I spoke with a young man today and, naturally, we got on the subject of carpet. Kind of hard not to do in Dalton. He said that he had a stain resist carpet that was about 5 months old that had stains on it. He asked if the carpet should be resistant to dog urine and I told him no. He said should it resist Kool-Aid, and I said, since this is the test used to determine the degree of stain resist, it should resist it, but it still may be dyed by it. He said, well it didn’t. He said that he used a vacuum to try to remove the Kool-Aid after it spilled. It looked like the stain came out but when it dried, he said, there was still a red tint. This poses the question, what should a stain and soil resistant carpet repel and how effective should it be at doing it? This is something you need to know so you aren’t overselling carpet to your customers and setting yourself up for a complaint.

Stain resistant means just that, the carpet is resistant to stains. It does not mean the carpet is stain proof. No carpet is “proof” anything. Staining agents are any substance that will impart color or remove color. Since most nylons are dyed with acid based dyes and most water based substances are colored with acid colorants, there is an affinity for them to stain, or dye, nylon carpet. The stain resist chemistry will block dye sites. A topical application of a soil retardant and stain resist agent is also applied. However, this does not mean that given enough dwell time, staining agents will not adversely affect carpet, hence, Kool-Aid can dye the carpet. And if the staining agent is stronger than an acid dye stuff, it will either impart color or strip color off the carpet. That’s the distinct difference between a spot and a stain. A stain is any substance that will either add color to the carpet or take it off. A spot is caused by a substance spilled on the carpet that has a sticky type residue that will hold soil in place on the carpet surface. If the spot cleans off and comes back you still have a residue left. This would not be the carpet itself regurgitating or spitting up dark spots on its own, something is in the carpet that is attracting and holding soil resulting in a dark spot. Once this substance is purged from the carpet the spot will no longer exist. The trick is to make sure the residue is gone that is attracting soil. This residue could simply be soap, a soft drink, beer or any other substance that will dry with some sticky residue. Plain water on a polypropylene carpet with excessive yarn lubricant in it will cause dark spots. It would be necessary to purge the carpet of this residue with plain hot water from an extraction cleaning unit.

A level loop carpet will have a higher surface tension naturally and a spilled or dribbled substance would have more of a normal tendency to bead up, even without a soil or stain resist agent. A cut pile carpet, since it is vertically oriented, will allow a spilled aqueous based substance to seep down the sides of the yarn. Treated effectively the substance should be held at bay by the soil or stain retardant so that a prompt response should remove that which was spilled. This can be done with a clean, soft, terry cloth or paper towel. Some water or club soda can be added to more effectively dilute and neutralize the agent spilled. Remember there is no such thing as a stain proof carpet. Even solution dyed nylon and polypropylene can be stained or the color adversely affected by a strong enough substance. However, these two fibers are more impervious to normal, everyday staining agents.

A soil retardant will help prevent soil penetration and build up. But since most carpet is installed on the floor and gravity causes things to be pulled toward the earth, which would be down on the floor, soil is impossible to prevent. The intrusion of soil onto a carpet is as inevitable as the sun coming up in the morning. It’s ludicrous to try to sell a carpet based on the story line that it will not get dirty because it has a soil retardant application. That’s like telling a consumer the eggs will jump out of their non-stick frying pan, it just ain’t gonna happen.

It would be a good idea to think about what you’re being told about the carpets you sell and it would be a better idea for you to think about what you’re telling the customer when you try to make a sale and determine if it makes sense to you. If it sounds too good to be true it probably is. This is one of the subjects we touch upon in our Carpet Seminar. If you’d like more information about how carpets and fibers perform you can order our Fiber Booklet or one of our many videos that will help you become more proficient and profitable with your business. To order or to inquire about one of our products, call 1-888-499-3217. And if you need help from me personally, I’d be happy to assist you.