Everyday something different gets complained about relative to carpet and flooring claims and just when you think you’ve heard most everything, a new twist comes along.

A carpet inspector I know called this in to tell me about a complaint for matting and crushing of a polyester carpet that was being blamed on the installation. Now, how matting and crushing could be blamed on the installer is beyond me. Who in their right mind would think that installation could cause matting and crushing? I guess if the wrong pad was used there would be some merit to the issue but that was not the case. Even if no pad was used one has to understand the product being complained about. This was a residential cut pile carpet installed in a consumers home that had been down for less than a year.

First of all you have to understand carpet and how it performs and the inherent characteristics of yarns and constructions. Polyester is not the most resilient yarn. Years ago, in the 70's, there was a lot of brightly colored polyesters that were highly bulked yarns, that is, yarns that were very full and fluffy, with little, if any twist, that were guaranteed to mat and crush. Once these products flattened out there was no way to get them back up. We’ve come a long way since then and there have been some tremendous technological advancements in fiber processing. The new polyesters will still compress but they won’t flatten out like a pancake. When the yarn does compress it becomes stiffer and it will very often make the consumers vacuum cleaner “chop” or jump when they pull against the lay of the carpet. The vacuum cleaner “jumping” was also a complaint the consumer had on this carpet

The new polyesters have a much tighter twist and as a result a great deal more resiliency, which gives them higher performance than their older relatives. If a consumer is not aware of how this product performs and if the dealer isn’t either, then there will be trouble. The consumer, seeing the problem and experiencing the weird behavior of their vacuum cleaner, pulled up on the carpet in the middle of the living room. They were able to pull the carpet up quite a bit. This made them think the carpet was loose and that’s how the installation got blamed. When the carpet was inspected nothing was found other than normal, expected performance. The carpet was not loose. Any carpet, even when power stretched, will give some when pulled up in the middle of a room. When released, the carpet will lay back down if it has good tension. Such was the case with this carpet.

The complaint was found to be without merit since there was no installation problem, the carpet was not loose and being loose would not make a polyester carpet mat and crush or exhibit it’s inherent characteristics; the act of walking on it would. The dealer should have known this or at least realized that there was no problem. Instead he wasted everybodys time and money in pursuing a complaint that wasn’t. If he had understood what was going on he could have addressed this with the customer. However, if the dealer was afraid to tell the customer that what he bought was performing just as should be expected then he could have saved face and found some solace in calling in a third party. Then the third party report would exonerate the dealer, the installer the manufacturer and anyone else. However the dealer would still have been responsible because he should know what these products will do, after all, he sold the carpet. And to blame the installer, come on, how lame and excuse is that! I have a neat little book called, The Fiber Book, that will tell you everything you need to know to stay out of trouble selling different types of carpet. You’ll see it advertised on this page. You should invest in it because it not only works for you but you can show the concise charts to your customer when you are trying to explain why they should or should not be interested in the carpet you’re showing them.

I marvel at the information that floats around and how misguided or blatantly wrong some of it is. Also, how little attention people pay to the correct information that is available and how not doing so backs them right into the quicksand. Blaming someone else for your stupidity at that point should collect you a slap in the back of the head.

To clarify information in my article, Beware the Fuzzy Staple, FCN May 28/June 4, I met with the yarn producer on the issue and we found that the problem was in fact finishing of the carpet and not the yarn causing the problem. The real cause of the fuzzing was incomplete latex penetration and fiber lock, the same finishing problem the industry has been plaguing themselves with for years.