Do you know the advantages of natural carpet vs. synthetic? And what exactly is natural fiber carpet? It’s OK not to know. Many people who want a new carpet floor haven’t really thought about this crucial difference. It can make a big impact on your enjoyment of a room, and natural carpet can last much longer. Here’s what you need to know:
What Are the Different Natural Fiber Carpets?
Are there different types of natural material? Yes! Natural fibers in carpet come from one of five sources: wool, seagrass, jute, coir, and sisal.
WOOL
Wool comes from sheep. It’s sheared off, which is safe for the sheep. As a product that’s evolved to keep sheep safe and warm from wind, rain, and snow, it’s very durable. Wool is easily dyed, which makes it the most versatile natural material for carpets.
It also has natural oils that help to repel dirt and stains. It even makes your home safer, with an extremely high burning point that makes it more resistant to fire than synthetics. For aesthetic flexibility, wool carpet is by far the most dynamic and colorful option. That it offers durability, softness, ease of maintenance, and safety alongside that aesthetic dynamism tells you why it remains such a popular flooring choice.
SEAGRASS
Seagrass are woven carpets with a very distinct look. They’re durable but without the tufted coils of wool. It’s prized more for its thatched and herringbone-style aesthetics – perfect for a hallway or home office, for instance. (Its anti-static properties make it especially good for a home office.)
Seagrass a plant that’s harvested from paddy fields that flood during part of the year. Its natural hues tend to be very light browns and even pearl colorations. It’s naturally resistant to stains and discoloration. That means you need to fear spills less, but that it’s very hard to dye or color.
JUTE
Jute looks a great deal like tweed, with a very close ‘thatch’ pattern of soft fibers. It’s a very comfortable floor, but the aesthetic choice is limited by the material: to tones of light brown. It evokes a very naturalistic look, but it is the least durable natural option.
Jute is made from subtropical plants, and it’s extraordinarily soft. It’s best for low-traffic areas, and excel in bedrooms or to complete the look of a dining nook.
COIR
Coir is soft in texture and golden in appearance. It is derived from coconut shell husk. There are various designs that echo a softer version of seagrass’s herringbone optics. It insulates very well, which means it can assist in cooling and heating, as well as reducing noise.
Its natural appearance means it’s highly valued for cottage looks. It can be coarse, so it’s best used in high-traffic areas.
SISAL
Sisal is like coir but even more durable. It’s made from a type of agave plant, but it shares many of the same insulation properties. It’s durability makes it ideal for high traffic rooms.
It’s very easy to dye and comes in a wide range of patterns. It wears well, but will smooth out a bit over years and years. This makes it long-lasting, provided you don’t mind that textural element changing slightly over time.
The sheer range of natural carpet materials give you a lot of different options. These five are the most common, but there are even cotton and silk carpets. Essentially, a carpet can be made from almost anything you can weave. Obviously, the most popular materials are the most advisable. How do natural carpets compare to synthetic carpet?
Natural Carpet vs. Synthetic Carpet
Many of these materials can be used in wall-to-wall carpet, but wool dominates the natural market on this. There are many reasons for that, and they echo why wool is preferable to synthetic carpets as well. To compare wool to synthetic carpet is to essentially repeat many of the strengths and qualities of wool. Let’s first name what synthetic carpets are: they’re made from nylon, polyester, polypropylene (also called olefin), and triexta. How does wool compare?
DURABILITY
This is a strength of many synthetic carpets. Certainly, they will outlast an option such as jute, which is thinner and less durable. When it comes to wool, however, synthetic carpets begin to fall short. How is this possible? Certainly, we can design something more durable than wool, right?
Remember that wool has been evolved as an animal’s protective coating. Sheep live for over a decade, and their wool evolved over countless millennia to withstand their natural environments over that span. If wool can withstand the life of a sheep in the muddy, windy, snowy mountains, it will withstand your feet and shoes.
Wool’s durability is an awe-inspiring thing. That might sound silly, but if your passion is flooring, wool carpeting may as well be magical. Its natural coil means it bounces back into shape after holding weight. This makes it resistant to compression.
Wool has a natural oil called lanolin that helps water bead on its surface rather than soaking in. This makes it more stain and dirt resistant. It’s harder to grind mud and dirt into it than it is into synthetic materials, and vacuuming pulls those elements right out. It’s easier to maintain. Synthetic carpets need treatments in order to emulate some of the same effects.
As covered above, wool is more fire-resistant than synthetic materials, some of which can be dangerous next to a heating source. Wool is more resistant to catching fire and fire spreads through it slower. That keeps you and your family safer.
ENVIRONMENT
Wool is more environmentally friendly since it’s made from sustainable resources. Every single sheep keeps producing wool throughout its life. Shearing sheep is not harmful to the sheep, and can even be vital to their health in warmer environments.
This repeats for other natural fibers – seagrass, jute, coir, and sisal are even more environmentally friendly because they come from plants.
Beyond this, natural materials don’t release volatile organic compounds (VOCs). This can make them safer for the home and especially for those with breathing issues.
AESTHETIC
Wool dyes through. That means its color will last longer. As synthetic carpet fibers wear out they can lose color. This is particularly true for weaker synthetics like olefin. The synthetic carpet itself may remain intact, but it will be a pale shade of what it once was. Wool retains its brightness and visual texture a decade later.
Wool carpet can also feature any pattern or color you can put your mind to. This is one place where many synthetic materials match, but again – wool will hold onto the brightness and visual texture of that pattern longer than most.
Where does all this put us in the end? What’s the outcome of comparing natural carpet vs. synthetic? Obviously, choices like seagrass, jute, coir, and sisal should be applied selectively. Synthetic carpet can’t replicate these unique natural looks.
When a more traditional carpet is desired, these other choices may not be suitable. It’s here that you want wool. This natural material more than stands up to its synthetic challengers, and remains the best choice you can make for wall-to-wall carpeting.
If you have any questions about natural fiber carpet for your residence or specific business applications, contact the experts at East Coast Flooring & Interiors.