How do you know if the product you’ve received and installed is defective, installed poorly or improperly or just performing the way it’s supposed to? A defect is a compromise in the structural integrity of the carpet whether it be in the physical construction, dyeing, or topical application of stain and soil retardants. In other words in the tufting or weaving, dyeing and finishing of the product.

Defects are comprised of two categories; visible defects are things you can see right away that are visibly obvious to anyone who looks at them. Latent defects are things that occur after the carpet is installed and put into service. Some examples of visible defects are low lines, high lines, stop marks, missing yarn, shearing marks and fugitive dye spots. Some examples of latent defects are delamination, sprouting, fuzzing, side match shade variation and fading. There are a multitude more defects in each category but these are a few of the most common.

Visible defects should be caught at the point of manufacture as the carpet goes through the inspection process. This begins at the tufting machine where mends are made and the surface of the product is examined. Repairs can be made at this point but you would expect that someone would catch a high line or a low line because the carpet can be closely scrutinized at this point. Further along in the manufacturing process there are people looking at the product and certainly at the inspection area, prior to wrap up, the carpet is examined more closely. Sometimes there are lights above the carpet, mirrors and even lights which shine across it to detect inconsistencies on the surface. For patterned product a laser square is often used to examine how straight the pattern is. You might not believe this but it’s true. Each manufacturer has their own set of tolerances for determining whether what they see is a defect or not and often it varies for categories of carpet. A base grade product may get out with some minor inconsistencies that might be deemed acceptable at the mill for what the product is. A more expensive product, you would expect, would have a tighter set of tolerances and criteria for the inspection process. Remember, the carpet is worth more when it is sold as first quality than when it is down graded to seconds. The tolerances at the mill determine this. Your tolerances may be tighter, as well as those of the end user. If you accept the product and it gets installed with a defect it may be easier, and more profitable, for the manufacturer to grant an adjustment than to replace it. The mill doesn’t have to take the hit on the down grade and even with the adjustment, still makes a profit on the product. Don’t think this doesn’t happen, it may be denied, but it happens.

It is harder to allow a product to ship with a visible defect simply because someone can see it. The latent defects would be more difficult to detect at the point of manufacture and they would take longer to manifest themselves at the point of installation. A constant bone of contention is fuzzing and pilling, buckles and wrinkles and side match shade variation. If there is poor finishing of the carpet, relative to latex penetration into the yarn bundle, there will be fuzzing. This is a manufacturing defect, it is also one of the biggest claims categories in the industry. Loose carpet is another. This is a much more difficult problem to resolve because if the product is not stretched properly, which means a power stretcher, proper tackstrip, installed the correct distance from the wall and a pad that is not too thick, the installation is going to be blamed for the problem. Carpet that is installed properly and still wrinkles up can be tested in several ways to determine if it is defective. This complaint is always going to be difficult to battle because installation is going to be blamed for the problem one way or another.

When we talk about defects we’re primarily talking about a failure in a manufacturing process. It does not mean a failure in the performance of the carpet relative to appearance retention, soiling, blossoming yarn tips or installation. These problems are more likely caused by someone selling the wrong product into the wrong place or installing it improperly. There are exceptions, certainly, and each has to be evaluated on it’s individual merits but for the most part these are issues that can be avoided by knowing what you’re doing and qualifying the customer. Selling a light colored carpet of questionable quality into an environment that gets a lot of tracked in soil and a ton of traffic will cause the carpet to fail, not because it’s defective but because you didn’t know what you were doing when you sold it.

Putting the blame on the manufacturer for defects that are legitimately caused by them is understandable. We can always determine and prove if the carpet is defective. Remember what I’ve always told you, “the carpet never lies, it will always tell you what’s wrong if you know how to interpret what it’s saying.” Carpet never lies, but people do and this can be determined too. Trying to blame the carpet manufacturer for stupid things you do is irresponsible on your part or that of the salesperson or maybe even the installer.