. . . 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 purchased the Puresque "Lake Forest" line last year. It was installed August 22, 2007 over a 1/2' - 8 pound pad. My wife and I are the only two living in our house and we are both are over 70. The carpet for unknown reasons got so dirty it had to be cleaned last week by professional cleaners. The cleaners could not believe how dirty the carpet had gotten in a year like the odor stuff had collected dirt into the carpet. The ware and tear in traffic areas was unbelievable. He suggested that I have a manufactures rep come and take a look at the ware and fraying of the carpet. I arranged to do that 2 weeks ago. The new carpet is almost as bad as the 13 year carpet that it replaced. Do you have any comments about the "Puresque" carpeting since it is suppose to be so great? Beaulieu of America rep want come and look at it saying that the warranty does not cover matting or retention. What is covered by the 15 year ware warranty???? How do they know what the problem is without looking??? Many thanks in advance for any comments. William H. Lovelace, Sr Locust Grove, VA 22508 email: gezzer15@comcast.net

The term "wood laminate" really bugs me because of the insidious sneaky marketing that's tried to insinuate that laminate is somehow wood. It is NOT wood, nor has it ever been. The more accurate term would be "plastic picture of wood" laminate. You can get actual from a tree wood for the same price as a good laminate. Guess which adds value to your home and guess which doesn't? Guess which adds to the landfills in the future and which can be refinished? Even engineered wood can be refinished in the future if you choose correctly. Flooring should not be looked at as a "temporary" solution that can be discarded later in favor of another style. That's fickle consumerism gone amok. Flooring is part of the home's infrastructure. As such, it should be chosen as a investment in the home's longevity of existence. I'm not saying that laminate doesn't have it's place, such as when you're renting an apartment for a temporary design change, but the whole idea of laminate is based on it's impermanence. Laminate is like a rug, not the stone floor that the rug is laid over.

Finding carpet is a pretty horrible and confusing process. Here is what I've learned about the two: What carpet you get should depend on what type of wear and staining you typically experience in your house. For instance, Triexta (the stuff SmartStrand is made of) will stand up to water-based stains and bleach better than nylon, but is more susceptible to oil and grease stains. This has to do with the chemical nature of the fibers. So, if food stains are an issue for you, Triexta might not be a good choice, but if your teenager is clumsy with his acne cream you might not want nylon. Carpets usually get some kind of stain resistant coating that helps them in this area but since moat carpets get this, I think it's a moot point. As far as wear, crush and abrasive wear resistance is what you need to consider, especially in high traffic areas. Often people say carpet doesn't 'wear out' it 'uglies out' which means it gets matted and scratched up by dirt being ground into it making it looking like wet dog fur. Nylon is generally considered the hardiest of fibers with the best crush resistance and is tried and true because it has been around for so long. Triexta is a relatively new fiber that gets a lot of flack because it is chemically similar to a very crappy fiber: polyester, which had terrible crush resistance and is largely no longer used. The thing is, Triexta is supposed to be new and improved with better durability because of its structure (something to do with kinked strands or whatever which help keep its shape.) Still, there is a lot of trepidation about Triexta because it hasn't been time tested like nylon. Of course, wear is also down to how the carpet is designed: how densely the fibers are packed together; how twisted the fibers are; how short the pile is, and whether you're buying bulked continuous fiber (longer strands for less shedding.) More dense, more twist, shorter pile, BCF = better wear. Getting the appropriate carpet padding in the right thickness will also mean less wear. The saying generally goes: If you're trying to save money, skimp on the carpet but get good pad. And, vacuum the hell out of it at least weekly or that dirt will act like sandpaper on your carpet every time you walk on it. As far as professional carpet cleaning goes (which you need to do it every 12 or 18 months to maintain your warranty) more people know how to clean nylon than they do Triexta. I've read that there is some debate over whether we should clean Triexta like polyester or something altogether different. Some cleaners do not know what they're doing and clean it like nylon, which is bad because Triexta requires different detergents. Using the wrong one means residue and makes the carpet feel nasty. As an aside, you may have heard you can clean Triexta using only hot water extraction, but that is not true of oily stains since they bond to the fiber. Oh and speaking of warranties, they're all ridiculous. I invite you to read all the terms and exclusions listed in them and tell me whether you think carpet sales people aren't con artists. Don't buy a carpet based on warranty, because it's likely only applicable during a blue moon when a virgin's tear makes a rare Norwegian truffle bloom. There's also some impractical, luxury points to consider, like hand-feel. In my opinion, Triexta feels nicer to touch. I have touched a lot of different nylons and I think it's softer and less abrasive. Of course, I've read some reviewers who say you shouldn't touch it or walk on it barefoot because the oils in your skin stick to it and attract dirt. Make of that what you will, it sounds like an exaggeration to me. Style and color is also important to some. Nylon wins there because it's been produced longer and has more variety. That doesn't mean to say that your perfect Triexta carpet isn't out there, but if you want an unusual color or pattern they might not make it yet. Disclaimer: I picked carpet months ago so small details may be incorrect but the general gist of things should be true. We ended up with nylon because we needed our carpet to last. The current carpet we have has been here since the 80s and looks like roadkill -- that's how cheap we are! But we believe in quality so we picked carpet that was $5~6 per square foot so hopefully it'll hold up until we're dead.