there are many tests that have run on these fibers. Many carpet stores have tested carpet and show samples. While your tests are fun to do commercial tests have already been done. Most all give very high marks to Smartstrand. Shaw has nothing similar so its stretching a bit for products to compete. In the real world your not going to use bleach to clean up spills.

FYI Bleach is extremely common for cleanup in the real world. If boxers thinks back..Mohawk bought Kidproof rights from Diamond Mills in the late 90's. This was the 1st real world intro for a bleach cleanup. Coronet Carpets quickly responded with Dilbert , while shaw countered with Reggie Resistant Carpets. Bleach has been used in the real world for many years now. On a solution dyed product or smartstrand..bleach solution will eliminate a vomit stain or urine stain while nothing else touches it. Bleach is used quite regularly as stain cleanups in solution dyed product maintenance guides. Extreme care must be used to dilute the bleach so the latex in the backing system will not be compromised. R2X does not stop bleach damage in any way though.

Interesting points.

You may have missed this one from me. I have bleach damage to my carpet.
...For no reason. I wanted a carpet that could with stand this if it happens again. I'm not telling you how to treat stains. I'm telling you what makes my current carpet look like crap... and is influencing my purchase decision. Your decision should address the problems at your house.

Boxer- about tests- Can you please link them?- I've spent hours searching the web before I decided I'd have to do it myself. I'd like to see some info. Thx If you can.

I hardly think a pie fight or rhino poop/ urine reflects the real problems at my house. ( you can see these carpet tests on youtube)- Besides the rhino carpet did not pass the smell test after that commercial.

My coworkers sister has bleach dots all over her carpet from a wet sock worn by her son as he walked around after getting bleach on it. This is the real world I live in. I suspect that might have been what happened at my house....

Ink is the other problem here at my house- and as I could remove it successfully on the mohawk I no longer think it a problem, if I buy Mohawk.-
Floortech-Thx for letting me know about the warranty void. That does seem misleading.

Karen -

You rock! I love to see consumers doing their own tests. LOVE IT!

Here's one to try if you still have your samples. Use a spot cleaner on both - any kind you like to use...allow the samples to dry...then do at least some of the same tests above.

Treatments like the R2X are often stripped off by cleaners (professional or store-bought), so it'd be interesting to see how much of the repellency and cleanability are still there on Anso sample after you clean it. There is no treatment on the SmartStrand so you shouldn't see any change there.

Not sure how long you let the stains "set in" either. Most tests allow for at least 24 hours before you try to clean them.

As for cleaning with bleach - NEVER DO THIS. Not even diluted. It will break down the carpet backing and will absolutely void the warranty. There are some solution dyed sellers that say it is ok, but it is a nightmare for latex backing systems. No where does it say to clean your SmartStrand carpet with bleach - it actually says just water in every piece of merchandising done. What is nice about the fiber is that the little spots - like the socks, which was priceless - won't show or harm the carpet. I have a swipe across my own where my teenage son just walked acorss the hall with the soaked sponge after cleaning the toilet...very nice!

Keep up the testing...you need a white lab coat!

Best -
CG

Carpet girl works for Mohawk where I used to be and she remembers what I remember. While bleach may not harm the fiber it will break down the backing.

Carpet is a series of tradeoffs and each fiber and dye system have their advantages. I guess you have to identify whats important to you. I have friends that work in a carpet store and they sell tons of Smartstrand so there is some literature by Mohawk that shows the samples after cleaning and bleaching etc. Thats where I saw the 'tests' though other Mohawk store has them and some compared to the Shaw products.

