Berber Carpet Question

[JustHolly]

We want to buy a steam vac/carpet cleaner.

We have berber carpet and I'm afraid of ruining it. Can you steam clean it? Which type of carpet cleaner is best--- a rotating bar of bristles, or the Hoovers with the several round brushes that spin?

 

[mrsv98]

Hi Holly,

We have Berber in the Family room and I wish we didn't, it is very hard to clean. I have a Hoover Steam cleaner with the spinning bristles and it cleans the regular carpet great but has real trouble getting into the nooks and crannies of the berber. It also take much, much longer to dry than the regular. Recently, I bought a Little Green Machine Pro Heat for the stairs and spot cleaning and tried it on the berber. It actually did better than the big machine, I think because I coule get the smaller brush into the indentations better. However, in the long run, it is a pain to do the whole rug on your hands and knees! We just bought a really nice area rug from Target and that covers most of the berber, easier than trying to clean it all the time!

Looking back, I think I have strayed from your original question , the spinning brushes of the Hoover have not damaged our carpet at all. I don't think I would use a rotating bar machine, I would be afraid of catching a piece and unraveling a whole segment. Good Luck!

 

[JustHolly]

Thanks so much for your reply! We ended up buying the Hoover with the spinning bristles. Now I can use it without worrying! We didn't CHOOSE the Berber, we rent and that's what our apartment has. My cats are destroying it, and so are we... it is white and stains so easily!

Thanks for the tips! I'm glad our new machine won't destroy the carpet... I HOPE!

 

[DisneyObsessed]

I can't believe I found this post. We are looking for carpeting for our downstairs and I was looking at Berber. I wanted a light color too. The salesman told me it was very easy to clean. I have a Hoover steam cleaner with rotating brushes. I think you guys just saved me a lot of trouble. I think I'll stay away from the Berber. Thanks!

 

[poohbear1029]

I have Berber and a Hoover rotating brush cleaner and love both. Havent had much trouble cleaning the Berber.....

One plus to consider. Plush carpet/pile carpet will crush with wear in traffic spots. I have found that my Berber is more resistant than that. Ours is an oatmealy color with flecks of color in it and it wears well.

 

[JustHolly]

Update: We cleaned our dining room berber with the new Hoover. It did a very good job and got the stains out. It didn't seem to wreck the carpet or affect the pile. It feels a little softer on bare feet though. Our Berber doesn't have a pattern, I wonder if that makes a difference with how well it comes clean. I was worried about it taking a long time to dry. We put a fan on it, and it feels dry to the touch.

Thanks for the advice!

DawnF316... I wouldn't recommend the Berber unless you are barely going to use the room you are putting it in. It looks nice, but is not particularly comfortable to sit on. It stains easily, and we've only been here a few months and there are little "pulls" everwhere. Having cats contributes to that, but the carpet also "pulls" from high heel shoes and moving furniture, and even the vacuum cleaner. You can't "pull" the little pulls out because then the carpet unravels like a sweater!

 

[believe]

We have berber and love it. I would not recommend a light color for high traffic areas. As for the steam cleaner...make sure you go over it several times to get out the excess water. Our berber is usually dried in no time at all, as long as I go over the carpet several times to pull out the excess water. I watch the machine pull the water in and if an area is still pulling water out I stay in that spot.

 

[jrmasm]

I just want to second the berber is terrible stuff thought. Had it in out last house for about 5 years and never again! It did not wear well and did not clean well. I rather deal with pile or wood floors!

 

[believe]

Just keep in mind that there are different grades of berber carpet. If you do not get the best grade you will end up with bad experiences.

 

[KristiKelly]

We have berber in our family room and love it. We use the Bissell cleaner and it works fine on ours. Another berber tip, when we moved in our house, we did not have a yard yet, lots of rain, lots of mud and an indoor 70 lb. dog. Our decorator told me that if mud was tracked in on the berber carpet to just leave it alone (my mom had a cow when she saw Red mud on my new carpet and I just ignored it ) once the mud dries, you can just vacuum it up ( this doesn't work as well on cut pile carpet). If you try to clean it whiles it's wet - BIG mess.

