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Troubleshooting – popular carpet issues
If you have recently had a new carpet installed, you may be seeing one of the following take place.
Shedding:
All cut pile carpets will lose short fibres that have been created during the manufacturing phase. The amount of shedding depends on the yarn type and the construction of the carpet. Shedding is easily removed, simply through vacuuming and should not cause a detrimental effect on your carpet.
Sprouting or Tufting:
Sprouting simply refers to a tuft that has made its way to the surface. Do not be tempted to pull these out, instead trim them with scissors to the height of the surrounding carpet. Having this happen a small amount of times if natural, however if you start noticing patches where tufts have come loose, contact your retailer for guidance.
Indentations:
You will notice indentations once you have placed your furniture on your new carpet. This is completely natural. To reduce the overall impact on the carpet over time, simply move the furniture regularly to avoid prolonged crushing of the pile.
If you have moved a piece of furniture and still have indentations remaining, you may need to agitate the pile to lift it back up again or regularly vacuum the area to reduce the indent.
If you have furniture fitted with castors/wheels, it is strongly recommended to add a protective mat under the furniture to avoid wide spread indenting.
Flattening:
Flattening of a carpet will occur as a result of usage or heavy traffic over the carpet. The pile of the carpet will start to flatten, particularly in the areas that are most used.
All carpet pile flattens to some degree depending on the amount of footfall/usage, the yarn materials and the construction.
Shading:
Shading occurs because the pile of the carpet has become crushed, flattened or has been brushed in a different direction. This causes light reflection at varying angles, creating light and dark spots throughout the carpet. This will occur on all pile fabrics, but may be more noticeable on plain carpets as there is no pattern to detract the eye.
Pile Reversal
All cut pile carpets can suffer from pile reversal and in certain instances this may become permanently bent or distorted for no specific reason that research has yet identified, giving areas of light and shade. This is also known as “watermarking”. It is not a defect in manufacture, it only occurs in a small percentage of all carpets and no liability whatsoever can be accepted by the manufacturer in respect of it.
Fading on wool:
Wool carpets can fade after they have been in use for a while. The degree on how much they fade depends on colour of the carpet, foot fall and other local conditions. Fading can also occur thanks to ultra violet light, most often in areas of a carpet that are in-front of a window that sees a lot of sun throughout the day. The colour will lighten, much like human hair lightens in the sun, after all Wool is animal hair. You can protect against this happening by closing curtains or adding a UV filter to your window.
Static:
Carpets do not produce static but they can hold/store it. It is caused by a build-up of static on people in dry environments and is passed onto any item that can conduct electricity such as door handles. It is more associated with man-made or synthetic carpets but can occur in wool carpets in very dry environments.
Introducing moisture into a room can prevent this.
Colour Matching:
When manufacturing carpets, batch creels are spun and dyed as individual items creating yarns that adhere to agreed specifications. Within the specifications are set tolerance levels, allowing for small variances at each stage of yarn manufacturing.
After the yarn dying process, they are dried to specific targets that are set to retain some moisture from the air. Although this is a strictly monitored process, it cannot be exact from batch to batch, causing slight variances in the colours of the dye. Again, tolerance levels have been set to achieve industry wide standards of production.
Choosing carpets from the same batch is essential to achieve a colour match. As standard we check this with every order to ensure that pieces go out from the same batch. If we cannot fulfil an order using the same batch, we discuss the options available to find the best resolution for the customer.
Samples
If you have ordered a sample from us, that sample may not be an exact match with the carpet you order/have ordered as it may not be from the same production batch or colour batch. Therefore, samples should simply be used as a guide and not an exact replica.
Installation
All carpets should be installed in accordance with BS5323 “Code of Practice for the Installation of Floor Coverings” and NICF manual.
If you are experiencing any of the above and are not happy with your carpet. Please contact your retailer for further advice.
