Sisal Floor Covering - what's the reality?

[ProcrastinatorsAnonymous]

I love the look of sisal floor coverings, but would be grateful to hear from anyone living with it.. Is it difficult to hoover? Does dust cling to it? How hard-wearing is it for high traffic areas? Is it a disaster if you have a pet (thinking claws...) Any advice would be appreciated - thank you!

I had it in my houses in the 1990’s. It is a bit unforgiving on the feet and good luck finding an earring back if you drop one. Definitely not a cosy vibe, no good of you have a child learning to crawl. Depending on the style/pattern pet hair shedding might be an issue if you are trying to remove it. Not recommended on stairs as it goes shiny and slippery. The fibres shed for quite a while after laying. Patterns can get distorted when stretched during fitting.

I loved the way it looked but it was of its time.

I had seagrass, which I think is similar?

I saw it in a relatives house, loved it, so got it for my bedroom.

It was many years ago now but from what I remember it never felt very clean. Because of the texture I felt the hoover could never quite get in to pick stuff up properly.

I think I did like how it looked though.

Bloody horrible. Collects dust and dirt, impossible to clean. Feels awful on the feet even in socks. Wear patterns bed into it really quickly showing the high traffic path. Would never ever have it again.

stains can’t be removed and if you have a toddler poo incident you are stuffed.

I think it has to be glued to the floor too so could ruin floorboards - maybe it can be glued to ply screwed to floorboards.

Awful, couldn’t wait to get rid of it.

Sisal rugs or carpets have a distinctive odor ( unpleasant) that never goes away. And cats love to pee on them. Yech!

Small child being copiously sick all along the sisal covered hallway back in the 90's, taught me not to bother with it in our new house.

I loved it- it massaged my feet!

But any liquids spilt just stained it. It’s expensive to install, and impossible to clean, sadly.

I do miss the feel of it on my soles though.

Well that’s sisal definitively OUT then. Thank you!!

it depends where you want to use it. We have seagrass in a room we turned into a study for wfh and it’s gorgeous. I don’t recognise any of this stuff about it smelling or being dirty. We run the hoover over on a hard floor setting and that works well.

I like how it feels underfoot, but it’s not cosy!

I agree it’s not baby and toddler friendly. Have never spilt anything on it but did invest in a specialist cleaning kit to have in standby if needed.

It really makes the room but is quite a smart grown up space.