Cleaning Tips

Shag - Wonderful Shag

Shag carpeting, a symbol of the 1970’s (along with long hair on men), has been resurrected and today is frequently called frieze (pronounced freez-zay), California shag or California burber.  Better carpet fibers and improved manufacturing techniques have created a carpet with good looks and better durability than the old shags.  However, shag carpet demands the correct type of vacuum cleaner as you can literally destroy a vacuum, and even the carpet itself, with the wrong selection.

One of the challenges of having a shag style carpet is that if you were to actually read the manufacturer’s warranty, you might find that the warranty will be voided if you use a vacuum cleaner with a spinning brush roll.  Carpet fibers are really quite durable on the tip.  However, with shag, the fibers lie down rather than stand up, and the brush will actually scrape fibers off of the sides of the yarn and sooner than later wear it out. 

One of the nasty little secrets of the situation is that while this is true, your carpet can’t really be cleaned without some sort of agitation.  Some manufacturers make tools that appear like a rake and have good success with removing some items stuck in the carpets.  But in the end, there is a reason that vacuums have brushrolls that spin - because they do the best job of agitating, brushing and grooming the carpets.

Some of the varieties of shag may be cleaned with a vacuum cleaner with a brushroll, but it’s absolutely essential that there is a manual height adjustment and that it is used on the highest setting so that the brushroll touches the tips of the fibers and does not dig down into the side of the yarn.

For longer shag, a canister with a straight suction nozzle, or an upright vacuum where the brushroll can be turned off, is the right choice.  In addition, the old-fashioned tool called a carpet rake is also recommended for grooming the carpet and fluffing the yarn strands before vacuuming.

Shag is pleasant to look at and comfortable to walk on.  The return of shag may be short lived because of its cleanability issues.  Think twice before you buy any shag carpet and buyer beware.