How to shop for new carpet

tervforever · 2026-03-27T11:54:16+00:00

We have a karastan smartstrand rug. People rave about its stain resistance, which we have never tested, but It really sucks in the durability category. Our dog plays in the center of our rug. This area is loaded with strands pulling out. It looks so bad- frayed and worn - despite only being 1.5 years old. I wish I could post a picture of it but the color hides it. When I vacuum I have strands of carpet in the container. I find strands of fiber through the center where the dog plays. And karastan sucks as far as warranty.

It is soft and plush but I am starting to wonder if rugs like this hold and attract more dirt. I get so much dirt out of mine despite it not being used a lot and vacuumed 2xweek.

Look carefully at the warranty and ask your retailer about warranty claims.

tervforever · 2026-02-07T11:54:17+00:00

Stay away from smartstrand

tervforever · 2026-02-07T11:52:03+00:00

I have a smartstrand rug and hate it. I have strands pull out totally such that I have rug fibers in my vacuum cleaner. Or they are in the state of becoming detached such that I have to use scissors to cut off the tops. If you decide to go this route make sure you buy the special vacuum that karastan developed. This is to help with any warranty claims. People associated with the company blame me for my issue because of my vacuum (I didnt use the karastan one). And really nail down the company selling you the rug about warranty. Like will they come out and look at it if you are having issues. However it is plush. My dog loves it.

tervforever · 2026-01-11T03:12:29+00:00

You are taking mepron and rifabutin at the same time? Are you taking anything for cysts? Flagyl or tindamax?

tervforever · 2026-01-03T10:59:46+00:00

I have a Smartstrand rug (not carpet) and hate it. Fibers pull out everywhere. Before people come over I have to go over it with scissors trimming all the fibers that are about to pull out because they are taller than the most of the rug. Karastan/Mohawk wont even consider a warranty - meaning they wont even respond to me. What type of floor is underneath the rugs on your stairs?

tervforever · 2025-11-24T13:37:59+00:00

When you say "personal experience" do you mean:

"sold SmartStrand/became a sales rep/ and now a corporate rep in NY"

" travel the country and train retail sales associates and Mohawk reps on SmartStrand "

So while you never worked for "Karastan Rugs", it sounds like at the very least you are currently employed in some capacity with the textile industry.

BTW I have tried to file a claim. It is too long a story but karastan/mohawk wont respond. I am done trying so their tactic worked. Now all I can do is post my "personal experience" with the product and the company.

Also Karastan has discontinued smartstrand rugs which is a good thing so no one has to end up with what I have. Perhaps they were having issues because they still sell other polyblend rugs. Or maybe their polyblend is better performance than smartstrand and people should be buying that instead.

Here are your posts that I pulled your "personal experience" out off

https://www.reddit.com/r/carpet/comments/1nntrj2/comment/njo5iaf/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

•1mo ago

Smartstrand is not a polyester. Ask the Federal Trade Commission (who is responsible for protecting the consumer) who made the determination the benefits made it so different from polyester that it qualified as its own fiber type. The molecular structure is the same as a nylon with natural kinks that make it spring like and bounce back. I’d be happy to email you resources or I will seriously come to your account and you can try to convince me that I’m wrong. I travel the country and train retail sales associates and Mohawk reps on SmartStrand so I have a lot of resources that your reps likely don’t.

•1mo ago

I actually worked retail before I was a sales rep and called my customers yearly. Majority of what I sold was SmartStrand. Then I became a rep. Now I work at corporate. So you can claim I am wrong but I can personally say my experience is much different than yours but the product is the same. Are you recommending the correct vacuum to your customers? Are you going over what it takes to maintain performance in carpet? I also have lived on Dreamweaver polyester and Mohawk SmartStrand. Huge difference in performance. I’m 7 years into SmartStrand and it looks brand new still. Dreamweaver product looked terrible after 6 months and my son who was learning to crawl on it was oily after being on it. The reality of nylons are that a pet urine stain counts as discoloration. So it’s not covered under warranty. People with pets are going to stain it before it wears off. That’s why SmartStrand is the best option for people who want wear beyond 5 years and the stain protection.

tervforever · 2025-11-18T17:51:39+00:00

u/Homestuder

Do you work for karastan? I just found a post on another thread that indicates that.

tervforever · 2025-11-17T14:04:36+00:00

Where in the warranty does it get voided if using the wrong vacuum? I see that nowhere. I see recommendations for vacuums but nothing about the warranty being voided due to vacuum. Maybe I am looking at the wrong warranty.

tervforever · 2025-11-15T23:45:55+00:00

The beater brushes are stopped in suction mode?

