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The Best Carpet Choice For StairsBy Alan Fletcher- 30+ year Carpet Expert and Consumer Advocate
Carpet installed on Stairs endures the most abuse. It’s because stairs are narrow and receive a constant pounding from heavy foot-traffic focused in the center and on the leading-edge of every step.
Active children, dogs and cats and especially teenage boys and their friends are the main reason why carpets installed on stairs tend to wear out faster than carpets installed in other areas of your home. Kids and pets love to run up and down the stairs as fast as they can which is very damaging to the pile surface. Abrasion is the number one cause of carpet wear and tear.
How to Reduce Carpet Wear & Tear on Stairs?
To start with, you can choose a more durable "Grade of Carpet" that can handle moderate to heavy foot-traffic, and select a padding with a higher-density rating to provide better support for your carpet installed on stairs. Here are a few options that may help you choose the right grade and style of carpet and padding for your stairs and other high-traffic areas.
The Best Carpet Fiber for Stairs?
For stairs, you can choose almost any carpet style you like as long as the "grade of carpet" is designed to handle your level of foot traffic, but the most durable residential carpets are made from 100% Nylon. There are various types of Nylon fibers available and some are more durable than others. The “soft” Nylon styles are not quite as durable as the standard Nylon carpet styles.
What do I mean by "Grade of Carpet?" Carpet specifications determine the grade of the carpet you select. That means fiber type, tuft twist, pile height, pile density and face weight. All this information is available on another page on my website, but I highly suggest you take the time to Learn More About Carpet Specifications
Choosing the Right Carpet Fiber for Stairs
The type of Carpet Fiber you select will determine how long it lasts, how soft it feels, what colors are available, how easily it cleans and how much it costs. This is one of the most critical factors homeowners face when choosing and comparing carpet. There are several carpet fibers available today and they all have their own unique benefits and pitfalls:
You must compare apples to apples. For example, you cannot compare a NYLON carpet to a POLYESTER carpet, or a WOOL carpet to an OLEFIN carpet. This would be like comparing apples to oranges. You have to compare similar carpets and narrow it down to the one that best meets your needs and lifestyle as well as your budget.
No matter what, don't trust any salesperson that says a Polyester carpet is just as durable as a Nylon carpet. Nylon is the most durable fiber and most resilient carpet fiber available today. So if you want your new carpet to tolerate heavy foot-traffic and continue to look like-new for years to come, then nylon is the fiber you need to select.
Why You Should Consider a Nylon Carpet for Your Stairs
Nylon is a generic name or designation for a family of synthetic polymers first produced in 1935 by the DuPont Company. As far as fibers go, Nylon is the most durable and the most resilient of all fibers.
Nylon resists matting and crushing of the pile because it is very resilient. A "Resilient" fiber is defined as having the ability to return to its original form or position after being bent, compressed, or stretched. Nylon is the most resilient fiber used to make carpet today. Resiliency is what keeps a Nylon carpet looking like-new longer than any other fiber.
Nylon costs more than other fibers. Nylon is one of the more expensive fibers second only to wool. I would consider choosing a Nylon carpet if you have a lot of foot traffic and longevity was my biggest concern.
Q.
Do Tactesse, Caress, Lisse' and other "softer" Nylons hold up as well
as the "standard, non-soft" nylon fibers do?
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Carpet Fiber Denier is a unit of measurement that is used to determine fiber thickness. Fibers with a high-denier rating tend to be thicker and more durable. Fibers with a low-denier rating tend to feel softer.
To give you some perspective, a typical soft-nylon fiber is usually rated between 8 and 12 denier, A typical human air is approximately 20 denier. Standard weight non-soft nylon fibers are usually rated between 40d and 80d.
Carpet Fiber Denier is easiest understood if you have ever gone fishing and used a nylon-filament fishing line. The thicker the fishing line is, the stronger it is.
When
fishing for Trout, most fishermen use a thin 4 to 6-pound test fishing line. For
catching bigger 
fish
like Steelhead or Salmon, a thicker 8 to 10-pound nylon test fishing line may be
used. The thicker the nylon fishing line, the stronger it is and the more
durable it is.
The same holds true with carpet fibers. Some Nylon carpet fibers are manufactured (extruded) thinner to make a carpet style that feels much softer to the touch, but in doing so, some of the strength, durability or resiliency may be sacrificed. Therefore I believe a carpet made with a (standard or non-soft) denier Nylon fiber will be more durable and be more resilient than a carpet made with a thinner strand as used in today's branded "Soft Nylons".
Read My Article: Lifestyle Often Dictates Best Carpet Choice
If you want a carpet that is durable, soft and resist stains, Sorona® may be the fiber you are looking for. Sorona has permanent stain resistance that is engineered into the fiber and will never wear or wash off. But remember, no carpet is completely stain proof.
Sorona® also known as Triexta or PTT was developed by DuPont™. It is a polymer derived from corn. It is said to have the best anti-stain properties and cleans easier than any other fiber. They also say it is very durable. Sorona™ is clearly more durable than PET or Polyester, but is it as durable as Nylon? I don't think so.
I do believe that Sorona may resists stains and clean a little bit easier than Nylon, but the durability and resiliency of Nylon is hard to beat. Either way, Sorona may be the fiber you need for your busy home and lifestyle when stain resistance is the utmost priority.
Sorona® is not a new fiber, it was invented back in the 1940's and was deemed too expensive to manufacture at that time to be able to compete with other carpet fibers like Nylon. Carpet prices have increased enough over the past 20 years to allow Sorona™ to be manufactured at a comparable cost.
