Do your wool carpets and/or rugs shed when you vacuum?

Are you worried that the carpet or rug is degrading. Don’t worry. This is a natural characteristic of wool carpets and rugs. 

Some pilling and shedding can occur with all wool carpets and rugs. This is a natural characteristic of wool carpeting because wool carpets are made from short “staple” fibers. A staple fiber is a short length of fiber generally ranging from 4 to 8 inches long which is then spun into a yarn comprised of these short lengths. As we all know, wool is sheared from sheep. The result is short lengths of fiber which is then woven into a yarn. Because the yarn is made up of millions of short fibers, there are millions and millions of ends of these fibers in the carpet. Kind of like split ends in a person’s hair. It is impossible to remove all of these loose ends in the construction process. The result is these ends come out or shed when vacuuming.

Once again, no need to worry. Wool carpets will not wear out from the loss of fiber. Over time from use and abuse, just like any type of carpet or rug, they can develop traffic patterns and “ugly out” but they won’t fall apart from the shedding.  Also, the thicker the carpet yarn, the more likely you are to see shedding. Once again, no need to panic. The shedding should diminish with time but it will never go away completely. There will always be some fiber in the vacuum canister. Remember, this is normal.

If you would like to learn more, visit my website at www.graysoncleans.com