Nyon vs Polyester

[hogjowl]

We've been dealing with polyester carpet long enough for us cleaners to universally understand it's weakness, but with the advent of the new Mohawk "triexta" fiber, new discussion has been waged in relation to it's ability to live up to it's hype. So far, my experiences with it have been mixed.

There is a very good artical in April's issue of Floor Covering News that discusses this issue and various different mill reps were interviewed on the subject. According to the artical, 40% of the residential market is now taken up by polyester fiber, and the mills are reminding their dealers that nylon is still the "best" fiber in most circumstances. When it comes to wear resistance and soil resistance (not to be confused with stain resistance), nylon is king.

Particular emphasis was placed on pivot point wear in the artical and that is where I have found particular concern in relation to treixta fiber.

What say you guys?

 

[Willy P]

Olefin seems to be king in my area. Looks flat and crappy after a couple of years, but it's cheap. Funny, some the pooppissapartments I do with cats and dogs, put in a good grade of nylon.

 

[Jimmy L]

Up cheers we all like the touch and looks of our natural DIRT floors .
Never any pivot points or traffic wear that a shovel won't take care of.

 

[floorguy]

i have cleaned some houses when i first go in there, I am like WOW I love this carpet..maybe its what I want.....then i begin to clean it BAD wear areas, that were somehow covered up like a bad comb over.. and this stuff was 5 yrs and newer....frieze stuff...

then there is that stuff that looks like a nice plush, but as your cleaning it....uhh yeah no pop to it what so ever...w/heat and the rotary NOTHING...

there is the smart strand i am curios about...and about 2 others....maybe ill take pics and post them.....

1 of them talked about being the softest....and damn it was nice and silky smooth.....just wondering about the wear issues

 

[ruff]

Nylon 6.6 is still the best.

All the other fluff of the moment that they push, never seem to work as advertised.

 

[joey895]

I'm a little nervous about this. One of my regulars was having an issue with her carpet in just one room of the house. An almost white carpet that started having these large orangish spots start showing up. I could never get rid of them. The carpet was the same throughout the entire house, installed at the same time and everything. She got the carpet store and manufacturer involved and they sent out a carpet inspector who was also stumped as to the cause and could not remove them. Anyway in the end they just had to buy new carpet for that room and the inspector was pushing hard for them to buy smart strand, told them you only clean it with plain water.

They told the inspector they trusted their carpet cleaner and he (I) told them they should get the best nylon in their budget and not let anyone talk them into anything polyester, plus they didn't want to interfere with the way I cleaned the carpet by telling me I could only use water in that room. So they bought nylon and it looks great but if it starts to look cruddy I'm really gonna look like an ass.

To the original post I have no idea if I've cleaned triexta. The truth is if I did and it looked great and didn't have the matting issues plagued by poly I would probably assume it was nylon unless the customer told me other wise.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[billyeadon]

Jeff Cutshall and myself recently taught an IICRC CCMT class at Mohawk in Dalton. What we found very interesting was the Smartstrand Silk which has a finer denier than any synthetic carpet ever made. The problem is most vacuums sink into the pile and cannot be used. As far as the future of polyester, when Bob Shaw started his new mill that is all he uses. Today he announced a huge expansion and over the next 5 years will hire 2500 additional employees, all making polyester.

 

[Mikey P]

I'm still very happy with my smart strand in my office

None of my landlords or retailers are bitching either

 

[Shawn Forsythe]

I'm still very happy with my smart strand in my office

None of my landlords or retailers are bitching either

It's good for you, because you eat the same stuff as the Rhino they used to "prove" it.
http://www.smartstrandchallenge.com/Home/Press

 

[tman7]

I have cleaned it once that I know of. The Custy had purchased the Smartstrand on the recommendation that it was the best carpet available (they paid a small fortune to have it installed throughout their med sized home). A pleasant looking, solid brownish color that should hide soil well. A little over a year after install the traffic areas begin to show the crushed/worn look that polyester is famous for. They called the installer and described how bad it looked in the traffic lanes, who insisted it would go away (it was just soiled, he claimed) after having it professionally cleaned. I cleaned it and, of course it looked no different, beyond brightening up a bit, still had the trampled look of a well trafficked poly. My mothers medium priced, home depot installed, white Nylon carpet has held up better over the last 5 years than those poor folks 'Smartstrand'.

 

[Mikey P]

Smartstrand cost less than Nylon here.



and you would have to be a Forsythian to know you were actually cleaning it and not nylon as if looks, feels, smells and tastes just the same IMO.

 

[hogjowl]

I can tell a smartstrand carpet almost immediately. I have never asked yet without being right. The look and feel are very easy to spot and are unusual to the point of being easy to tell.

Pivot point wear is an issue with this fiber and interestingly appears to be soiling until you closely inspect it. I have also noticed black areas appearing to be filtration soiling, but not along the walls or in other areas normally associated with filtration soiling. These black spots, or areas are out in the open and there for no identifiable reason. They almost look like shadows.

They don't clean away, either.

 

[Mikey P]

I can tell a smartstrand carpet almost immediately

thats kind of sad, really.


So many in hobbies in life to choose from and you pick carpet cleaning/fiber ID for your free time entertainment.


I guess when you live in Alabama it's either that, making more babies or being a drunk as your options.

 

[hogjowl]

My hobby is taking naps.

 

[SamIam]

So those shadows aren't pooling?

 

[hogjowl]

Pooling, on a cut pile residential is a different animal than in a cut pile, low nap commercial. You get a difference in appearance from reflective light differences, but I have never seen it present as black spots. I'm not saying for certain that is isn't pooling, but I don't think that is the cause.

These spots look just like filtration soiling.

 

[SamIam]

Weird

 

[The Great Oz]

It's taking some market share from nylon and killing polypropylene. It is pretty easy to tell apart from nylon, but I can't tell one brand of polyester from another except by tuft density. I don't see it as a huge issue, just explain to the customer that they got what they paid for, which is likely what the retailer did.

 

[carpetcleaner]

Smartstrand started out a lot less $ than nylon. I believe that it is made from corn oil. As the price of corn went up, so did Smartstrand.

 

[billyeadon]

Smartstrand started out a lot less $ than nylon. I believe that it is made from corn oil. As the price of corn went up, so did Smartstrand.

Just like everything in the world China has an effect on both nylon and polyester prices. One of the main ingredients of nylon is caprolactam and China is adding plenty of capacity for this ingredient. The price difference between nylon and polyester is about .60 a pound and dropping. China is also adding paraxylene which is used in manufacture of terephthalic acid which is a main part of poly.
SmartStrand does have polymers created from corn but is looking for cheaper materials such as switchgrass in order to stay under the price of nylon. If the price of nylon ever drops to the price of poly we will see a reversal of trends with nylon regaining marketshare.

 

[ruff]

I don't see it as a huge issue, just explain to the customer that they got what they paid for, which is likely what the retailer did.

In my experience they don't. And I certainly would have appreciated it if they did.
As a matter of fact some are actively promoting it over Nylon. Which makes me suspect that there are better commissions to the seller involved.
That's were our service to the client can be of value. Lets call it- The un- brainwashing service. The mills have an agenda and the seller have an agenda. Our agenda is to have them buy the carpet that will last them the longest and clean the best.

I don't sell carpet but I sure have an opinion. And I advise all my clients to call me before they buy carpet for free advise. Free yet opinionated, based on experience- can't beat that!