Its time to give your tired old stair case a makeover, but with so many choices it can be a bit daunting to choose which one will work best for your home. The initial choice for you when selecting a custom stair runner is to establish what material you wish to use. From there the rest will fall into place. But lets talk a little bit about your choices and get this project started!

     Essentially when you buy a stair carpet runner, your given the choice between two main materials; wool and polypropylene. But which is better? Most people would gravitate to wool because it will be in most cases more expensive, so obviously its better right? Short answer....depends.

     Wool : Like area rugs, wool has long been a staple material that combines the perfect mix of quality and touch. Wool is a great product that will wear very well and with stand much of the punishing and repetitive steps your stair runner will receive over the course of its life. But wool has its drawbacks too. Wool will shed, in fact its the biggest drawback to wool there is. In the months after installation your wool runner will be susceptible to shedding and you should expect that to continue for up to a year after installation. So if regular vacuuming is a huge hassle for you, i'd look at non wool runners. Beyond shedding wool is a much more sensitive product to care for. So if spills, pets, small children and the like are plenty in your home, you may want to look at synthetic stair runners instead. Finally if you are the type of home owner who likes to revamp the look and feel of your home decor everyone few years then you may wanna look at alternatives to wool stair runners. The cost of wool runners start in the low $20 per foot range which could be cost prohibitive for someone who wishes to switch up the decor a lot. 

     So what is the alternative to wool stair runners? The most popular material alternative is polypropylene. While it may be hard to say fast three times in a row and its certainly not the easiest to spell, custom polypropylene stair runners are excellent alternatives to wool and come in a wide range of qualities that are affordable and can certainly last as long as wool if the right quality is bought. 

     The basics of polypropylene stair runners are to know a bit more about how you gauge the quality. Synthetic non wool carpet runners are gauged by a measurement called PSM ( points per square meter ). This measures the amount of fiber found in 1 square meter of material. Essentially the higher the number the better the stair runner and as a rule of thumb the lower the price the skimpier the runner. Polypropylene stair runners will start at about 350,000 PSM and run all the way to 1.5 Million PSM. 

     Why buy non wool stair runners? Polypropylene carpet runners tend to be the more "family friendly" product. So if you have pets, if you have small children, if you yourself are a bumbling klutz, then consider synthetic runners for your stairs. Additionally and unlike Wool products, you will not be needing to worry about shedding which can be a huge relief and much more of an enjoyable ownership experience. Lastly, synthetic runner are as a rule of thumb cheaper with many starting under $10 a foot. 

      Now that you have the basics on the material, its time to start shopping. Checkout our the huge selection of custom stair runners both wool and polypropylene at PaylessRugs.com. We have over 700 different styles to choose from. Take advantage of our sample program that allows you to pick up to 4 samples sent to your home for review before you make your selection.