Mohawk™ has a line of carpet styles using the Sorona fiber and they have branded it and call it Smartstrand®TM.
DuPont™ and Sorona® are a trademark and a registered trademark of E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Company.
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Polyester carpets tend to mat down quickly, and that has always been the main problem with carpets made from this fiber. When you walk on a carpet, with each and every footstep you bend, stretch and compress the carpet fibers and with polyester, the tufts soon begin to fall over. Once Polyester fibers are crushed, they don't spring back to their original upright position. This is why most new carpet warranties for polyester carpets do not cover ANY claims against matting or crushing of the pile.
Don’t be fooled by carpet salespeople who recommend carpets made from polyester and say it is just as durable as nylon. It may be acceptable for you to buy a carpet made of polyester as long as you know EXACTLY what to expect and not pay a lot of money for it.
I wouldn't expect to get a life-span of more than 5 years on any residential grade polyester carpet, regardless of its specifications or warranty claims. I might consider choosing a carpet made of polyester if I wanted to spend as little as possible on a carpet that looks nice for a very short amount of time, less than 7 years at best in a low-traffic application.
Olefin is a very strong fiber. It is often used to make Berber carpets, commercial carpets and outdoor grass carpets. Olefin wears well and has good stain resistance when an anti-stain treatment is applied. Olefin also has good anti-static properties. However, Olefin is not easy to keep clean and tends to look dingy when soiled. Olefin also has poor resiliency so smaller-looped Berber styles tend to wear much better than do larger-looped Berber styles.
Commercial looped carpets wear very well, as the loops tend to be very small which leaves little room for the loops to become matted or crushed. Wheelchairs roll easily over commercial level-loop Olefin carpets that are glued-down without padding, and may be a good choice for handicapped areas, hospitals and retirement home applications. When comparing Berber carpets made of Olefin, choosing a style with smaller loops and a tighter weave will provide a much more durable carpet.
About PLUSH CARPET STYLES
Plush style carpeting is usually made from one solid color and has a smooth, flat pile surface. During manufacturing, the tufts of this type of carpet are sheared to make the pile surface perfectly flat and smooth. Plush is one of the most popular carpet styles used in homes and apartments today. You can find practically any color imaginable. When made of nylon this type of carpet cleans easily and is very durable if properly maintained. Plush carpets will show footprints and vacuum marks. You can choose from Nylon, Smartstrand or P.E.T polyester, or polyester fibers with this popular carpet style. What carpet FIBER should I choose?
TEXTURED PLUSH CARPET STYLES
Textured Plush style carpet often has more than one color of yarn and has varying tuft height, thus reducing footprint and vacuum marks. It comes in many colors and has about the same cost as an even pile height plush style.
This is a good carpet for kids, and when treated with a anti-stain chemical is easy to maintain and spot clean.
High-Low Carpet Styles (Sculptured Carpet Styles)
Hi-Low style carpets have both cut and looped tufts creating a multi-colored sculptured appearance. Generally this style is made with a high cut-pile fiber and a low loop-pile tuft with a variegated design. This style of carpet hides stains and dirt better than most carpet styles.
This popular carpet style is usually made using two or more colors to help hide dirt and show less vacuum marks and footprints. The color usually varies in shade from light to dark and is rich in appearance. Landlords like using this style of carpet in apartments and rental properties as it hides dirt well and is very durable when made of nylon.
FRIEZE CARPET STYLES (my favorite)
Frieze style carpets have very tightly twisted tufts which helps it wear like iron. The tufts are not straight like a plush style, rather they are crooked, or wiggly in appearance. I think it makes any room look elegant. It is often used in heavy traffic areas and provides reduced footprint and vacuum marks. Frieze carpet styles made from nylon are some of the most durable carpet styles available today.
Frieze styles are typically more expensive than plush or textured plush styles. Nylon Frieze styles would be a smart and highly durable option for your home.
SAXONY CARPET STYLES
Saxony is a cut pile carpet with a relatively dense erect tuft configuration. Saxony has well-defined individual tuft tips, this means it is easy to see each tuft on the surface of the carpet, giving it a rougher look or appearance.
Similar to a plush style.
LOOPED BERBER CARPET STYLES
Looped Berber Styles have become quite popular in recent years because of its elegant appearance. In some styles the tufts are looped and aligned in rows for a clean uniform look. In other Berber styles there may be a pattern.
When choosing this carpet be sure to select one with smaller loops to get the best wear. Large-looped Berbers tend to collapse quickly and look worn-out sooner. Looped Berber styles may be prone to snags which is difficult to repair. For this reason those with small children or active pets my want to avoid a looped Berber style.
More about Berber Carpet Styles
CUT-PILE BERBER Carpet Styles aka "California Berber"
The "California Berber" style is not a looped Berber like most of you have seen, in fact it is more like a frieze. It does not have any loops because the loops have been cut which is why they call it a "Cut-Pile" Berber. It has a similar appearance of a Frieze style carpet but has a multicolored appearance, a speckled egg appearance.
Buying a Cut-Pile Berber style made of Nylon is the best way to go if you want it to last the longest. Usually the main color is off white (or a lighter shade) with colorful highlights and flecks of deep blues, reds and green colors throughout. Beautiful!
Commercial "Cut and
Loop" Carpet Styles
"Cut and Loop" is another wonderful style to consider. There are literally thousands of beautiful patterns to choose from and makes for a beautiful and elegant carpet in any residential setting.
Here is a collage of "Cut and Loop" styles to give you an example of a few patterns that may be available.
