Hi, carpet has a consumer rating system that guides on the durability of each piece of carpet. It is designed to show you how a carpet wears. There are four ratings, light duty, medium duty, heavy duty and extra heavy duty, plus stairs. Each of these indicate the suitability of a carpet for a specific area. Stairs and passages are the hardest on carpet as the wear is concentrated. visually, how the higher rating is achieved is easily seen as there is more yarn per square yard to enable sharing of the wear. It is often expressed as a weight measurement per oz. eg 38oz. This is not usually provided by the manufacturers as they often vary it except in high weight or commercial carpets. what none of the above tells you however is how the carpet performs for flattening or staining. nylon has a good durability and flattening resistance, but average stain resistance so needs a treatment. This is because the structure of the fibre allows further colour ingress (stains) unless it is protected. polyester has a very good stain resistance particularly when it is solution dyed however it is extremely prone to flattening, particularly in doorways and track areas. If you are going to select a solution dyed polyester, my tip would be to get the tightest and thickest version you can, and make up some of the offcuts into mats for the doorways by getting them edged at a rug overlocker. my choice would be the solution dyed nylon in at least a heavy duty grade with the best underlay you can get (helps the durability and feels softer) cheers

Keep it simple if you are keeping the carpet in the dining and sunken lounge, you would just have to shampoo the carpet under the dining when it gets grubby. If your carpet is in good condition you could Keep the carpet in the sunken lounge, tile the rest. Take up the carpet in both areas and tile. Then have two large carpet rugs made from the old carpet for under the dining and in the lounge. cheers

What is silk carpet?

We have bremworth 100% wool sisal in bedrooms and on stairs. The pic of the stairs attached is carpet that has been down for 15 years. People & a crazy dog up and down them and more than one morning coffee spilled on it. It is only just starting to show a little wear now - slightly lighter parts on some of the treads.