rugs and pads to sell

We got an insanely low price on the 8'x10' rug - too good to pass up. The price has gone back up since we made our pre-Christmas purchase. If money wasn't tight, I'd say for sure that the higher price is still worth it.The material isn't what I expected even though it's probably properly explained in the listing. I was expecting traditional carpet material. I don't know anything about rugs and carpets, so even if I had read through the technical specifications, none of it would have meant anything to me. The material is actually a bunch of silky nylon(?) cords. They're super fun to run your hand (or feet) over. They're not slippery though.It looks more plush in the photo than it really is, which as far as I'm concerned is a good thing. I was worried it'd be so plush that it would sort of "squish" beneath your feet as you walked. If you pay attention - you can see the brown of the rug bottom between cords. It's not noticeable and even when you do notice it, it doesn't take away from the appeal of the design. It's just something I didn't expect. The reason is probably seems so full is because of the length of the cords which is probably... an inch - inch and a half? (I'm guessing on everything in this review so you know. This is all no research and off the top of my head - just impressions.) Since the cords don't stand straight up, but fall to the side, the rug is still covered with material at all times unless you comb between the cords to see the base of the rug.The design and colors are accurate to the photo. There's no nasty "warehouse" or "plastic-y" smell to it like some rugs have. The backing is a lot heavier duty than I expected. All the edges seem to be well sewn up. There were some stray pieces of the material when we unrolled it (5-8?) initially but there aren't any bald spots. I've probably picked up another 1 or 2 pieces since then, but again, the rug doesn't seem to be worse for the wear.As far as cleaning, I haven't yet tried it with a vacuum. I'm not sure how well it would hold up to a quality vacuum with good suction. I'll probably try simply using a no-roller, bare floor vacuum on it the first time to make sure I'm not pulling cords up. I've had to do some heavy duty cleaning on it already (see below) and the best I've managed so far is rolling it up, tossing it into the back of the pickup and taking it to the manual car wash in town. I put about two loads worth of detergent into a spray bottle, filled it with water, and sprayed it onto soiled areas, then rinsed with the normal "rinse" setting on the water gun. The colors on the rug didn't run or bleed. Again, I'm no rug expert. I hope that detergent isn't somehow bad for the rug. So far though, it does the trick just fine. For the 8'x10' size, it's at LEAST a 2 very able-bodied person job to get it clean this way. The rug is very heavy dry and twice as heavy when it's wet. Once the summer rolls around, I think it'd be easier to set up some pallets in the yard and just use the hose and let the sun and air dry it out. Oh, for the time being, we dry it hanging in our heated garage. It takes at least a day, probably two to be safe to dry fully.Cat Owners Note: My cats love this thing. They love it so much they've picked a corner as a litter box. They've always had an affinity for peeing on things that are super soft. I had a shag bathroom rug that I had to stop using because they loved it so much. I wish I would have remembered that when I bought this. The investment in this rug is too much and I just can't chalk it up as a loss. The last time one of the cats peed on the rug, three of the cords had been pulled up, inevitably when he was trying to bury his spot. So apparently it takes about the strength of a cat with claws to start undoing the cords.Overall opinion? I adore this rug. I've always purchased cheapies and been sorely disappointed. This thing is beautiful, comfortable, fits my space perfectly size, color and design. I'll be really disappointed if the no-marking spray doesn't keep my cats off of it. Everyone remarks on how nice the rug is. We've owned it for just under two months now. The only reason I didn't give it five stars is because I'm not sure how well the cords are secured on the rug and how long it will take before we might start seeing some bald spots? I'd definitely recommend the rug to other people. Especially people without cats.