 

[jrmasm]

if mud was tracked in on the berber carpet to just leave it alone

This tip works for regular pile as well!

 

[tkd lisa]

Another pro and con view of Berber. It totally depends upon the grade of Berber you get, combined with the pad you buy. The house we built, we bought a high grade of Berber with the best pad, and it was great carpet. The house we bought already built had cheap Berber w/ Cheap pad and had all the negatives listed here.

We recently recarpeted the house w/ the cheap Berber. We went w good quality Berber in the high traffic areas (including the stairs), and a plush in the bedrooms. Upgraded pad in both. We did have a tea spill in the Berber section that I couldn't get out with spot cleaning, but steam cleaning took care of it.

Good quality Berber does wear better than pile/plush carpet, but it will not feel "cushy". It can be a little harder to clean than pile, so I'd definitely NOT do light colors. An oatmeal color with flecks of colors seems to work well at hiding those little oops! that happen.

 

[KristiKelly]

You're right about the colored specks, ours has that and it also helps the dried Play Doh to blend right in .

 

[DisneyObsessed]

Does anyone know if Home Depot sells good quality Berber or do I need to go to a carpet place? This is the deal. My father lived downstairs (cellar) until he passed in June. We had carpeting down there, but he spilled everything on it, plus he flooded the laundry side of the basement a couple times and the water went through the walls into the carpeted side. In short, we desperately need to rip it up. It's only 5 years old. Since he died down there, we need to really do it up nice for us to enjoy, not have bad memories. We've painted and bought a wide screen tv and home theater system for down there. We will probably be spending most of our time there. There are 4 of us. Two of us are teenagers (not the most careful people in the world) an 80 lb dog and a cat (with claws). I'm sure we will be snacking down there. I have my father's recliner which is a greenish, brownish color, and we painted the walls like a sage green with light, light green trim. So I really didn't know what color carpet to go with besides a berber with specks of color. That's my dilemma Thanks for listening and your advice.

Dawn

 

[BigDave]

Can't answer about Home Depot and berber quality, but can talk about berber.

We put berber in our basement (also have home theater, 80 pound dog and teenage boy!). It was just a remnant, but great quality. It was oatmeal with flecks of color. Unfortunately it was a little too light (had too much white in the background) and every stain shows as my son and his friends tend to have spills on a regular basis. We do clean the spots, but the weave is dense and it is harder to clean.

Now, we bought berber area rugs for the bedrooms and replaced plush carpet in the living room and on the stairs with a somewhat darker berber. Still beige tones with flecks of different colors, but very little or no white and we like it. The weave is not as tight. Our dog threw up days after we put the carpet in and it cleaned up well.

Best recommendation we got from a carpet cleaner was to go over the spot with plain water AFTER it has been cleaned. The solution will always leave a residue which will attract dirt faster. It does make a difference

Lots of rambling here, but my point is stay away from colors that are white based and go with brown tones to match dirt!

Bigdave

 

[BCVOwner2002]

We bought Berber at Home Depot back in 1997. It was their top of the line at the time and we love it! It is a light color and we put it throughout the house. A friend has since purchased some at Home Depot and the quality isn't as good and the people who installed it did a terrible job. You need to look at the grade and quality numbers on the back of the sample to make sure you are getting a good piece of carpet.

We also have the Hoover and like it but now that there is the hot water one we are going to upgrade to that. We use our little Bissell for accidents and spills. Annmarie

 

[luv2nascar]

We have an oatmeal w/fleck patterned berber all through our carpeted areas of our house except in the bedrooms. We upgraded padding & the berber is an upgrade not low end - not highest quality. I do like the berber alot. The feel takes some getting used to - softer with age I think. I do think it stains easily - color maybe too light for us. It does clean well with a steam cleaner. Our family room is the hardest hit. We may end up replacing it with hardwood floors when it wears out.