs, (which develop into larvae) and died.

@Indecisivelurcher

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.

I’m in Gloucestershire and have had huge problems with both moths and carpet beetles (don’t actually have wool carpets but do own a lot of wool clothes)

We had a polypropylene carpet in the lounge when our kids were babies/toddlers. Yes, it was easy to clean stains but it wore badly and the pile flattened in heavy wear areas in

You can buy microscopic wasps that eat the moth eggs.

They come on a little card and you release them into the room with the infestation.

I have a 80% wool carpet in my front room. Natural colour. Whilst other carpets in the house have been changed 2/3 times over the last 18 years, this one is still going strong.
It’s lovely and I’m frightened of not being able to replace it with anything half as good...

I'm in Manchester and have never heard of moths ruining carpets. My 80-20 wool carpets in my lounge stair and landing have lasted 15 years, still going strong. Are a serviceable beige colour and survived silly putty, red wine and coffee the odd food stain. We have them professionally cleaned from time to time but you'd have to do that anyway from a hygiene point of view. In the dc rooms I have artificial and they have been fine too. My artificial fibres bedroom carpet definitely looks a bit dingy. If opt for higher wool content. Tbh find a good carpet shop (not a big showroom) and get some good advice. We've gone to the same local carpet company for 15 years and never been disappointed.

I got wool 80/20. The man in carpet shop warned me not to “this area is rife for carpet beetles@ he said.
“Nonsense, I’ve always had wool carpets, never had carpet beetles” I said.
I have carpet beetles.

• They’ve never eaten my carpet because I Hoover often, even under furniture. But I find them and they give me the creeps 🤢

My great aunt has a 100% wool carpet in her front room. It's been down since the 1920s, so nearly 100 years. It's immaculate. It's survived four generations of children despite eating and drinking in there. The best bit is that if you look really hard you can see the joins as the fitted carpet is actually made from about four or five strips laid across the room. That was how they did it in those days.

@BaronessBomburst

My great aunt has a 100% wool carpet in her front room. It's been down since the 1920s, so nearly 100 years. It's immaculate. It's survived four generations of children despite eating and drinking in there. The best bit is that if you look really hard you can see the joins as the fitted carpet is actually made from about four or five strips laid across the room. That was how they did it in those days.

We’ve just bought a house in Yorkshire (we’re having some work done in it so haven’t moved in yet) and the front room carpet was the same. Stitched together by hand and with metal rings at the edges which looped over small hooks set into the floor.

We are having them all ripped up though - they’re 70 years old and there was a thriving carpet moth colony in the attic (which the previous owner hadn’t used for decades). Cost us £450 to get the whole house fumigated. Every room was carpeted, including the bathroom and kitchen.

Oh yes, aunty has a carpeted bathroom too! I'm less enthusiastic about that one.

I have read the entire thread with avid interest (NY resolution - must get out more) and I am still totally undecided. We really need to replace our stair/landing carpet, it's manmade and looks completely grubby. However when we moved in, one carpet was being destroyed by moths (hastily removed and hard floor put down) so I'm reluctant to go through the same again. Presumably the moth resistant wool carpet must be coated in some sort of insecticide?? Can anyone who has said they have decent poly carpet tell me where they got it from? I'm wondering now if seagrass or similar as a runner up the stairs might be a good alternative...

Always had wool as I just prefer not to buy plastic anything.. It has always been fine until last house where it was all eaten by moths. I now have wooden floors with wool rugs so much easier to control any moth issue that may arise. I would not go back to carpet anywhere in the house as the moth issue was horrendous and I lost many expensive clothes as they were all natural fabrics too.

We’ve had 80/20 wool on the stairs and upstairs for the last 20 years, No moths, no stains. Kids have rugs by the side of their beds in case. No food or drink upstairs though, and my kids didn’t like nail varnish or slime. I have a bissell carpet cleaner, and they are in great condition still.

@FlaviaAlbiaWantsLangClegBack

You can buy microscopic wasps that eat the moth eggs.

They come on a little card and you release them into the room with the infestation.

Say what now? Really?!

Mairzy honestly, I'm not making it up

www.pestfreegardening.co.uk/products/clothes-food-moth-control-with-trichogramma?variant=32200046772283

I haven't used them but that page has a good explanation of them.

@MairzyDoats I'm undecided still too! On balance I think I'm camp wool. The moth thing sounds like it's sheer luck of the draw. Would probably get moth resistant wool, but like you say what's its coated with, and is that nasty itself. Am also now thinking I need to ask what the underlay is made of, as that could make a mockery of avoiding plastic carpet.

I'm going to speak to the carpet fitter before making a definite decision. I want to ask how common moths are. And I want to ask what our current carpets are. My theory is, we haven't stained what we've got or got moths, so if they're wool (suspect one is and others aren't), it seems a more safe bet. And I might ask our neighbours if they've ever had moths, because we're in a terrace so they could hop over.

This is a difficult decision. I am envious of the person who would just walk in and buy a carpet they like. I am not that person.