The appearance of carpet tracking can be very disturbing. You install new carpet and within a couple of month or years the carpet has these ugly dark areas in the traffic lanes. You know that you have not been hard on the carpet, you take off your shoes, vacuum regularly and if there is a spot you remove it immediately.You have the carpet cleaned and these dark tracks are still there. This absolutely has to be a defect and you want the carpet company to do something about it.
So what is carpet tracking? Tracking is a gradual change in appearance of the pile. Tracking is commonly seen as two narrow bands like the tracks on a railway. Tracking can be seen as a wide single path and in all instances it develops in an where the traffic is repeated and often pivotal.
With tracking the pile of the carpet often takes on a darker, dirty appearance that when viewed from some directions is hardly seen or is much lighter in appearance. Tracking is usually seen in softer, cut pile carpets such as a plush pile though it is not limited to plushes. This appearance is commonly seen in areas between rooms and hallways. Often the occupants of the residents are older or tend to shuffle their feet.
Tracking is traffic lane shading a form of pile reversal. Through usage the lay of the pile begins to turn. Since more light is reflected off the sides of the pile and part of the yarn has turned a different direction you are seeing light and dark areas. While this appearance can make a carpet look worn out the carpet is not necessarily worn.
Carpet manufacturers consider tracking and shading to be a characteristic and not a defect.
There are many types of warranties on carpets some fiber warranties especially on more expensive carpets include texture retention. Since it is always possible that the texture within the trafficked area has changed to the point to where it is covered by a texture retention warranty you may still want to report your concerns to the dealer or manufacturer and request that your concerns be addressed.
The best way to avoid tracking is to purchase carpet with a denser construction, lower pile height, textured yarn. Examples would be textured Saxony, frieze, and Berber.
By Terry Weinheimer
Every person in the floor covering industry and especially those that sell, install, inspect and service carpet need to understand the broad variety of complaints that they will face at any given time. These same people need to understand that appearance and wear are not synonymous and in fact the two frequently used words are as different as apples and oranges. Most consumers and far too many “experts” in the industry do not understand or refuse to understand the difference between appearance and wear. By the time you get through this chapter, the author is hoping that this difference will be understood.
There is saying in the carpet industry that has been around at least as long as nylon carpets. “Carpet doesn’t wear out it uglies out”. Unfortunately, a knowledgeable inspector often finds that a carpet has uglied out due to improper cushion selection, inappropriate maintenance or consumer ignorance or neglect. When these types of problems are found it usually results in a consumer and sometimes salesperson that feels they have been taken for a ride. Educating the consumer at the time of purchase can usually prevent these problems.
How Cushion Contributes to Ugly Out
Installing New Carpet over Old Cushion
It is common for an inspector to investigate an installation and find poor performing carpet installed over the old cushion. While this old cushion may have looked pretty good to the installer or salesperson that talked them out of a new one, it has often lost much of its resilience. Was the salesman so unskilled that he or she was unable to explain the need for a proper cushion? Was the installer just too lazy to take up and install a new cushion? While the knowledgeable inspector might not know the motive for installing a new carpet over and old cushion, they certainly can tell when the cushion is bad. When a cushion is bad they will report that fact in their findings. A manufacturer may reduce coverage or refuse to warrant a carpet that is installed over an old pad.
Installing Carpet over Improperly Specified New Cushion
Just as with carpet installed over an old cushion, a carpet installed over a new improperly specified cushion will exhibit premature wear. The Carpet and Rug Institute, Carpet Cushion Council, FHA, and most carpet manufacturers have recommended standards for carpet cushion. Every individual that is selling carpet needs to know and follow these standards. Just as with used cushion a manufacturer may reduce coverage or refuse to warrant a carpet that is installed over a cushion that does not meet their standards. The Installer also needs to be aware of cushion standards for they are often blamed for restretching problems that are actually due to improperly specified carpet cushion.
Improperly Specified Carpet
Carpet that is not properly specified will ugly out regardless of what it is installed over. Most everyone has heard the statement “a good quality cushion will make an inexpensive carpet last longer.” While there is a certain amount of truth to this statement, the best of cushion can only do so much for a poor quality carpet. A carpet that is constructed with a loosely plied yarn and sparse in construction might do fine in a spare bedroom but it is not designed for the traffic of an active family. Inexpensive plush is not going to hold up on stairs regardless of how good the cushion is. By the same token, the finest piece of carpet is not going to hold up when installed over a cushion of improper thickness or density.
Carpet color is another important specification option. A light or pastel color will perform poorly in a high traffic area. A carpet installed in an executive office is unlikely to perform in an automobile showroom or restaurant. A white colored carpet may look great in a few places but in an area with a lot of traffic, household pets or the potential of tracked in soil it is going to ugly out quickly.
The Importance of Maintenance
Can You Over Clean a Carpet?
Dirt is a real problem and it is important for the salesperson to instill to the end user the importance of correct maintenance. With some consumers this will be an impossible task as there are individuals that just don’t take care for their belongings. Some consumers neglect their carpet due to shear ignorance and unfortunately a well-meaning uneducated salesperson or installer may have educated them.
