Carpet questions

We have moved house, the new house has carpet and it’s a very long time since I’ve lived in a house with carpet. Anyway, the carpet looks like new, but the previous owner was a very careful old lady, so who knows how old it is. Before we moved in we had the carpet cleaned, the guy removed a huge amount of carpet fibres with the vacuum before he cleaned them. He found it surprising enough that he took a photo to show me.

I’ve given them a bit of a clean with the Dyson stick, but I really only do a couple of meters before the shear amount of fibres clogs the filter and I have to stop and clean it out. I’m currently sitting in the playroom with DS and there are small balls of fibres sitting on the carpet.

Is this normal? Am I doing something wrong? I need to vac regularly due to DD’s dust mite allergy, but at this rate I’ll spend all my time cleaning out the filter.

Burn the carpet and put wood or cork down.

Sorry, not helpful, lol. I hate carpet with a passion and can't wait to get out of this rental with carpet.

Edited because I can't type!

This won't help as such but we have all tiled floor (a rental, not our choice) and it is only a small place and we still have to clean out the barrel on dyson barrel one every couple of times, it might be because I have long hair but we don't have pets.

We vacuum once a week but it still drives me mad and I am not even the one that uses the vacuum

Is it normal? Depends on the type of carpet. Some carpets shed A LOT. It was one of my fears when we replaced carpet and my research seemed to say that it is worse with wool and synthetic blends.

I dislike carpet. Even in cold climates, I still prefer rugs on hard floors because the rugs can be removed for proper cleaning. I have had carpets cut to the size of the room and edged so it looks like a fully carpeted room but with the convenience of being able to remove and wash.

Do you know what type of fibre the carpet is? In our old house we laid new carpet and went with 100% wool. The first couple of months the carpet did "shed" quite a bit but then it did settle down. What type of vacuum are you using? If you are using a cordless stick type vacuum you might need to invest in a more heavy duty vacuum cleaner. Our Dyson stick vacuum is great for the hard floors but get's pretty clogged up and is not ideal for using on our carpet upstairs.

I was going to say it sounds like the carpet is new...

I was going to say it sounds like the carpet is new...

I’ve had a look at the photos from the previous time it was on the market, and it looks very similar to what was there in 2007. But they may have just replaced the carpet with very similar. It does look new though.

Do you know what type of fibre the carpet is? In our old house we laid new carpet and went with 100% wool. The first couple of months the carpet did "shed" quite a bit but then it did settle down. What type of vacuum are you using? If you are using a cordless stick type vacuum you might need to invest in a more heavy duty vacuum cleaner. Our Dyson stick vacuum is great for the hard floors but get's pretty clogged up and is not ideal for using on our carpet upstairs.

I need to get our Miele out, but I’m not sure we have a head for carpet, as we only had hard floors, and have the special hard floor head.

Mine does that but my carpet is probably 30 years old, possibly more

If youre using a spinning motorised head on the vacumn, stop, dont use that, use a normal suction head. A spinning head will just keep picking all the fluff off and, as you say, clog the vacumn. Save the spinning head for when its really really dirty and nothing else works. A normal suction head should be enough for everyday vacuming, especially since you have just had it professionally cleaned.

If youre using a spinning motorised head on the vacumn, stop, dont use that, use a normal suction head. A spinning head will just keep picking all the fluff off and, as you say, clog the vacumn. Save the spinning head for when its really really dirty and nothing else works. A normal suction head should be enough for everyday vacuming, especially since you have just had it professionally cleaned.

Oh that would be the issue!!! Thank you.

Carpet could be really new or really old. If it is old wool carpet it could be disintegrating. Agree with PP about not using the power head.

I am a lonely carpet lover. We have tiles in our current house and the grout wasn’t sealed properly so always look dirty. The house is so noisy.

If you have carpet in the wardrobes - that should be in pretty good condition and you can compare it to a high wear area to see if there is much difference to try and guess its age. You could also cut a sample of it from the back of the wardrobe and take it into a carpet seller to get some advice on what type it is and its care.

I like carpet too, especially in Canberra's freezing winters!