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, The Weinheimer Group LLC
Pooling and water marking are forms of shading and pile reversal that the pile of a carpet can experience. Pooling and watermarking are one of the most aggravating and most understood problems in the carpet industry. Pooling can truly result in rapid ugly out of carpet. To pool a carpet need not be soiled nor does it require texture change due to abrasion or foot traffic. Pooling and watermarking is unrelated to a carpets cost, maintenance and traffic. The best and worst maintained carpets can pool. Carpets and rugs of any fiber and any construction can pool and water mark. The worst news is that you may be decorating your home for the first time and unless the carpet in the house has a history of pooling, no on can determine if it is likely to happen to your beautiful new carpet or rug.

My grandson Seth is a little rug rat that loves the water and so do these three bears. While they all appear to be having a good time pooling, this is not the pooling we are talking about.

Carpet pooling is an irreversible, localized change in the orientation of the pile of textile floors covering. The phenomenon has different names in different countries. The terms we are most familiar with in the United States and Canada are “water marking” and “pooling”.

With pooling, some carpets develop areas where the pile appears to have been stained by water, hence, “water marking.”

Some carpets may develop areas that appear dirty. The carpet in this photo is not dirty. The large dark spot is the result of a difference in light reflection due to the pile reversal.

At some installations this appearance takes months to develop. At other installations it develops so rapidly that the consumer believes it to have been there since installation.

The carpet in this picture developed a severe pooling within a week of installation.

The carpet in this photo started to show pooling about five months after installation.

At a single installation the carpet may be installed in several rooms with the condition only developing in one or two of them. The area the condition develops in may be either a major traffic lane or even under furniture.

This condition routinely crosses seams. It even crosses between different color and styles of carpet and maintains a uniform pattern.

The photograph above shows an interface which is a narrow, conspicuous, irregular shaped serpentine line. This interface is often seen with pooling. The pile on the left side sweeps to the left. The pile on the right side sweeps to the right. The interface in the center sweeps upward and the pile in the interface has become very stiff feeling as if it had been starched.

Common Identifying Characteristics of Pooling

• Areas of carpet may look wet as though someone has spilled water on it but the carpet will be perfectly dry.
• Areas reverse in shade when viewed from opposite directions. When the areas are brushed with the hand a sharp difference in pile direction can be seen and felt.
• A narrow, conspicuous, irregular shaped serpentine line (referred to as an interface) usually develops at the edge of the pooled area. The pile at the narrow interface will run in a direction yet. The pile on both sides of the interface will be strongly oriented in opposite directions. As an example the pile at the interface may be oriented north while the pile on one side of the interface is facing east and on the other side it is facing west.
• Water marking often gives the carpet a highly objectionable appearance. Some carpets become downright ugly appearing as if it has been badly stained or allowed to become filthy within a short time of installation. As objectionable and as rapidly as this appearance change may occur, carpet manufacturers consider it a site-related condition and with rare exception will they offer the consumer any type of an adjustment. Water marking is a condition that cannot be permanently corrected.

The CRI States that Pooling is a Site Related Condition

The Carpet and Rug Institute in its manual titled Pile Reversal (“Shading”, “Water Marking”) states: At the present time, the only conclusion which can be drawn is that pile reversal may develop on the surface of some carpet after it is installed, and that pile reversal is not due to the materials which are used to produce the carpet, the manufacturing process, or any combination of these factors.

Some of the more common reasons Water Marking (Pooling) are considered site related is:

• Carpet off of the same roll is installed in different areas and the condition only develops in some areas.
• The condition will cross seams between different color, styles, and textures of different manufactures.
• The condition can sometimes be seen on installed carpet and an area rug above it.
• Replacing the carpet with another carpet of any fiber will often result in a repeat of the same condition. Pooling (Water Marking, Pile Reversal)Pooling and water marking are forms of shading and pile reversal that the pile of a carpet can experience.

Tinted windows can cause the appearance of dark areas on a carpet. The areas may appear yellow, gold, gray or other color depending on the color of the window tint and carpet involved. These areas will sometimes make the carpet appear to have stains on it and the consumer will likely see it as a problem with the carpet and not the windows. In reality though it is a reflection problem and not a carpet defect.

Common Identifying Characteristics

• What appears as discoloration is mainly in front of areas of glass!
• Stained appearing areas that cross over seams, maintaining the pattern.
• You may notice footprints that have the same stained appearance.
• The window glass usually has a tint to it. The tint may be light or it may be dark. The darker and brighter the tint the greater the shadows will usually be
• If you place a remnant of the same carpet or a white sheet in the area the identical shadow pattern will be seen.
• In areas without glass you do not see the apparent discoloration.

The same procedures as above can be used to detect just about any type of shadow. The carpet professional needs to show the consumer what they see are shadows and not a defect in the carpet. At times, no matter how hard you try to explain this to an end user they still don’t understand it. Understand it or not, shadows are not a legitimate reason to replace a carpet or offer an adjustment.