dining room carpet - advice please!

[loobs2]

One local carpet supplier/fitter is recommending we go for a carpet with wool content for our dining room, another assures us a 100% polypropylene will be fine. We want this carpet to last several years...so does that mean we should go for one containing wool?

I would say wool. My through lounge carpet has been down seven years and comes up beautifully after a professional clean - not so sure polypropylene would

Not wool, nothing comes out!

That's not my experience, LittleHarrysMum.

Our 80% wool lounge carpet gets a fair hammering (don't faint everyone when I tell you that we allow shoes in there!) and have an open fire to add to the grot-mix.

Been in since 2004 and still looks fab (aided by a Dyson pulling all the muck out). Spills are dealt with by ordinary Dettol antibac kitchen spray and babywipes (marvellous things!)

Advice if considering wool is to buy the heaviest gauge you can afford - it generally comes in 30, 40, 50, 60 tufts per inch. Minimum for high traffic areas would be 40. Our lounge carpet is 50.

80% wool 20% nylon is the way to go.

Polypropylene will not retain its looks, the pile will flatten and the static will attract bits. It will look cheap very quickly.

Agree with buying the best gauge you can afford. A wool twist carpet will look good for at least 10 years.

I've found wool carpets to be as easy to keep clean as synthetics, and I like to wander round in my bare feet, so wouldn't touch polypropylene... It's like fingernails down a blackboard for me.

Mine is very pale and still keeps coming back for more. I think its got a fair bit of life in it yet.

Thank you. Will go for a wool one - now all we (I and DH) have to do is agree on what colour....!