If Gentle Essence & Mellow Haven are both in the Smartstrand Silk line, then they will be comparable products. They will both have amazing wear performance, stain and soil protection, and durability. I would go with your personal style preference RacinRaver. SmartCushion has a moisture barrier film which prevents spills from getting into the pad for easier clean up. If there is no moisture present, SmartCushion will protect against spills & stains that get into the padding. For installations on a slab where moisture might be present, you should prob use a synthetic fiber cushion which will allow it to evaporate.

Density means very little. Twist as boxer say is what counts. A high density carpet is only a recipe for wear. The carpet cannot lay on its side, squats down and the color (reflection) changes appearance and looks matted. I can tell you that smartstrand makes carpets in more looks that are not friezes than any other type. I can also tell you that I really didnt buy into the hype at first, but we have sold it for 3 years. Customers that bought smartstrand at the same time as other non smartstrand are raving about the smartstrand from the few that we get to see. I have a claim right now on a carpet that is 12 month old....and we installed a smartstrand in a higher traffic area 1 year before the 12 month old piece. The customer says..I want this carpet replaced with a product that wears like my older carpet. The older carpet was smartstrand. It was a very non dense product installed in a dining room. It had dining room chairs on it and had a very defined traffic walkway. The carpet looked brand new. I was amazed and that was the last straw. I immediately called a meeting at our store and shared it with my staff. Those are the facts and I no longer feel it is hype. But forget the density thing as that is the old school thought before the twist was able to be heat set like it is today. High Density in residential today? I run from it personally. Good Luck.

I am so new here and am not sure where to post my question -- maybe you can help. Another question about Aladdin Silk at Home Depot-- I brought samples home and on the samples is written "Mohawk smartStrand BCF 3GT polyester with Dupont Sorona". I guess I am confused since I interpreted a prior post on another thread to mean that Aladdin was made with the Canadian PTT SmartStrand which wasn't Sorona. Does is make any difference in real life?? Also --Does anyone know the relative DENSITY between Aladdin Silk, Command I and II, and the Organic Luxury line? How would one judge quality between the lines? Thank you, Thank you soooooo much!

I have son who is terribly allergic to everything he was tested for (except animals) as well as asthmatic. He has two vials of serum and received 2 shots 2x a week (one in each arm). We are just beinning 2 shots 1x a week on the maintanance vial. Dust mites was one of his biggest reactions. After testing, we were about to replace his carpet with hard flooring when our pediatric allergist at the children's hospital recommended that we put in a low pile carpet. The Allergen world is now saying that a low pile carpet is ideal for allergy sufferes and asthmatics, as it traps the allergens rather than being constantly dispersed everytime they are walked on, or by any movement of the air. It does require some work though. Helping with allergies and asthma is not just a flooring issue but goes way further than that. In our case: * we rearranged the furniture. Only his headboard is against the wall so we can get to baseboards easily. * Night stand is off the floor, replaced by a cool shelf and bracket we got from ikea, with a clip on bendable arm reading light. * Dresser now is wall mounted in the closet (raised 11 inches off floor and from ikea) * One tall bookcase (also from ikea) that is attached to the wall and sits on the floor. Ikea makes the bottom cut away for the baseboard so the unit is totally flush against the wall. Minimal dust gets back there and also cant be disturbed by air movement. *He cannot be in his room when it is cleaned which is done faithfully every week. *Hepa filter vacuum is a must. *Room is vacuumed, baseboards are wiped down *as well as the crevice where carpet and moulding meet) with damp rag sprayed with dust mite control spray. *Dust mite control spray is again applied to the low pile carpet (we put in Shaw Tuftex). Wait 1-2 hours (which he cannot go in there) and we vacuum thouroghly again. *Blinds are vacuumed weekly and wiped down monthly. *Ceiling fan wiped and dusted weekly. *Matress is encased in a protective zippered cover. *Pillow is an allergy control pillow also encased in allergy cover. *His comforter is allergy control but encased in a regular duvet cover that is washed on sanitary cycle weekly. *No window treatment or wall mounted pictures in his room so we put cool wall decals http://www.whatisblik.com/ I bought a steamer mop at a hardware store and I steam his carpet 1-2 times a month. I do the rest of the house (wood and carpet) more often. Because there is some costs involed, we did some things right away and some things over time. It is overwhelming at first having such a rigorous cleaning routine, but after a while, it becomes easier. We have now begun doing the other two kids bedrooms the same way, though neither has allergies or athsma. Here is a link to a swedish study about solid flooring vs carpet, where carpet was outlawed in public building in 1973 and carpet became only 2% of all flooring, yet allergy sufferers incleased dramatically over the 30+ years time. Here is a link that might be useful: Carpet vs Hard Surface Flooring for allergies