You guys are informative. Thx so much. I promise to be kind to my carpet. ;-
Carpetgirl, I discovered your blog last night before I got your post this morning. That�s nice that you help with carpet purchase decisions.
As to your request- not sure if I�ll run that test, but I can say after the Shaw anso carpet had been "in testing" it no longer was able to resist the liquids. They no longer beaded up when they were poured on. I was curious how that would affect things because the Mohawk smartstrand had performed like that from the beginning, with no beading up. So when the smartstrand won my testing both my dtr and I were surprised. Oh and no, I left the bleach on for 5 minutes, otherwise less time than that for the other chemicals & stains.
Last night I did an abrasion test on both carpets. I flipped them upside down, taped them to the side rails on my treadmill, loaded them up with phone books, and ran the treadmill against the fibers for a good 20 minutes. Both carpets passed with no wear that I could see, and no loss of more than 1 or 2 strands. 2 winners!
My compression test is going to take another 3 weeks to finish. I have wet carpet samples drying (or molding) under heavy table legs at work. I guess that might be like a heavy use area...
Now advise me, I hate frieze, and I hate berber. I hate that messy look of frieze, and I want a plush feel like I could just lay on it. What would you recommend from the Mohawk line that will take the wear on stairs, feel plush, and not look like a bad hair day ( like frieze) I want a dense look, like lots of strands per square inch like a Persian carpet not sparse strands that lay over like Trumps combover? I�d prefer to run one style in the bedrooms, halls and stairs without changing to 2 different types of carpet styles. Thx for your help.
Also, I�m not understanding the website. It looks like the smartstrand triexta PTT ( which I assume was what I was testing) the carpet sample says "1150 intelligent style color 561 elephant"
is only used in the horizontal collection? So maybe I�m limited to just the Saxony or cutloop pile if I want a gray or gray blue color? It looks like that chemical is not the formulation in the alladin or wundaweave lines? Right?
Also is Lee carpet the same as smartstrand? The regular smartstrand does not appear to be sold at our carpetone but Lee is a triexta as well and I was told it is made by Mohawk.

Also a store called Abbey sells smartstrand and "alexander Smith smartstrand" also called Sorona. Is this the same? I don't really want to have to test all of these types of smartstrand if they are the same.

LMK.

caYou are diving in so deep your doomed. Carpet girls has some inaccuracies in her statements but none so much that I felt a need to comment. Your last stements are all over the place. Sorona is the best of the triexta. You will not find a real tight dense smartstrand. Aladin makes some unbranded smartstrand that will save you a ton...but you'll probably not trust that statement...Horizon and karastan sell the Dupont Sorona...Intelligent style..Brilliant Design are both good weights. 50 and 60 I believe..Stiches per inch will not be that high. Anso will win on compression test when it is a home made test. Lees for living I believe is all or mostly triexta now but their are many different varietes and grades of smartstrand. Sorona is the Cadillac. We sell both and a lot of it. Anso has the better warranties. If you triple touch it the warranties inflate to 40 years and they are warranties with bite to them. Only time will tell how bad Shaw is digging themselves a hole. Warren Buffet and Berkshire owns shaw so they are loaded. Mohawk warranties are much less and go up a little when you install smart cushion under it. Smart cushion is I believe an 8.1 LB memory foam cushion. I will say one thing here., When memory foam is placed under the smart strand, any immediate troubles you have are quickly remedied by Mohawk with out much resistance. We have had 3 issues in the last 4 months. All had the smart cushion and was replaced quick(the smart cushion made a difference)Anso warranties texture retention on steps and no one else does that I know of. Also, Anso has a 100% labor included warranty and it is not prorated for the full 20 years. It doubles with Triple touch cushion. Both companies are in fr a ride down the road or are going to have a bunch of bummed out stores and customers. then there is Bliss..the beaulieu product, which really is not bad at all but surely a distant 3rd to the other two in my opinion. As a matter of fact I am meeting with a Mohawk VP tommorrow and will get to here the Mohawk story all over again. But they are good guys. Mowaks big push this year is Nylon and Poly under the Weardated brand name. Weardate a polyester...Yep you bet..with some big warranties, Continuous filament, and carrying that wear dated flag. Dont over think this thing..as you may overthink yourself into a bad choice. One last thing...Nylon has stood the test of time for 51 years....Sorona is a johnny come lately...I will not install it in my home as a keeper until it has grown a little hair on it first. Now youve heard the rest of the story from someone who sells all of them, owns the company, and tells it like it is. Good Luck...PS I did testing to in our store in a controlled environment. You can look up the post on it...Good Luck..Under a different log in though.

now that's an informative post! I had to print it there's so much to think about. Good to know the stair thing- I was misinformed elsewhere on the web, but I double checked it at Shaw's site and you are right!

what log in? well I'll see if I can find it here on GW....

Trying not to think so hard..... trying... still trying.....;-).

