If you've been reading this column for any length of time you already know I don't like flooring warranties. Whatever they give you in the first paragraph, they take away in the next three. Most warranties are not realistic or what the consumer thinks them to be. Wear, for example, is the abrasive loss of fiber according to the warranty. However, to a consumer, wear is a change in the carpet's appearance. Certainly the end user also has the responsibility to care for, maintain and prevent abuse of their new flooring, And, with common sense and reason, they can enjoy years of satisfaction from their new floor.

This brings us to the point of the column: Common sense and reason both seem to be sorely lacking when it comes to floor covering. For example, this week we had a manufacturer we do technical and consulting work for send us a copy of a "Special Warranty" written by the design firm for one of its products specified for a commercial application. It stated that this "Special Warranty" would supersede any manufacturer's disclaimers that may exclude any of the failures defined in the "Special Warranty." The warranty was for matting, crushing or flattening of the carpet and random shading. It also went on to define the percentage of each area that the warranty must cover. And, the contractor, installer and each party had to sign, accepting the warranty.

Now, here's the best part, the carpet is a cut pile construction that, by the very nature of its construction will mat, flatten, compress and shade, unless of course, no one walks on it, and even then it will still shade. This warranty also stated remediation or replacement terms and time frames- five years for matting and flattening and two years for shading.

I have never heard a more ludicrous, unreasonable and ignorant demand. This kind of warranty is impossible to enforce because the carpet it is written for does naturally what it wants to warrant against. The percentages of areas it covers are undeterminable because the conditions of coverage are not defined, and even at that, this is what this style of carpet does! Any vertically oriented cut pile textile floor covering, textile material, corn stalks, wheat or grass will mat, flatten and shade when compressed or when its vertical orientation is altered.

To write a warranty against an inevitable, inherent and unavoidable condition, with words that defy science is insane.

If the manufacturer, installer and contractor refuse to sign this thing I'm sure there will be repercussions. But, if an attorney got ahold of this "Special Warranty" that defies the laws of nature, science, physics and good old common sense, they'd have a field day with it.

Further, you just couldn't install any carpet with this warranty because all carpet will, in the unalterable, concentrated and pivotal traffic areas, mat and compress whether cut pile, loop pile or cut and loop. This is what carpet does. Some of it resists these natural occurrences better than others, but carpets will do these things, and if they do them naturally you can't write a warranty against them.

This warranty would be appropriate for a hard surface flooring material but not for carpet. We see so much of this type of happening where a carpet is chosen and expected to deliver performance or characteristics it is incapable of by people completely devoid of common sense. This is not because the product is defective but because the end user, specifier or architect doesn't understand the product. And this is the biggest problem in the industry- the wrong product in the wrong place expected to perform up to expectations it is incapable of just because someone says it should- not installation. Amazing.