A consumer may have been advised not to vacuum their carpet too much as this will wear it out, when in fact the more dirt you keep out of the carpet the better it will perform. The consumer may have been advised that cleaning will make a carpet get dirty quicker. A carpet that is never cleaned will not resoil at all, for the dirt has to first be removed before it can get dirty again.
It is sometimes true that a carpet will soil quicker after cleaning. A major cleaning problem is the use of an inferior cleaning product or too much of a good cleaning product. Many individuals have the notion that if a little cleaning chemical will do a good job a lot will do a better job. When an inferior product or too much of a good product is used the carpet will dirty quicker as excess chemical residue will be left on the fiber.
The do-it-yourself Cleaner
The do-it-yourself cleaners will often use too much or an inappropriate cleaner. I have seen situations where the consumer has found a product that worked wonders on the patio carpet or the concrete so they used it on the carpet. Some do-it-yourself cleaners tend to over wet the carpet or to use home machines with abrasive brushes. The wrong chemical or procedure will cause the yarn to untwist and mat together and when this happens the problem belongs to them and not the manufacturer.
The fly-by-night Cleaner
Another major cause of carpet soiling quickly is the so-called “professional” or “fly by night” cleaning operator. These individuals will often use strong cleaning chemicals to increase speed. This group of cleaning companies also tend to use inexpensive, inferior cleaning chemicals and strong preconditioner’s that are not properly rinsed from the carpet, and the sticky residue is left behind to attract new soil.
After Market Chemical Applications
The consumer, cleaner or other service applying a product to the face of the carpet can potentially cause it to fail and mat. Manufacturers of the fiber used in a carpet state in their warranty that it will be voided if a product that they do not approve has been used. These products include many soil and stain protectors, insecticides, deodorizers and other types of chemicals.
Manufacturers Require Routine Professional Cleaning
Most fiber manufacturers require that a qualified professional cleaner professionally clean a carpet every 18 to 24 months and more often under heavy use. Failure to comply is cause for a company to void all or part of a warranty. Some manufacturers may still warrant a product but decline the warranty until the carpet has been professionally cleaned and inspected.
A quality carpet cleaning will not leave excess sticky residue. While on the surface the cost appears higher, a qualified professional cleaner will remove soil and extend the appearance of the carpet. My wife and I live in the country in the beautiful but wet state of Oregon. Our home has lots of carpet. We also have dogs and my wife has a husband “me” that sometimes forgets to take off his shoes when he comes in from walking the pastures or hiking the hills. Our carpet gets vacuumed regularly, and about every six months a qualified professional cleans the high traffic areas. When we lived in the city and had lawns, patios, decks, and sidewalks, the cleaning frequency was less. At every home we have ever owned, our guests have frequently asked if our carpet is new or how we keep it looking so good. I believe it to be five reasons, which are:
- Select a quality carpet in a color that is appropriate for its environment.
- Install the carpet over a quality, properly specified cushion.
- Pay the extra expense of a qualified installer.
- Vacuum the carpet frequently.
- Clean the carpet routinely using qualified professionals.
Following these basic rules have allowed us to replace the carpet when we got tired of it and not because it has worn out or uglied out.
Surface Appearance Changes in Pile Yarn Floor Covering
Wear Testing in the Laboratory
ASTM D5252
Hexapod Drum Tester is a 12″ diameter-rotating drum that new carpet specimens are placed in for testing. The samples are subjected to a metal ball with six attached polyurethane cleats or studs to simulate traffic.
ASTM D 5417
Vetterman Drum Tester is a 28.75″ diameter-rotating drum that carpet samples of similar pile height are placed into. A 16-pound ball with polyurethane studs tumbles inside the drum to simulate traffic and wear.
ASTM D 6119
Foot Traffic
This method of testing creates surface appearance changes in carpet from foot traffic. Using a normal walking pace without scuffing, individuals walk across the specimens, which have been arranged in a particular walking path. Foot traffic units are calculated either by photoelectric or hand held manual counting devices.
When carpet is tested in the laboratory for surface appearance change, 20,000 foot traffic units is the recommended standard for household applications. ASTM D 6119 – 97 section 10.1
Section 1.2 states, “This practice is applicable to most changes in surface appearance observed in all types of carpet that are intended for residential or commercial use. It eliminates change in appearance associated with soiling by focusing on appearance change due to matting, flattening, or change in pile fiber configuration. Although “pile reversal” or “watermarking” is occasionally visible, this practice is not a reliable method for producing this phenomenon.”
During a controlled test the carpet is vacuumed every 1000 foot traffic units using a dual motor, top-loading, upright vacuum cleaner with a rotating brush.
Onsite Evaluation
When evaluating an actual installation onsite we are not dealing with controlled laboratory conditions. Therefore it is important for us to obtain information that will help us to evaluate the conditions.
- Description of the area
- Number of individuals that reside in the residence or in a commercial situation the number of individuals that are normally in the area on a given day.
- Frequency of vacuuming
- Type and condition of vacuum
- Maintenance other than vacuuming
How rapidly will 20,000 units develop in a residence?