Floortech,

You made the following statement:

"If you triple touch it the warranties inflate to 40 years"

Can you provide a link from the Shaw web site which states the 20 year unprorated warranty will double to 40 years if you use the Shaw triple touch padding?

The 40 year triple touch warranty will double the warranty to 40 years on anso and on the texture retention portion only. That is the warranty with the most bite in my opinion. I am not sure if the 2nd twenty year period..from 21 to 40 is prorated or not to be honest. i am going to go link hunting. It is all over their triple touch displays though....It will not surprise me if we can not even find a link regarding it. Like I said, I really feel it is ridiculous to have a warranty of this magnitude. Do we all realize how long 40 years is. If you are of that age or greater..think back 40 years or even 20 years for that matter. i really feel these manufacturers are setting retailers up for some mini wars with consumers when these claims get denied. Just my opinion but I really live in the real world when it comes to flooring. Many consumers do not. A rep from Coronet once said it right and I;ll never forget it. This is when warranties from buying groups were 1st moving to 15 years. This rep said to me...heck.."The labels on the back of the carpets should say that your carpet will look ugly in 15 years. Instead it is so misleading.Just like the wear warranties...they mean nothing...carpets in a technical sense do not wear out..they ugly out..which is not covered. If a fiber loses its twist or blossoms or there are other some other fiber issues that can happen, it falls under a texture retention warranty. This is the only warranty in my mind that has to do with performance. Now if you do not professionally clean every 18 months (Steam
Extraction) or sweep regularly..the soil particles get ground in and begin working like sandpaper against the fiber twist...This will cause failure of the fiber and retention appearance and will be denied by the manufacturer and the 3rd party inspector because of abuse. Even though it can be a beautiful home that is well maintained. Now if the backing comes off over it begins loosing tufts or other plain old defects they are covered normally without much trouble. One thing that is done is a black light is used to find pet urine spots and if that happens..quality assurance warranty (manufacturer defects) will be denied. Just had that happen. it is getting tougher to get claims approved as the economy is making manufacturers tighten up. One thing that helps is if you have a retail store that cares and has personality..but needs to be a high volume store...one that gives a manufacturer a lot of business....they can apply pressure and get some claim approved after it has been denied. Sometimes we will just look at a claim..agree with the consumer big time...but you cant tell the consumer that ...the inspector comes in denies the claim..then we go nutso on the manufacturer and they will usually cave and approve it. I just had a product 3 years old..just fail miserably...in our opinion in a beautiful well maintained home....the manufacturer denied the claim twice....63 yards ...we went crazy on the manufacturer as this customers entire family supports us and we felt the complaint was legit....the manufacturer gave us a 500 courtesy claim...we kicked in 900 dollars and replaced it for her...she still hates us over it and say she will complain to the better business bureau as she upgraded her carpet this time and she felt that the upgrade should have costed her nothing....it is tough out there and these big warranties are scary. Just mu honest from the heart opinion....I will look for the link for triple touch double the warranty info from Shaw....to be continued......

Mike Home...this is how nuts it is currently...All the triple touch stuff that I initially found does not have the warranties accurately depicted as they do with the in store pamphlets and labeling systems. Online it talks about Shaws 4 star and 5 star system and how it doubles that. On January 1, 2010 shaw eliminated their star system of labeling and went to a pyramid system of warranties. Anso, their main fiber line is 20 year warranty..evertouch..their older fiber line is 15 years and cleartouch thir polyester line is now 10 years..and then they have a catagory for the rest..which i think is 10 years without texture retention. The triple touch doubles the clear touch, evertouch, and anso fiber warranties. Doubles them..only on the texture retention. The website is not update from a year ago..which sounds ridiculous but if you go into a Shaw store you will see the pyramid system. i believe the pyramid system is shown on Anso's site..which is owned by Shaw. These are the facts and if I find an accurate link..I will post it ..but believe me..this is accurate the information I am giving you. Good Luck

I found a link to the new pyramid styled warranties as of january 2010..the triple touch doubles the texture retention portion...you will see I was spot on with the warranties...

Here is a link that might be useful: Pyramid Link

I looked at the link you provided. I still don't see where it states the Anso 20 year warranty is extended to 40 years if you use the Shaw Triple Touch padding.

