Mohawk Smartstrand versus Dupont Stainmaster??

14 years ago

I am very much a newbie to the carpet market but have decided it's time for new carpeting, after living with the same off white plush now for nearly nine years. I have four kids (11,9,6 and 2)and currently no pets, although we may get a kitten in a couple of months. (A declawed one).

Anyways, I had someone out from a mom and pop carpet store (friend from church) and he brought several samples. I decided to go with a Frieze. He priced a Shaw Cabina in 100% BCF PET Polyester with Cleartouch. It's a 3.5 for traffic and says 4.87 by 7.25 by the style (not sure if that's significant). It has R2X stain resistancy and comes with a LIFETIME warranty for stains and a 10 year Textureguard warranty. The price is $17.99 a square yard. Also, labor (I think this includes all labor for carpet and pad plus removal of old carpeting)is $5.00 per square yard. Does this sound about right? Is this good carpet??

I also got the price for a new carpet from Mohawk in the Horizon collection. It's 100% Stainmaster Tactesse BCF Nylon. It is $21.99 per sq. yard. 7year stain warranty, 10 year each for texture retention and abrasion. Also, any health concerns with Dupont teflon or is that just myth??

The pad he quoted was a 7/16, 8 lb. for $3.50 a sq. yard. There was another (green) one he brought but it was $4.00 more and I just didn't think it was worth the cost.

But, on here I've been reading a lot about Smartstrand and have asked him to call and give me a quote on that in the morning, if he can get a hold of a sample. Hopefully, he carries or can get that line.

Of these three choices, which would be the best for me? This is for a bonus room, along with my 11 year old daughter's bedroom, which is adjacent.

I'm a bit confused about Smartstrand being Mohawk and the fact it may or may not also be Dupont. It's polyester too, right, although a PTT, not PET poly, whatever that means!

I've heard that Poly's are more stain resistant but more likely to wear while Nylon's are just the opposite and also softer. But, I've also heard that the new Poly's have come a along way and are redeeming themselves. So, what's a mom to do?? Sorry for the length of this post. Any advice would be appreciated.

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nanepan

6 years ago

So what was the outcome? We're trying to decide between Mohawks Smartstrand Silk Reserve or Stainmaster. Any insights?

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Comments (9)

jbranch
14 years ago
Just looking at the fiber types, here is how I would rank them:

1) PTT Smartstrand best - great resiliency and superior stain resistance.

2) Stainmaster nylon - a close second to Smartstrand.

3) PET - very good stain resistance, not as resilient. Does not stand up to foot traffic as well as the other two.
carpetgirl
14 years ago
Jbranch nailed it. Can't say I recommend a PET polyester for your use.

Oh and PTT has been reclassified by the FTC (federal trade commission) as Triexta...learn more about that at smartstrandrevolution.com
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This has probably all been rectified, but I have to comment on Mr. Owen's post. PTT polyester, also knows as Triexta, has a number of benefits over PET polyester... 1) Softness - one touch will tell you that, you don't need me to and it is softer than 90% of nylons too 2) Durability - PETs do have less resilience and are less durable overall. 3) Stain and soil resistance - Just about all PETs still have topical protectants added to them for stain and soil resistance. Triexta does not. 4) Improved resistance to peroxides and even bleaches. PETs are ok with benzoyl peroxides, but stop short of resisting bleach. Triexta more resistant to both. Your "unbiased" link says the following: TRIEXTA Also, in the Polyester family is its superior cousin PTT. This fiber is known as SMARTSTRAND (trademark) when marketed by Mohawk. Mohawk recently received FTC approval to market this fiber under its onwn class. This PTT fiber will now be know as TRIEXTA. In the future you will see more about this name change. This fiber is even stronger than PET polyester, and has better colorfastness and cleanability features than PET. PTT is as colorfast as solution dyed nylon. This fiber is extremely soft, and yet behaves better than staple nylon, especially in a shag construction. If you have kids and pets, and are going to be in the home more than 10 years, PTT is a good choice; especially the 3GT Sorona Dupont Polymer offered in some Mohawk carpets. I have not had a consumer complaint on this fiber in the four years I have been selling it. By the way, PTT is just one step away chemically from 4GT polyester that is used to make tough auto parts. Triexta will indeed be a fiber for the future. Lookout Stainmaster! So sounds like everyone is selling Mohawk SmartStrand... CG
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Hello, I just purchased Smart Strand Silk in both 'Mineral Beige' and 'Cobblestone'. This carpet is 60 oz. weight, the beefiest I've seen. My advise would be to take many samples home and try them out in your home's natural light both day and night. What looks great in the store is going to look different in your own home due to the flourescent lighting they have. I know because I have been searching for just the right color in Smart Strand for days and finally decided to get the colors I mentioned. I live in New Mexico in a southwestern style house. I recommend anyone looking for Smart Strand check out the sale on the special purchase of 'Silk' at Home Depot. They have 12 colors to choose from. You will not find a better deal anywhere on this type of carpet. Whole house install right now is $139.00 (I would have paid $820.00 but for the sale) I went with the 8lb moisture proof pad because I have pets. For fun I did test out some samples with ketchup and mustard. A cinch to clean with just plain tap water. Hope this helps those struggling like I did to buy the carpet. I did go to a local flooring company to check out their prices and color selection. Although they did carry many more colors and styles in Smart Strand, I couldn't pass up the great deal on 'Silk' from Home Depot. And no I don't work for Home Depot!
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Carpetgirl, We have bought a 10 yr old house and are changing all of the flooring before we move in. Our first major challenge is selecting carpet and this thread has been sooo helpful in understanding the options! We are definitely going with SmartStrand and we want the saxony plush. We expect to be a "shoes off" house with no pets but several young grandchildren. Kind of wanting the more formal look of the pile cut but don't want to end up with a fuzzy mess in 5 years, so we are willing to spend a little more on the best quality Smart Strand. We have found the following examples of this style in SmartStrand and are looking for the most dense, highest twist. Each dealer provides different information and it has been really difficult to compare. We have narrowed it down to: Horizon New Sensations and Alexander Smith Kingsley Palace. They have the EXACT colors with different names but the Kingsley Palace carpet appears to have a longer fiber. I don't have the face weight or twist ## to compare. Can you tell me which product is considered to be higher quality..Horizon or Alexander Smith? Not much information about Alexander Smith out there, though lots of great history lessons about the company. (We also looked at Karastan's Enviable and to our untrained eyes and fingers, it did not seem as dense and cushy as these others.) We sure would appreciate any information you have on this..we have reached a brick wall in our research and we need to make a selection this week and move on to paint colors! Arghhhh. Thanks!
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gigabit
14 years ago
Just an FYI for anyone considering Mohawk SmartStand Carpet (like my wife is). I found this on Twitter, Mohawk is testing the SmartStrand Carpet with a Black Rhino who will be tromping all over the carpet for two weeks starting the August 14th. I told my wife if this carpet holds up to this our kids and friends should be no problem.

