Man-made v Wool Carpet
There are two main types of carpet – man-made polypropylene and wool mix. Polyprop carpets are much easier to clean if something is spilled on them, while wool mix carpet is much harder wearing.
Wool Carpet Types
- 100% wool loop – Is very hard wearing, just be careful of snagging or catching a loop as it may pull like a wool jumper. Cats love to claw at loop pile carpet, especially on stairs!
- 80/20 wool twist – A good all round carpet that comes in a variety of weights (30oz, 40oz and 50oz). You can use the weight as a guide to the quality of the carpet alongside other factors such as stitch rate and the quality of the wool.
- It is possible to buy mixed material carpet, 50/50 wool, at a more reasonable price due to the lower wool content.
Polypropylene carpet types
- As polyprop carpet is completely man-made and has no natural wool fibres, they are much better with stains and most of them are bleach cleanable.
- Polyprop carpets tend to be lower cost than wool carpets.
- Polyprop carpets have stronger fade resistance than wool carpets.
- Two-ply polyprop carpets are much harder wearing than single-ply and will not flatten as quickly as single-ply.