You can down load the Shaw warranty booklet. I have provided the link. This was warranty I was given by my retailer.

The information your carpet distributor provides to you may be different than stated in the Shaw warranty. As a consumer I am not going to be able to submit a claim after the 20th year if it is not covered in the warranty.

FYI - The carpet must professionally cleaned every two years in order to maintain the warranty.

Here is a link that might be useful: Shaw warranty

Karen -

The treadmill test sound a little extreme. Wow! I hope your kids are young enough to use some of this for a science project at some point.

If I'm following your questions...the most dense Sorona products are the first ones we introduced - New Sensation is one that springs to mind. They are traditional tight textures but are not as soft as the newer items. Some of which are sort of between textures and friezes in my opinion. Not overly dense and not overly twisty. Intelligent and Brillant are great styles, very soft and very good sellers...I have, however had a few people say that they see footprints in them.

As for Lees for Living...they do now carry Sorona, but it is not under a Mohawk SmartStrand brand. I think it is Evertex?? Carpet One and Abbey private label just about everything that is mill branded. You will see triexta in the pile content for sure, so look for that.

The style you used in your testing is from the Horizon line. Sorona is not in the Aladdin line - only the "unbranded triexta" (SmartStrand not SmartStrand Sorona)is there and with less weight and style options. Color palettes are not restricted by the type of style. You can find grays and blue grays in everything. The website is not the easiest to follow, though it is going to get better. I recommend you stick with live samples for now.

Luck - CG

I�m the original poster-
I visited an abbey store. They sell both. They call Smart strand by an alexander something name but she says it is the very same product.

I didn�t ask Abbey about triple touch but I will. Another padding type you mentioned 'memory foam' is not something they offer. they had 3 padding options, one that looked like old fashioned stuff and two that were to keep moisture from passing thru to the subfloor, just different thicknesses. If one of these is unbranded memory foam or triple touch and has warrrantee benefits lmk.
Of course I can shop elsewhere too.
Thx for explaining the prof. cleaning thing. To me it just seems like a burden since I HAVE to do it, pay for it, and keep records, and I own a cleaner. Bummer.
FWIW I checked 2 other nasty cleaners in my home and rechecked bleach on the Anso product. Tilex, and Lysol bathroom sprays did not visibly harm the Anso- but bleach retested- all by itself, without other chemicals and on dry, new, untested "highest grade" Anso definitely does. For areas that I have damage- just outside of the bathroom and the laundry- I may put down smartstrand- even if the texture/matting sucks- I�d rather have flattened carpet with a voided warrantee (maybe they can detect the bleach damage if I had a texture complaint) than have mysterious bleach polka dots. BTW that black light dog pee thing is interesting. No dogs here, but we do have cats.

It sounds like I can�t have the best of both worlds- nylon and triexta- and that I must choose to take the good with the bad qualities, no matter which I pick.

I can�t find your test link, floortech, can you send it? The one of your in store test in a controlled environment- obviously my home is out of control! Lol! Thanks for the links you have sent.
I still appreciate any thoughts or input or experiences that anyone would like to add,

Mr mike I am not here to argue with you...If you want to argue what the facts are we can wager. The triple touch doubles the texture retention warranty. i will find a link. If you did not triple touch your carpet your warranty did not double. The triple touch is the most expensive cushion sold in the market today from a wholesale point of view.It is costly beacuse you are buyin warranty. Ask your retailer to see a triple touch display and just read it. And yes it will not be in the shaw carpet warrantiy book because that is the original Shaw warranty. It is in the triple touch Warranty. Triple touch is a shaw product sold by shaw and purchase through shawonline right along with the carpet. it is loaded on the trucks right out of Dalton or Chatsworth and is shipped free by shaw. Originally you had to buy and stock 50 rolls of it to even be able to carry it. they have loosened that some. But if a retailer can not afford to carry it, they will not offer it and shaw does not stick that product in a regular warranty booklet. Now if you read the triple touch warranty brochure it will give you the added warranty information. This is the facts and it should not be argued unless you have supported info. Do not mislead the comsumers. They are confused enough. I have also stated I am not sure what a twenty year or a 40 year warranty even means. it cant mean much unless you have a good lawyer on retainer.