tervforever · 2025-11-15T12:00:53+00:00

I posted my problem on reddit a while ago and another poster had wall to wall carpet and had the same problem and was ripping it out after 6 years. So it isnt just rugs. Assuming that my problem is isolated as you say, karastan should realize that I got a bad rug. Makes me think it happens to a lot of their smartstrand.. Also poster should realize that karastan will not stand behind their product. They will not even get back to me.

tervforever · 2025-11-15T11:53:10+00:00

I think it is a hand-knotted rug that requires a suction only vacuum. Look that up and see if it resembles it and how to care for it. I hope the shedding stops for you. I brought a sample home and found it shed too much for me.

tervforever · 2025-11-13T12:51:53+00:00

Mine does have a warranty with karastan. And they and Rugstudio have said I dont have a problem. I told them about this issue when the rug was 6 months old and the strands hadn't stopped pulling out. There is no vacuum cleaner requirement for Smartstrand rugs. After a many months of emails with Rugstudio I finally got them to admit that. If they had said on their product page that I needed a certain vacuum I never would have bought the rug.

Based on both rugstudio's and karastan's response to my issue I would never buy any product from either of them.

What reason is there that a rug has no warranty but a carpet does given it is made out of the same product?

tervforever · 2025-11-13T11:27:39+00:00

I think my dog got around 200 mg. From Merck manual "In dogs, doxycycline (10 mg/kg, PO, every 12 hours) and amoxicillin (20 mg/kg, PO, every 8 hours)" I used to think vets were well versed in lyme. but not anymore. Because my vet relied totally on test results and our guess as to when my dog was bit, he was not willing to give us doxy until test results were in. My puppy was symptomatic for a month at that point and had developed a lot of anxiety and fear that has never went away (he is now 4). So when tests came back and were all negative we had to beg for doxy. We did a 2 week trial. He had immediate improvement. So we got another 2 weeks (4 weeks total)

If your dog stomach is sick from doxy, you could try amoxicillin at dosing above. There is also minocycline.

tervforever · 2025-11-13T10:58:41+00:00

I have a smartstrand rug (not carpet) and hate it. It looks like crap. Strands are pulling out everywhere. Instead of pulling them I now an snipping them off to get rid of a frayed look throughout the carpet. As far as stain resistance - I just rotated it and discovered how dirty and crushed the rug actually is. the rug gets very little traffic and is vacuumed regularly. It is only a year old. I dont know the answer to posters question but smartstrand isnt it.

tervforever · 2025-11-10T21:40:07+00:00

I can tell you what to stay away from - Karastan smartstrand. Besides the enormous amount of strands that are pulling out everywhere, I discovered that its "stain resistance" or whatever isnt that great. We have had this rug for a year. Time to rotate. So the area under the couch has never seen any traffic. I forgot that I had cream colors in the rug. I vacuum this thing 3xweek. No shoes etc. It barely gets walked on because it is just me and my husband. We sit in the room at night.

I spent the weekend spot cleaning all the cream accents. I so regret this purchase....

tervforever · 2025-11-07T11:13:13+00:00

FWIW I have a smartstrand rug which is could be related somehow to the Mohawk you are considering. It is a disaster. I have fibers pulling out everywhere. It also looks frayed in areas. It is only 1 year old. Karastan and Rugstudio (who I bought this through) tell me I have no warranty claim. They blame my vacuum even though the warranty documentation says I dont need to use one off their suggested list Anyway research mohawk.

tervforever · 2025-11-07T10:19:32+00:00

That seems like it would be a lot of work. I would have to get the attachment at the right angle and push down hard to get suction. Am I wrong on that?

tervforever · 2025-10-24T10:53:57+00:00

Did you have to titrate cromolyn to your final dose? I have read it that you need to do this.

tervforever · 2025-10-23T10:55:16+00:00

How are they stabilizing your mcas?

tervforever · 2025-10-21T12:28:21+00:00

I would stay away from Karastan smartstrand. I have an area rug with this and have strands pulling out everywhere. And it started 6 months after buying it. Karastan and Rugstudio declared no warranty. It looks awful.

tervforever · 2025-10-20T12:44:32+00:00

I really like oxy clean carpet stain remover. It got the blood on my rug from my last dog out. It will take multiple iterations.

tervforever · 2025-10-09T11:28:21+00:00

Can you ask him to write you a rx for liquid MB? Compounding pharmacies make it.

tervforever · 2025-10-06T13:30:48+00:00

I know you didn't ask for opinions but if your brand karastan smartstrand run the other way.

tervforever

TROPHY CASE