Roger Bisby has it covered with Hippo Carpet Protector.
I love carpet protector. Unlike dust sheets, it doesn’t ruck up (causing a trip hazard) and liquids don’t go through. Not only do I love it but my customers love it just as much as I do – never mind the quality of the work, the bit they tell their friends about is the 10 minutes I spent laying down carpet protection before I removed the radiator and took it out through the front door. Time was when I would have spilt a few drops of black sludge on the dust sheet and sometimes it seeped through, and meant I spent the next hour cleaning it and apologising. It is hard to charge someone the full whack when you have left a stain on their carpet – and your reputation.
After accepting that carpet protector is the best thing since sliced malt loaf, which one do you go for? I found out some years ago from my insurance company that it has to resist the spread of flame, which is ironic because they never said that about the dust sheets. Hippo has the fire rating sorted and has also managed to include another couple of desirable features into the range. The first is that it is reverse wound, so you can lay it straight off the roll rather than having to use an applicator. The sticky side is on the outside of the roll, so it will pick up dust when you store it and that means you will have to trim the first bit off when you use it next time. The other innovation is to make wider rolls, so you now have a choice of stair width or hall width. Hippo is said to be good for 28 days but here comes the big confesssion – I have left it down a lot longer than that and it still comes up without leaving a residue. No doubt the company would love you to peel it all up and put new stuff down, but you will have to make up your own mind on that one.
