Sisal carpets (Fitted)

[RBailey]

Hi All,

I'm after some feedback / tips etc.. regarding sisal carpets.

"We" are considering a fitted sisal carpet for our (very long) upstairs corridor. However, I have just learnt (I think) that most Sisal is rubber backed and glued down (directly or glued to glued undelay).

Is this true?
How good / bad is this?
Does this impact installation (in terms of edge / threshold options etc.) ?
Is sisal, if stuck down, as long term as it is said to be?

I am not that worried about the rubber backing from a moisture point of view as it is upstairs.
I also know that it is not the soft under foot and "we" are okay with that.

Any information, comments, suggestions or general abuse is welcome.

Thanks,
Richard B.

[a twig]

I can help you with the first one - yes it's true.

On the second one - when I was young and poor I had cheap commercial carpet fitted to my house (whole of a 3 bed house done in a day for £750 including the carpet, additional materials and labour ), the fitters glued it down and it gave us no problems. At thresholds they just butted the carpets up, glued them down then put one of these style of bars down over the top - https://www.screwfix.com/p/extra-wide-c ... 61mm/81951 - it wasn't sisal though but gluing carpet is gluing carpet...

Can't help at all with the rest I'm afraid!

[a twig]

Ooh, one other thing, if the royal we wants sisal for the look and feel rather than any particular attachment to the source plants themselves, there are man made alternatives that look and feel the same but are a lot more stable etc, so can be stretch installed the usual way - googling "sisal alternatives" should give you a flavour

[RBailey]

Many thanks for the feedback.

Cheers,
Richard B.

[LadyArowana]

I have a sisal runner and I’m sure it’s grown longer.* it used to fit perfectly in the tiny hallway and now the cotton edge binding flips up slightly next to the skirting at the end.

*unless apartment shrinkage is a thing

[worms]

I have a sisal runner and I’m sure it’s grown longer.* it used to fit perfectly in the tiny hallway and now the cotton edge binding flips up slightly next to the skirting at the end.

*unless apartment shrinkage is a thing

Yes, we have a sisal rug in the kitchen and it is much more stretchy than any other rug we've had in that position. I'm guessing they glue the fitted version down to stop it from stretching and then kinking.

I'd also be worried about:

... our (very long) upstairs corridor...

as in my experience carpet-joins on trafficked corridors never remain hidden for long. I would think that will be worse with sisal, which (apart from stretching) might also fray at a trafficked edge - unless you are planning on using the style bars that twig mentions which might give an odd visual effect with bars across the corridor.

But if you find a good solution, I would be keen to learn from the experience as a sisal fitted carpet would be ideal for our hall - the doors at the two ends are off-set, so a long runner from the kitchen door, down the middle of the hall wouldn't meet the sitting room door.

[88v8]

We have sisal upstairs, left by the PO and unlikely to be removed by me even though there are elm boards beneath... life too short...

The rubber underlay is stapled down, and the carpet spray glued to the underlay, so any inclination to move is effectively restrained.

Stapling the underlay is probably preferable to gluing, at least for the future owner who wants to remove it

Ivor

[RBailey]

Hi All,

Thanks for the replies and comments.

I'd also be worried about:

... our (very long) upstairs corridor...

as in my experience carpet-joins on trafficked corridors never remain hidden for long. I would think that will be worse with sisal, which (apart from stretching) might also fray at a trafficked edge - unless you are planning on using the style bars that twig mentions which might give an odd visual effect with bars across the corridor.

Thanks, the corridor is actually four "straight" sections as it runs though the various rooms / houses. The door frames are still there so I was thinking to add threshold strips at every door to help with the visual delineation, account for the wonky changes in directions and make purchase / installation cheaper.

Cheers,
Richard B.

[worms]

Thanks, the corridor is actually four "straight" sections as it runs though the various rooms / houses. The door frames are still there so I was thinking to add threshold strips at every door to help with the visual delineation, account for the wonky changes in directions and make purchase / installation cheaper.

Ah! Sounds like a good solution, then!