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Sisal Natural Flooring - A Buying Guide

Mon 01st December 2014  | posted in carpets

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With our new sisal carpet range due in January 2015 we thought this would be a great time to publish our buying guide.

Natural flooring made from sisal is a great choice for a floorcovering as it is a tough fibre with a fashionable wow factor that no other carpet can bring.  

Sisal is a great choice but there are some pros and cons including safety on stairs, pets, wet areas such as kitchens and bathrooms and stain resistance.  In this blog we will try to answer all these issues and more.

Why Choose Sisal for Your Floors?

  • The simple reason for selecting this natural fibre is its great look.
  • Aesthetically very pleasing and makes for a practical hard wearing floor covering.
  • It's allure has been made stronger as it is seen in all the glossy designer magazines that give a superb view into modern living. 

Sisal is quite rough in feel and texture but not as rough as some other natural carpets such as coir. As such you should consider it carefully if looking at rooms where you will be in bare feet, such as bedrooms.

Sisal is suitable for stairs but care must be taken in selecting the correct fitting method.

Natural floorings are inheriently hardwearing, but so is a modern day carpet. One of the most important considerations is that sisal has no resistance to moisture even if treated with modern techniques such as Intec protection so it is not suitable for use in bathrooms or kitchens.

We sell all the leading brands such as Crucial Trading, The Alternative Flooring Company and Kersaint Cobb but are launching our own un-branded range to give the best possible value in natural floorings.

Fitting of Sisal Floorcoverings
Natural carpets are not easy to fit and as such are best left to a professional.  but please see the basic point below -

  • It must be adhered to achieve stability.
  • Smoothedge gripper fixings are optional but we do recommend them to give the best finish.
  • Underlay must be suitable to be adhered to but the flooring can be stuck directly to a suitably prepared sub-floor.  With concrete floors the underlay must be stuck down first with adhesive, and then the sisal is stuck to the underlay. If the sub-floor is wood then the underlay can be fixed with staples before the sisal is adhered to it but we always like to se the double stick method being used.
  • Sisal must be delivered to the room it is going to be fitted to at least 48hrs beforehand to give it time to acclimatise.
  • Consider your joins - Sisal will join and when done correctly it will wear very well but will always be quite visible.

What to Expect from your new Sisal Flooring - 

First and foremost you will be making a great choice for a contemporary flooring that will create a real statement in your home.  Sisal based products are really hard wearing but have some different characteristics from a traditional carpet, including -

  • Different Fitting requirements
  • Natural fibres are not stain resistant
  • Natural fibre flooring may have irregularities in the weave including wiggle lines and knotts
  • Hard wearing and tough

What do I Need?

Apart form the sisal you will need -

  • Appropriate underlay such as Trediare Contract 9 or Durafit 650
  • Suitable adhesive F40 for securing the carpet and F3 for sticking the sisal
  • Gripper rod
  • A qualified floor layer


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