I've been in the carpet business over
30 years, but I don't sell carpet. I am a floorcovering consultant, author and
consumer advocate. My carpet buying advice has been featured and published
all over the world in major newspapers, national magazines, trade papers and
newsletters. My job is helping consumers and businesses select the right
carpet that will both meet their needs and budget.
I
can also help YOU to choose the RIGHT
carpet that will meet your needs and expectations too. I have assembled all the vital information you
need in order to be completely successful buying carpet for your home,
rental or office.
Buying
the right carpet can be very confusing and it takes considerable effort.
Select the wrong carpet or padding and you stand to lose hundreds or even
thousands of dollars. So don't think you can just head out this weekend and
get the job done in one afternoon. You need to arm yourself with information
that will help you make the right choices. Buying carpet is supposed to be fun
and exciting but it does require that you do your homework, I know you are in
a hurry to get going so lets get started! Read the free articles below:
Sorona®
PTT
(AKA Smartstrand® by
Mohawk™)
If you want a carpet that is durable, soft and resist stains, Sorona® may be
the fiber you are looking for. Sorona
has permanent stain resistance that is engineered into the fiber and will
never wear or wash off. But remember, no carpet is completely stain proof.
Sorona®
also known as Triexta or PTT was
developed by DuPont™. It is a polymer derived from corn. It is said to have
the best
anti-stain properties and cleans easier than any other fiber. They also say it
is very durable. Sorona™ is clearly more
durable than PET or Polyester, but is it as durable as Nylon? Some say yes, but
I am not convinced. I do believe that Sorona resists stains and cleans easier
than Nylon, but the durability and resiliency of Nylon is hard to beat. Either
way, Sorona may be the fiber you need for your busy home and lifestyle.
Sorona® is not a new fiber, it was invented back in the 1940's and was deemed too
expensive to manufacture at that time to be able to compete with other carpet
fibers like Nylon. Carpet prices have increased enough over the past 10 years to allow Sorona™ to be manufactured at a comparable cost.
Mohawk™
has a line of carpet styles using the Sorona fiber and they have branded it as
Smartstrand®.
DuPont™ and Sorona® are a trademark and a registered
trademark of E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Company.
UPDATE
My
Latest Opinion Regarding Sorona®
(Smartstrand™ by Mohawk)
March 2011
Dear
Alan,
Sorona
has been around for about 8 years now, do you think it is as good a fiber as
they claim it is? -Tom
Hi Tom,
I hear lots of homeowners and confer with my preferred carpet dealers often
about Sorona, (Smartstrand by Mohawk) and I get conflicting reports. Some folks
hate it and say it mats down quickly and is hard to clean, others say it's great
and are very happy with it. Some carpet dealers say they get nothing but
complaints about it and yet others sing about how wonderful it is and say it's
more durable than Nylon.
What
I have come to believe at this point is that Sorona IS a durable fiber, it also
cleans easily and resists stains better than Nylon. However, it is imperative
that you choose the right quality or grade in order to be satisfied with the
overall performance. This is true with any carpet no matter what fiber it is
made of, but with Sorona I think it is even more important. This means having
enough face weight, high pile density and adequate tuft twist to meet your
needs, goals and lifestyle. It is also important to keep the pile height below
3/4 of an inch or risk potential matting and crushing.
Knowing what grade of carpet to buy is the key and most folks end up buying a
carpet that is incapable of tolerating their level of foot traffic. This always
ends in disaster and makes for an unhappy customer. That's why I created a
simple Carpet foot traffic test so folks would have some idea about where they
stand and what grade of carpet to consider buying.
This is my take so far and I think it will take a few more years to get the
final report on Sorona. I still believe that Nylon is more durable and has
better resiliency than Sorona, but Sorona does seem to clean easier and resist
stains better.
Thanks for your question I will post this information (and date it) so everyone
can be updated on this subject. Most of the information about Sorona (on the
internet) is written by the manufacturer or the authorized Sorona dealers. You
just don't get the whole story from those sources.
Alan Fletcher
www.abccarpets.com