Mr Mike...dont know why its called premium touch..maybe it only marketed to aligned dealers...which I may be recalling that. Its triple touch thier 10 lb variety is called ultimate touch their 8 lb variety I cannot remember the name....I know the weight of the cushion makes no difference with the warranty as I have considered dropping the weight that we offer. Sorry to ruin your day as you thought you had me. Shaws website is old and outdated....It has always blown my mind as they make many website mistakes. I have actually pointed things out to them that were flagrant in the past to where i received phone calls from CFO and emails from Randy Merrit their president. They used to have Tigressa yarn on their site but no longer on the shaw site because of me...I am not sure if I am proud of that or just should be declared a nut. But I get in to what I do. Good Luck.

Here is a link that might be useful: 40 year warranty

Cheerpeople...in order to upgrade that smartstrand warranty the way I stated from Mohawk itself...you place smart cushion under it. If abbey doesn't have it, go somewhere else. It is actually is an inexpensive upgrade..can probably negotiate it down to 30 cents a sq foot upgrade from regular price. It does make Mohawk stand up a listen when there is an issue. The store may not know it is a memory foam or the weight ..it is 8.1 LB....but it is called smart cushion and enhances both Smart strand and their Weardated Lines of carpet.. Nice cushion too...Maybe the nicest looking cushion I have seen. Good Luck. Abbey is a buying group and they normally can only get what is in the abbey Lineup. Look for a Mohawk Aligned store or a color center store by Mohawk. Tell them you are shopping it hard. Tell them you are looking at H depot also at their Silk product...they will get down and dirty with the price at that point. Be respectful and act like you want to buy it from them but you want to make a smart buy( pardon the pun)
Good Luck

Floortech,

I am not looking to start an arguement either. You are much more knowledgeable about Shaw carperts and warranties. I can only go by the public information Shaw provides about their warranties. I did not get the Shaw Triple touch cushion. I did get what I think is a good quality 7/16 inch 8lb rebond cushion with Spillguard. I may have considered the Triple Touch cushion if I had known about it.

I have had bad experiences with warranties in the past. I like to read the fine print and understand what the manufacturer will and will not honor. Your experience is valuable since you know what to expect if a claim is filed.

Mike..if you put a good cushion under a good shaw carpet, you will be fine. Like I said triple touch in my mind is buying up a warranty that they are banking on will never get used. So you probably did the best thing..no doubt. Good luck and keep posting. See Ya.

I am thankful for your smarts and willingness to share it with me.
I didn�t have any luck finding those pads with Abbey, I asked Carpetone they are going to check on the smart cushion.
Smart cushion is advertised as better at reducing sound transmission. Can anyone vouch for this claim? I was concerned about hearing snoring thru the floor. Someone here snores at 60 decibles!
Another question- padding in basements. We are building, we have no idea if there will be a water problem or moisture problem. Would it be a good choice to get a pad that is anti-mold and does not pass moisture thru it, or is it better to allow the moisture to flow.- there is concrete below� Some people talk about no pad- but that sounds hard on the feet and like it wouldn�t help the life of the carpet. Does carpet mold?- is there a certain type better for humid spaces? Would it be better to put down those carpet tiles? Can those go down without glue if you want to roll an office chair around on them?

After reading the warrantee on smartcushion plus any Mohawk carpet I�m reading it as 20 yrs not 40 years. It takes it to the level of their Elite cushion grade with the 7 years before prorating. Here is what it reads:
"If you purchase SmartCushion at the same purchase time of SmartStrand with DuPont Sorona� or Wear-Dated Soft� carpet, your carpet warranty is instantly extended to 20 years on abrasive wear, texture retention, and manufacturing defects."

I�m not an expert on carpet or reading legal terms, but that�s how it reads to me. It is better than no smartcushion for sure, and I do appreciate the tip! I�ll pursue this padding option. I wonder if carpetone gets out of the warrantee because they don�t label the product as "sorona" and abbey may get out of it by not offering "smart cushion" by name. Which leaves me with carpetland possibly ( altho I think they don�t use the smart cushion name either)�.. do you think warrantees apply when the exact nomenclature is not used?

