You want beautiful carpeting. Maybe you want a new, innovative product like the Newton peel-and-stick carpet tiles. Or maybe you want a classic design that harkens back to the long history of carpet in homes. You have no shortage of options with today’s selection.
And today more than ever, all varieties of carpet are made on complicated machinery. Though, inevitably, the more parts make up the machines used, the more things can go wrong. Manufacturer errors in carpet do happen, which is why companies like Mohawk and other manufacturers have extensive quality control.
How do you know if your carpet has a manufacturer error that slipped through the cracks, though? We’ll help you figure that out. This week, we’re talking about carpet shift marks, how to recognize them, and what to do.
What are carpet shift marks?
If a carpet has lines or streaks a couple inches apart that are easily visible when you walk into the room, this is suspect. A carpeting professional will come in and determine if those streaks are perfectly straight and how they run (with or against the direction of the carpet pile). Checking the streaks against the pile determines if the streaks run “widthwise.” This leaves the surface with an almost bumpy appearance, even though you can run your hand over the pile and the carpet will feel smooth.
Another test you can do is vacuum the carpet. If it looks the same, this is another sign that you have carpet shift marks. The pieces of the puzzle start to come together…but a professional will have to make the final call.
Shift marks are formally defined as “machine shift marks that appear in graphics or step-over tufting as narrow lines repeating across the carpet at regular intervals. The surface of the carpet may even have widthwise gaps in the pile.” (ANSI/IICRC S800 Standard and Reference Guide for Professional Inspection of Textile Floor Coverings.)
What can you do?
Carpet shift marks are very rare, so a professional carpet installer will have to inspect the carpet and verify that this is exactly the manufacturer defect that’s showing in your carpet.
Once that’s been verified, you can get replacement carpeting from the manufacturer through the manufacturer warranty. There are some things that void a warranty, however, and most warranties have time limits as well, so it’s important to talk to the original installer to ensure you know your protection.
How protected are you with your flooring installation? What guarantees do you look for before calling a flooring professional? At Valor, for example, we’ve been serving Belleville, O’Fallon and surrounding area families with the same promise for more than 25 years: if you aren’t 100% satisfied with our Valor-level services, we pay you up to $500 AND make it right at no extra cost. This is the kind of protection we believe local families deserve, no matter the origin of the problem.
Questions about your carpet? Schedule an appointment with us right here on the website!
