How do carpet warranties work?

You can learn all kinds of things about a carpet from its warranty information. Many people think that if a product has a good warranty, the product itself must be well-made and of good quality. This is often true. But some manufacturers take advantage of this widely held belief and make their warranties look better than they are. This is why it's so important to read the fine print when you're looking at a warranty.

There are three kinds of warranties for carpets. The wear warranty is supposed to protect you against the carpet wearing out. But the warranty may have conditions about what percentage of the carpet has to be worn out before the manufacturer will do anything about it. And if they do agree to a repair, it will be only for the worn section of the carpet [source: Goddard]. You'll also need a manufacturing warranty in case your carpet falls apart because of shoddy workmanship. The wear warranty doesn't cover this.

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Stain warranties are good to have, but they are usually riddled with all kinds of conditions. Manufacturers need to protect themselves, and consumers need to remember that no carpet is completely stain-proof. You'll have to follow the maintenance instructions on the label carefully or else the manufacturer won’t be obligated to honor the warranty. The cleaning procedure for your carpet may involve hiring a professional carpet cleaner. When you pay someone to clean your carpet, keep the receipts!

Keep all these things in mind when you're buying a new carpet.

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