I just spoke with shaw customer service about the special carpet cleaner certification in their warrantee info dated 2008 and still current:
The special carpet cleaners that I must have to keep my warrantee is located 25-50 miles away. I have emialed the closest to see if they charge travel, if they do I estimate it would cost me $600 every 2 years PLUS travel to keep a warrantee with ANY shaw carpet. They just emialed back that they don't wanto to come that far for less than 1000 sq ft and didn't answer about the travel charge.

As I read the triple touch pad info it does not include stairs unless using Anso carpet. IN fact I don't see any benefit to triple touch pad warrantee. It looks like the better warrantee is just to buy anso with any pad. Maybe I'm missing something. Is that how you read it?
I don't recall mohawk saying I had to use a special carpet cleaning company- --
I just did a carpet compression test on both MOHAWK TRIEXTA ( ptt) and SHAW. The MOhawk passed again. Shaw nylon ANSO sucked on this one too. There is a pic IN photobucket. I cut the test short after 8 days of compression. Too curious. I put both wetted by 2 ice cubes- under a table leg for 8 days. Shocking difference .
I will buy Mohawk PTT. It won all my tests hands down.

Here is a link that might be useful:

cheerpeople- SmartStrand has been my go-to brand since I learned about it before the whole rhino test (which i thought was pretty cool). Good luck with everything

Just an update: Other carpet that were later tested and stood up to bleach without losing color- an olefin berber, called Rosenwald by Beulieu
& a nylon thin carpet from carpetone
Also
I figured out that smartstrand = triexta= sold by mohawk to carpetone stores and was a better buy, able to cut my costs by $600 by getting their Affectionately yours" Lees line which had a nicer 50 oz. faceweight and feel than the "smartstrand" label at Carpetland like 'High fashion"" Andalusia" & "Courtland" I did the bleach test, and wear test on the Lee's too. It passed. Also Carpetone has a double your warrantee offer on this triexta product when combined with their top cushion, just like SMartstrand with Smart-cushion. I checked out both these cushions. Both are nice.

I was never able to find the aladdin smartstrand in a store so I didn't get a chance to see if I liked it.

ON our new build by checking around and testing stuff out I was able to drop our flooring estimate from $20,000 to $15,000 complete with pad and install. And I know I have good stuff. I visited 5 stores. I think that's a worthwhile investment of my time.
Thx to everyone for helping me. Special thx to floor tech and carpet girl, and the folks at floorpro website.

This thread was tremendously helpful to me! I have found what I believe to be some useful information also:

Carpet One "Yours Affectionately" = Lowes "Lucky Star" = Mohawk "Intelligent Style"

http://mohawkinternational.com/product-gallery/residential/intelligent-style

The face weight, density, twist and warranty are identical. Carpet One wants $4.87/ft, Lowe's wants $2.88/ft (quite a difference for the identical product!), and it may even be had cheaper if you shop around. Carpet Express shows $2.60/ft.

I tried the locals too, and was sorely disappointed! One authorized local dealer wanted almost $6/ft, plus a 50% deposit BEFORE measuring. The local Mohawk floorscapes dealer couldn't be bothered to find Intelligent Style and also insisted that he neither had, nor could even get the twist, density, weight, etc information on any Mohawk carpet. He also said that a 6lb pad was better than an 8lb pad because it puts less stress on the carpet (huh?). They were miserable.

Even with the risk of Lowes installers, the local store manager knows me at this point, so I will probably go there, get the smartcushion pad, and call it a day.

Thanks!

Yes to comment a little further...the local is not gouging you...a contract with lowes..a five year deal I am told gave them the ability to buy the same products at numbers that allowed them to sell at independents cost. Mohawk is now coming out with some new softer and 3rd generation products that will only be available to the independents. Many dealers threw the racks out once lowes began selling it. Normally an independent can compete with lowes, but not on Smarstrand currently. Last year i sold over 100 grand wholesale of the stuff, I no longer even show it because of the Lowes factor. Mohawk is scrambling to get the dealers back involved. The 6LB cushion remark is ludicrous, but I will say that there would be very little performance difference between the two. I have owned a fairly prominent flooring store for for 20 years and I use 6 LB cushion in my home...but i replace every 7 years or so. Good Luck.

You're welcome MasonSc.

