Not so Smart after all?

[Mikey P]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100...25152937438932.html?mod=wsj_valetbottom_email


Smartstrand carpet is being put to the test by the Wall Street Journal.

I'm still very happy with mine but I am seeing some poor wear performance in some of my rentals.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

Most performance complaints I've been aware of have been in rental properties or living rooms with a lot of traffic.

 

[Zee]

Smartstrand sucks....I don't like dealing with it..... mainly the traffic areas...

 

[Able 1]

I don't believe this "About 58% of the carpet manufactured in the U.S. is nylon" unless we are just cheap here in WI.. I clean maybe 20%, and that generous..

I just had a conversation with one of the properties I clean for I said "you know that carpet I just cleaned is 10 year old? You guys are lucky to get 4 years out of the stuff you are using before it looks worn." They both looked at me and said, "but it's Smart Strand you can get everything out with just water"

 

[Zee]

I wish manufacturers went back to what they made 20-30 years ago.....seriously, some old folks places that still have the original nylon from the 70s, look better act better clean up better than today's junk.

 

[hogjowl]

You should have had Yeadon post that here himself.

 

[Mikey P]

huh?

 

[hogjowl]

Well anyway, regardless of where you got this from, I agree that they hype over this PTT is over the top. While it DOES wear better than PET, it is not as resilient as Mohawk says it is, AND you do have to use detergent to emulsify the soil from the fiber. Another thing I have noticed is, on occasion, customers complain of a sour smell after cleaning. I have gone years without a callback but have had two over the past year as a result of a sour smell in their SmartStrand.

 

[handdi]

just what i thought
the new polyester

 

[Mikey P]

There seems to be very distinctive variations in the quality of this stuff. Fortunately for me I own the great stuff.

My office gets tortured by chair wheels, spiked plastic runners and 3 dogs and vacuums or hwe's up like new. Feels even softer than most nylons too.

 

[truckmount girl]

The olefin berber I'm in the process of removing now took 20+ years of abuse, 6 kids, a million dogs, cats, running a manufacturing biz on it, lazy vacuuming, but it still always cleaned up like new, of course there are indentations from every time we ever moved furniture over that 20 years. It really didn't have issues until the pad finally wore out in the traffic areas, hallway, etc. At which point it started to crush and dull. Yeah the old nylon...really old stuff from the 60's and 70's was like iron and still cleans up well today.

I've never seen a polyester or polyester blend I liked.

Take care,
Lisa

 

[billyeadon]

I don't believe this "About 58% of the carpet manufactured in the U.S. is nylon" unless we are just cheap here in WI.. I clean maybe 20%, and that generous..

I just had a conversation with one of the properties I clean for I said "you know that carpet I just cleaned is 10 year old? You guys are lucky to get 4 years out of the stuff you are using before it looks worn." They both looked at me and said, "but it's Smart Strand you can get everything out with just water"

I will be speaking at the WFCA dinner meeting Nov5 in Milwaukee and ploys along with the new soft nylons will be the main topic. Fortunately for the multi family markets they won't install soft nylons or polys. We will be testing different wands and vacs to see what works best on these products.
I believe Doyle Bloss will be speaking on this at the Experience.

 

[hogjowl]

Well, dress up nice and don't use the word HOST!

 

[Jack May]

We're seeing more and more of it down under. It's a case of many people not fully understanding it and therefore being tricked by it when cleaning. I go into many claims where the carpets have been cleaned, yet there's problems, and many I'm able to correct.

A few observations.
It needs thorough vacuuming.
It needs to be presprayed as if its a wool as it soaks it up quickly.
It needs to be scrubbed like its an old polyester.
It needs thorough flushing to minimise residues as it seems to have a propensity to recoil if you're not careful.
It needs to be dried quickly otherwise it can wick like a bad Olefin or flotex.

The sales side of the industry do seem to be overselling it a bit but that will happen with anything new.

Glad you're getting a good run out of yours Mikey, I inspected a couple of claims like what you describe recently and there was more wear than I would have expected, but it did get a hammering. Any carpet in that situation will show some level of wear and tear... It's all a fine balance between clients expectations and performance/warranty realities.

John