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Generally, carpet is a great choice for stairs for a host of reasons but is one carpet better than another?
Well, yes.
Read on below to find out what we think is best for you.
It has great sound proofing qualities, reducing echo though the house which other floors may not reduce.
It provides an element of grip, making it safer than other options.
It also feels comfortable underfoot.
In short, yes.
Wool is preferable to a man-made fibre for the purpose of stairs.
A practical option
A staircase is an area of heavy footfall and so you need something hard wearing and resilient, that will with stand feet going up and down. For this, wool is by far superior to polyester or other man made carpets. Wool fibres are natural and tend to bounce back better than its synthetic competitor, so will look good for longer.
Wool is also less slippery than man made fibres, which is an important safety consideration. Keeping fibres short on stairs also offer increased safety, so a long velvet pile for example would be an unsafe choice.
The grin test
In terms of aesthetics, you also need to consider how densely fibres are packed together and how well your chosen carpet passes the “grin test”. When you bend the carpet to a nearly 90 degree angle, it will part, or grin, as if being bent over the edge of a stair. This will give you an idea of how the carpet will look in situ on the staircase. Some fibres will part more than others, failing the grin test and they would really be suited better to a flat floor, so you really want to choose a carpet that will pass the grin test.
Carpet runner
Finally as an alternative to a carpet, a carpet runner is a great choice for a stairs. These are made of 3 ply wool, are extremely dense and hard wearing but being a runner, you can still see the wood effect either side of the stair, giving you the best of both worlds.
While you can put what you want on stairs, a wool carpet would be our carpet of choice due to its resilience and hardwearing nature, and due to the fact that it is potentially less slippery underfoot.
Good luck choosing!