Carpet is often not thought of as an eco friendly flooring choice but advances in carpet manufacturing and new fibre options available are changing that.

Wool carpets
Made from the cut hair of sheep and llamas, wool is a great renewable choice. It’s durable as well as fire and stain resistant. Wool carpets trap pollutants to keep them out of the air and are a less hospitable to dust mites.

They look and feel luxurious, like the area rug in the picture above from Unique Carpets. But the luxury of wool comes at a higher price than synthetic carpets. Consider purchasing wool carpets as an investment in your home and sustainability.

Plant fibres
The variety of natural plant fibres available presents more biodegrable and sustainable options. While some plant fibre carpets are available as wall to wall carpets, they are most often used for area rugs.

One popular choice is Sisal, made from the leaves of the agave plant. It’s a durable, easy to clean, and absorbent choice. As with many plant fibres, Sisal is known for being scratchy so make sure you feel a sample before choosing it.

Seagrass is a thicker plant fibre grown underwater. It’s known for being easy to care for. Its natural dark pigment is retained because is it unable to hold dye. This makes it good for hiding dirt tracked inside by kids and pets.

Carpet recycling
If planet fibres aren’t suitable for your space and wool is out of your budget, there are still some eco-friendly options available. We work with a 100% Canadian company to offer carpet recycling. After we remove your carpets from your home, they are sent to the carpet recycling plant. At the plant the carpets are sorted by fibre, sheared and converted into pure fibres. Depending on the fibre type, the fibres will be sent to manufacturing companies and can be used to create new carpet and other products that use nylon or polypropylene fibres as inputs. One example of these recycled carpets is the Anso Nylon carpet. This carpet is made from fibres of recycled nylon carpets and can be recycled again and again. Anso Nylon maintains good performance and continues to look stylish after each time the fibres are recycled.

Shaw’s environmentally friendly manufacturing focus extends beyond recycling carpet. The EcoLogix carpet cushion system is made from 91% post consumer recycled content from recycled plastic bottles.

Over time it is natural for carpet to experience wear and tear from every day living. We have some quick and easy solutions to common issues that will get your carpet looking like new again. Before trying any of the following solutions or any other carpet maintenance type, we suggest checking the carpet care instructions provided by your manufacturer to see what they recommend.

1. Snags: If a pet’s claw, a child toy, or any other sharp object hooks on the fibres and creates a small snag. Using a pair of scissors, clip the snag as close to the carpet base as possible.

2. Dents: Heavy pieces of furniture can cause dents or indentations in your carpet but they can be removed. Work the carpet pile back into place using your fingers tips or a spoon. Use a hair dryer to raise the tufts and gently pull up the tufts.

3. Shedding: Happens often with new cut pile carpets and can be removed by vacuuming. Shedding will gradually disappear within a few weeks or months, depending on how often you vacuum.

4. Pilling: It’s not just your sweaters that experience pilling. With certain carpets, heavy traffic can create little balls of tangled fibres and lints. To remove them, clip them with scissors.

5. Burns: If your carpet has a small burn, you can remove the darkened fibres using a pair of curved fingernail scissors. But if the burn is too extensive, you will have to consider patching or replacement.

6. Sprouts: With cut pile carpet, small tufts or sprouts rise up above the surface of the carpet. Please don’t pull the sprout out. Instead, cut it off with a pair of scissors.

7. Crushed Pile: When your carpet pile is crushed and matted, bring it back to life by vacuum with a beater bar vacuum or using a carpet rake.

The carpet installation for Westchester Place is now complete. Walkthroughs will now be starting. Enjoy your new carpets and the holiday season!

It’s been a busy month at MIRA, but that hasn’t stopped the team from having fun. Lyndon, Kevin, and James participated in Movember, a cause they were thrilled to donate to. If you aren’t familiar with the event, Movember is a moustache growing charity event held every November to raise money for men’s health. Find out more on the Movember website.

The results:

Photos have surfaced from the Grey Cup weekend of James (top right) and Kevin (bottom right) supporting their hometown of Winnipeg. The Blue Bombers suffered 23-34 defeat, but that didn’t stop the pair from enjoying the game.