Tulsa Commercial Carpet Cleaners

Consumer complaints about carpet typically fall into five categories that trigger the need for Tulsa Commercial Carpet Cleaners or carpet inspections:

1. Specifying
2. Manufacturing
3. Installing
4. Maintaining and cleaning
5. Carpet myths and misperceptions.

If I could train commercial carpet salespeople in their craft, I'd start by suggesting that they hold a quick conversation with every potential consumer about his or her lifestyle:

1. Size (square footage) of your office space?
2. Where do you plan to have the carpet installed?
3. How much traffic does the area(s) get?
4. Occupants? How many adults, children, pets?

Only after holding that 2-minute conversation would I bring up the subjects of color, style and, heaven forbid, Tulsa Commercial Carpet Cleaners and/or maintenance. In the process, the salesperson would be establishing his or her credentials as a knowledgeable professional at the same time. The result of taking a little time to establish customer needs and salesperson professionalism is a higher close ratio, and happier and more repeat customers.

But I digress.

Typical comments in this area include:

"The traffic areas of my olefin Berber look completely worn out after six months of traffic." Wear is defined by carpet manufacturers as loss of 10 percent of face-weight. Hardly ever happens. But non-resilient fibers, such as olefin, that are crushed by normal foot traffic simply won't spring back like nylon will. I spend a huge amount of time explaining this one to business owners. Professional Tulsa Commercial Carpet cleaners get beat up about this all the time because you can't make those traffic lanes look "like new."

Similarly, polyester fiber that loses crimp after a few months of vacuuming and traffic simply looks distorted in high traffic and pivot areas. "My carpet is wearing out (matting, crushing)," is the common complaint to our Tulsa commercial carpet cleaner crew. Not so: crimp loss simply is a characteristic of polyester. Again, you can't fix it with cleaning.

You don't see any spots on your polyester carpet, do you? That's the trade-out with olefin and polyester; great spot and stain resistance, distorted traffic areas in six months to a year.

"Well, isn't that a defect?" Nope, fiber characteristic. And cleaning only makes it clean, distorted carpet fibers.

"But I never would have bought it if I had known my carpet would look like this!" Hey, life's a trade out: superior spot and stain, even bleach-resistance, is the upside; uglied-out traffic lanes in a few months is the downside. Take your pick.

"Well, why didn't the carpet retailer let me know about this when I bought it?" Probably he didn't know, or worse case, he just didn't care. Or maybe he told you, but you were so focused on color and style that you didn't (want to) hear the facts of carpet performance.

Next, since nylon has some 62 percent of the total carpet fiber market, what about nylon 6 versus 6,6? Distortion, color loss, appearance retention; much of this is a function of the quality of the nylon itself. While carpet manufacturers downplay the difference between the two "types" of nylon, over time, consumers and inspectors alike can see the difference.

Here's the deal: Type 6 nylon is easier to dye - as in shorter time and lower temperature - and therefore less expensive to manufacture. And just as it's easier for dye chemists to dye it. Type 6 nylon also fades and distorts more easily too. Type 6,6, on the other hand, is harder to dye - it requires higher temperature and longer dwell time. But once dyed, it's also harder to stain and it doesn't fade or bleach as easily.

"OK," you ask, "how do I tell the difference between Type 6 and Type 6,6 nylon?"

Well, you can't, at least not by looking at it, or even with burn testing. Your best bet, indeed, the consumer's best bet is to look for branded nylon products; DuPont's Stainmaster or Solutia's Stain Blocker on the label usually indicates that they're getting Type 6,6 nylon. You can verify by obtaining a copy of the warranty from the retailer.

"Just look at my beautiful, expensive wool carpet; it looks faded and worn out in all the high-traffic and pivot areas. What's wrong with this carpet? I bought the best, most expensive. I bought wool! Why, it looks worn out! It must be defective."

Of course, the trained inspector and Tulsa commercial carpet cleaning specialist knows what the homeowner's seeing is pooling, not wear. It's a characteristic of wool fiber. Too bad she wasn't told about that characteristic when she purchased the carpet (or rug, for that matter). Unfortunately, the shading (pooling, water marking) isn't going to change, even with careful cleaning and grooming.

Last, but far from least, carpet retailers fail to communicate about pile design or style. Take a frieze style compared to a Saxony carpet. Frieze styles have yarns with higher twist per inch, or TPI. This causes a random lay of the pile - sort of a pebbly appearance - and traffic on the "knees" of the yarns. Friezes hide distortion in traffic areas well; they make carpet cleaners look like miracle workers.

Saxony styles, by way of contract, have yarns with less twist, which create a more uniform texture on the wear surface. Any shading, pooling, water marking becomes glaringly apparent, along with wear (thinning out of fiber density). This is more difficult for professional Tulsa commercial carpet cleaners to correct on Saxony, and it's a source of many consumer complaints. Defect? No, just a characteristic of the carpet's pile design or style.