I've said it before on here, I have yet to find a carpet that gets the same customer satisfaction as SmartStrand. One of the reasons I think people with pets and kids love it so much is that is super easy to clean. The way the carpet is engineered all you have to do is use hot water to clean up stains. You will not find a softer carpet on the market! Btw, from my experience, thats a pretty fair price per square yard. I don't think you are going to find a better price for that style of carpet

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

Oh good Lord! As if I wasn't already torn between the Tuftex and the Mohawk SmartStrand carpet. After reading these earlier comments I am really baffled! Originally I started my search for carpet by looking at nylon only since I heard that it is much better than polyester for wear and tear. But I happened into another carpet store today that carries both Karastan (Mohawk) and Shaw and the sales person seemed to push me towards the SmartStrand carpet. She wanted to show me the Karastan carpet that has been underfoot in their store for the last 10 years. She proceeded to push a heavy display fixture out of the way so that I could see how the carpet sprung back. It was amazing! Plus she pointed out that the SmartStrand's stain protection never washes out, while the Shaw Stainmaster protection washes out after 3 professional carpet cleanings. I am so confused on which way to go. And I need to make a decision quickly since I will be moving into my new home soon. The former owner left me with a surprising welcome gift---183 square yards of dog-urine stained carpeting. It was so filthy that I gagged several times while pulling it up and dragging it out to the garage. So I will be replacing all of that filthy floor covering with new carpet and my head is spinning as to which choice to make. Although my head could still be spinning from inhaling the very strong shellac that I had to use to "seal" any dog urine odors from making their way up from the sub floor. UGH!

I am in the carpet search, comparing the same two carpets, as well as Smartstrand Silk Reserve. Came across your question, and wondered if you went with one or the other. If so, would you share your opinion? I'm finding it is nearly impossible to compare or get info, even within the Mohawk brand! Thanks for any feedback.