Here is a link that might be useful: SmartStrand Challenge with Ricko the Rhino
echoflooring
14 years ago
I sell them both...I have a large Smartstrand Gallery in all our locations. I also sell Stainmaster. If I was a consumer looking for a pillow underfoot, I would choose Sorona Smartstrand. If I am being completely honest and I wanted to be sure of durability and a product that will clean well, I would purchase the time tested Stainmaster yarn. I would purchase a good piece though. 25.00 per yard carpet minimum plus pad and labor because stainmaster allows manufacturers to sell some junk with their yarn also..I continue to have some questions about Smartstrand that are being worked on. Their warranty is confusing. It demonstrates a bleach solution on their color wall,however; warranty details my people are telling me states that warranty is voided when bleach solution is used. That is a concern. My company is doing a test as I write this on Clean ability of Smartstrand vs Cleartouch vs Stainmaster Nylon. We placed Mustard and grape jelly on products and we plan to clean at an associates meeting. I am anxious to view. I am going to sell Smart Strand regardless of my test or confusion of warranties as the softness it has can't be compared to anything. I just refuse to mislead my customers and I have to know 1st hand how well it does clean. I also have Shaw coming into the company this Thursday to discuss the smartstrand warranty and indicate they will point to some details I was unaware of as I have embraced Smartstrand in a big way as late. I am featuring it in a 20000.00 flooring giveaway, and I want to makesure my facts are straight when I discuss the products.So within the next week I will have formed a strong opinion on it. I do really like it but Stainmaster is proven and time tested. Good luck.
nabukodonosor
13 years ago
Hi, referring to the last article on this page, I want to know which results there are for the tests you have done with the Mustard and grape jelly.

Also i you have further details concerning the view of Shaw I really am interested in this too. Because I know Shaw has simular kind of products with this ptt polymer...
echoflooring
13 years ago
We took 3 samples of carpet that we had available to us. One was a sorona smartstrand , 1 a shaw cleartouch with r2x stain protection and then we used a shaw produced Stainmaster.All were similar cut piles.The short of it was this ..When we attempted to clean the products right away R2x treatment did best, smartstrand came in 2nd. When we waited 3 days to clean the products...Smartstrand prevailed as we were able to use bleach to completely remove any evidence. Bleach on the other 2 removed the color..it did not affect the Smartstrand. We used an off white color carpet. This test we not scientific by any means, we do sell all three. Shaw does make a PTT carpets, they do not wear as well as Smartstrand or a nylon in my mind. Only an opinion but we do live and breath carpet around here. Good LUck.
john_email_com
13 years ago
shaw cleartouch with r2x is not similar to smartstrand. It is a topical treatment. When doing these stain test you should run them multiple times, steam cleaning each time. I guarantee you after a few cleanings there will be dramatically different results. The stain protecting used in r2x comes off after each steam cleaning. After a few times there's virtually no protection, at least that I could see. smartstrand on the other hand was consistent each time it was cleaned.
Floortech
13 years ago
I stated this exact statement to a Shaw technician on Tuesday of this week. He stated it does not come off and that you will only read the statement written from amateurs. I am not a scientist to know. We can not steam clean deck boards to test it. The technician indicates that it is tested in Shaw laboratories and it does not come off.Who's right and who's wrong. I can not find facts that it does come off and Mohawk does not declare that it comes off and they are constantly shooting arrows at Shaw whenever possible.

Mohawk Smartstrand versus Dupont Stainmaster??

nanepan

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jbranch

carpetgirl

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