I was planning to go with Lee's on the smartstrand but ended up buying at homedepot because the install price was ridiculously low. ($97 to do 5 rooms) I had a good experience with one of the installers ( pictured below) and a very poor experience another with a different unprofessional installer they contract with. They apologized for the lousy guy with $150 gift card.

The cushion I chose was not the one they brought, they had upgraded me to the green one that is closed cell and the most expensive. They made the mistake so they ate the difference in cost. I'm happy for the mistake tho- my sons waterbed leaked this week and knowing that the pad was closed cell meant I didn't have to toss the pad . ( yes I suctioned the carpet with my carpet shampooer and then ran fans and the dehumidifier for days...) IN fact I'm told that folks that have this in a flooded basement can just toss the carpet and reuse the pad!

I had so much carpet left over after the install I am using 4 large pieces to cover my loft and other pieces for part of the basement.

Here is a link that might be useful:

@floortech. first i really appreciate your posts and how honest and informative you are. i didn't think the local was gouging me on the price so much as wanting a 50% deposit before a measurement, based on my guess of the square footage. that seemed extreme to me. also the local mohawk dealer telling me he couldn't get any data on any of the carpet was just complete bs. bottom line - i didn't trust either of them which is why i kept looking. i wasn't necessarily looking for the lowest rock bottom price as i wanted the right padding and power stretching too. i just got lucky.

Lowes ended up selling me 780 ft at the ridiculously low price of $2.39 because another local dealer had it on a psycho sale price. I got smart cushion @$0.84 ft and power stretching too with an install price $225 (includes 13 steps). that is crazy cheap. install is tomorrow and the installer is actually local dealer with a storefront and good reviews. wish me luck, but so far I am very happy.

. . . and now it begins

I had SPECIFICALLY insisted that the carpet be power stretched. It was written on my order. It was written on the installers' job sheet. So what do I find when I check on their progress?

A stinger.

Which punches holes in the carpet and is explicitly prohibited by the CRI. I took a picture of it and emailed it to Lowes, and told them that the installer had violated the Mohawk warranty requirements. And hopefully didn't take chunks out of my subfloor in the process, but probably did.

The installation team manager called Mohawk to confirm what I told him, and they said yes, stingers are a no go. So, I told them they are going to have to do it all over again, with new fresh materials, and do it right.

more fun.

I looked at my order and it says "carpet must be power stretched or customer will refuse installation." argh. sorry to clog up your thread with this.

but i guess the choice is as others have written repeatedly: big boxes might be cheaper but you take your chances with service.

@floortech and @Mike Home

The link you are looking for is posted here from Shaw Floors.

Thanks all for posting the above useful info.

Here is a link that might be useful: Shaw Floors Residential Carpet Fiber Hierarchy

This was a useful thread on carpet. Really appreciate everyone who posted.

Colorfast

hi. now its been a few years, which carpet did you go with and has it stood up well to high traffic?

Thanks to all for this thread! I have read so many reviews and sites and was so confused. This thread has the best information I've read. So helpful! I too would like to hear about your experiences after a few years with either brand. Thanks again!

Shaw's R2X advertised performance is completely false advertising! I have a high quality AnsoNylon with R2X and in NO WAY does liquid rest on the surface allowing you time to grab something to clean it up! My carpet soaks it up like a paper towel! Shaw has come up with every excuse in the book as well! HORRIBLE company!!

@cheerpeople This was the most helpful thread! Thank you for taking the time to post it. I know it has been a few years but wondering if you could update us on which carpet you went with and if you are happy with your decision? @floortech and @carpetgirl I would be interested in additional comments from you regarding your recommendations of smartstrand now that it has been a few more years.

Nylon carpet is always the way to go. Staining is one thing and both are stain resistant, but your carpeting will ugly out much quicker if it is not as strong as a true nylon carpet. Weaker fibers ugly out quicker. Example: I would never put Smartstrand on a staircase. I have seen way too much Smartstrand carpeting ugly out too quickly especially if there is a pattern. The pattern matts away too fast. As with any carpet you need to professionally clean it one a year not to void a warranty. Many people just do not seem to think carpet needs to be cleaned like any they clean any hard surface floor. My opinion is Shaw carpet treated with R2X is superior for sure. Nothing beats Nylon and this carpet is a performer.

Hi how have the mohawk soft strand exquisite portrait vs shaw floor anson nylon holding up?