Now you can develop thousands of scenarios for an installation. For this discussion I have developed two scenarios, a family of 4 and a retired couple (2)
Scenario One – A Family of Four
For this scenario, let us use a single-family residence and a family of 4. Both parents work outside the home and the children are in school. In the typical household there are days where the family or part of the family is away from the house for the entire day. There are also days when the children or adults have company which increases the amount of traffic for that period of time. Taking this information into consideration, for the sake of this discussion, 4 people are at this house 300 of the 365 days.
In the typical small house you will have cross traffic from the living room or a family room to the kitchen, service porch, bathrooms and bedrooms.
Keeping foot traffic units to the very minimum for the sake of this discussion we come up with the following calculation for each family member.
Foot Traffic Units Family of 4
3 trips to the kitchen from the living room
3 trips back to the living room.
3 trips to the bathroom from the living room
3 trips back to the living room
2 trips to the bedroom from the living room
2 trips back to the living room
1 trip when leaving the house in the morning.
1 trip when returning to the house in the evening.
18 trip total per day per family member. For the sake of this discussion we are not including trips to the laundry room, garage, or extra trips to any area.
Now to calculate the foot traffic units for this scenario. 18 trips x 4 family members x 300 days = 21,600 traffic units. ASTM states 20,000-foot traffic units will produce a noticeable change.
Scenario Two – A Retired Couple
This retired couple is at the residence most of the day, so the foot traffic units will naturally be different than for the family of 4. For this discussion, lets say the retired couple is also there only 300 days per year.
Foot Traffic Units Retired Couple
6 trips to the kitchen from the living room to get a drink of water of something to eat
6 trips back to the living room.
7 trips to the bathroom from the living room (no explanation needed)
7 trips back to the living room
3 trips to the bedroom from the living room
3 trips back to the living room
2 trips to go outside during the day.
2 trips to back into the house during the day.
32 trip total per day per family member. For the sake of this discussion we are not including trips to the laundry room, garage, or extra trips to any area.
Now to calculate the foot traffic units for this scenario. 36 trips x 2 family members x 300 days = 21,600 traffic units. ASTM states 20,000-foot traffic units will produce a noticeable change.
While this is no way scientific, it is a reasonable consideration of use that points out how rapidly traffic change develops in an area.
ASTM Terminology
carpet, n-all textile floor coverings not designated as rugs.
change in surface appearance, n-for pile yarn floor coverings, the cumulative change in surface appearance between unexposed and exposed specimens due to crushing, loss of tuft definition, and matting.
crush, n-in pile yarn floor coverings, loss of tuft definition due to entanglement and compression of pile fibers.
floor covering, n-an essentially planar material, having a relatively small thickness in comparison to its lengths of yarn to the face of a primary backing.
foot traffic units, n-for pile floor coverings, the number of passes by human walkers over a specific group of carpet samples.”
Discussion-Foot traffic units should not be taken as the actual number of times each specimen is stepped on, but rather as the number of times that persons pass a designated spot on the walking course.
loss of tuft definition, n-for pile yarn floor coverings, the bursting, opening, and untwisting of pile yarn, decrimping of the fibers in the surface pile, or any combination of these.
matting, n-for pile yarn floor coverings, loss of tuft definition due to entanglement.
pile height, n-in determination of tuft height, a measurement that uses a small graduated ruler inserted until it touches the backing to measure the pile from the top surface of the primary backing to the top of the tufts.
DISCUSSION- Pile height is typically used generically by manufacturing personnel in setting machinery and by laymen. This procedure is subject to significant variability between technicians and is therefore used only for rough fieldwork and machinery setting during the manufacturing process.
pile thickness, n-in pile yarn floor covering, the difference in the unextended height of the tuft elements above the backing measured as the difference between two parallel plates exerting a specified compression on the pile and backing and on the backing with the pile removed.
DISCUSSION-Pile thickness is the preferred procedure for precision measurement, and although it is more complex, it is very repeatable between different technicians in the laboratories.
pile yarn floor covering, n-a textile product in which yarn or yarn segments are attached intermittently to a backing fabric to project above the backing fabric and form a pile, in the form of cut loops or loops, or both, with the yarn entering the backing fabric substantially perpendicular to the plane of the backing fabric.
The Weinheimer Group LLC: Certified Carpet Inspectors, Flooring Consultants
Flooring Consultants
Every person in the floor covering industry and especially those that sell, install, inspect and service carpet need to understand the broad variety of complaints that they will face at any given time. These same people need to understand that appearance and wear are not synonymous and in fact the two frequently used words are as different as apples and oranges. Most consumers and far too many “experts” in the industry do not understand or refuse to understand the difference between appearance and wear. As you read articles on this website the author is hoping that this difference will start to be understood. There is a saying in the carpet industry that has been around at least as long as nylon carpets. “Carpet does not wear out it uglies out”. Unfortunately, a knowledgeable inspector such as those from my own compant The Weinheimer Group LLC, often finds that a carpet has uglied out due to improper cushion selection, inappropriate maintenance or consumer ignorance or neglect. When these types of problems are found it usually results in a declined claim a consumer and sometimes salesperson that feels they have been taken for a ride. Educating the consumer at the time of purchase can usually prevent these problems.
