Dear Alan,  

Sorona has been around for awhile now, do you think it is as good a fiber as they claim it is? 

 -Tom

Hi Tom,

I hear from lots of homeowners and confer with my preferred carpet dealers often about Sorona, (Smartstrand by Mohawk) and I get conflicting reports. Some folks hate it and say it mats down quickly and is hard to clean, others say it’s great and are very happy with it. Some carpet dealers say they get nothing but complaints about it and yet others sing about how wonderful it is and say it’s as durable as Nylon. 

I have come to believe that Sorona is a durable fiber, it also cleans easily and resists stains better than Nylon. I also believe that Nylon cleans easily and resists stains, but Nylon is more resilient and more durable than Sorona. Some stain treatments are better than others and that can play an important factor in determining the stain resistance of a nylon carpet. Learn more about Carpet Stain Warranties

http://www.carpetprofessor.com/about_carpet_stain_warranties.htm

However, I feel it is imperative that homeowners make sure to choose the right quality or grade in order to be satisfied with the overall performance any carpet. This is true with any carpet style you select no matter what fiber it is made of, but with Sorona I think it is even more important. This means having sufficient face-weight, pile height and density and adequate tuft-twist to help meet or exceed your needs, goals and lifestyle. It is also important to keep the pile height below 3/4 of an inch or risk potential matting and crushing.

Knowing what grade of carpet to buy is the key and way too many folks end up buying a carpet that is incapable of tolerating their level of foot traffic. This always ends in disaster and makes for an unhappy customer. That’s why I created a simple foot traffic test so folks could have some idea about where they stand traffic wise and what grade of carpet they need to consider buying.

Here is the link: http://www.homecarpetshopping.com/carpet_foot_traffic_test.htm

This is my take so far and I think it will take a few more years to get the final report in on Sorona. I still believe that Nylon is more durable and has better resiliency than Sorona, but Sorona does seem to clean easier and resist stains better. How much better? It depends on your application. I also believe that once the Sorona fiber suffers from abrasion, the fiber becomes much harder to clean. Therefore I would not recommend that Sorona be used in heavy traffic applications. Nylon is still the best choice for heavy traffic applications.

Thanks for your question I will post this information (and date it) so everyone can be updated on this subject. Most of the information about Sorona (on the internet) is written by the manufacturer or the authorized Sorona dealers. You just don’t get the inside story from those sources. Visit my website to learn everything you need to know about how to buy carpet wisely!

The Carpet Professor