Why Do Carpet Traffic Lanes Look Dirty?

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Steve Hanson

Have you ever looked down a hallway in an office and thought to yourself, "boy, this carpet looks dirty!"

Yes, chances are, the carpet is dirty, but sometimes the carpet looks dirty but it really isn't. The truth is, there are many reasons this can happen, and sometimes there's really nothing you can do about it except educate your customers. So what are the reasons traffic lanes can look dirty when in reality they're actually clean?

Fiber Distortion. Soil, sand and grit are very abrasive to carpet. So when they are ground into carpet, they scratch the fibers and the result is fiber distortion. This increases the opacity of the carpet fiber in the traffic lanes, so when these fibers are next to areas that don't receive as much foot traffic, they look distorted and dirty.
Light reflection. When carpet fibers are distorted (see #1), they reflect light at different angles than the adjacent carpet that doesn't receive as much foot traffic. So the result is that the carpet can look dirty.
Wear. Traffic lanes are just that - areas that receive the most foot traffic. Carpet fibers in these areas tend to flatten over time, and there is actually a reduction in the amount of face fiber compared to the adjacent non-traffic areas. When this happens, there is nothing you can do to "fluff up" the carpet fiber - it will always appear flat and sometimes soiled.
Nap reversal. Sometimes the pile will lay in a different direction than the rest of the carpet fibers. This causes light to be reflected in such a way that the carpet appears soiled. If you view the carpet from another direction it may not appear as soiled. Carpet extraction can sometimes temporarily lift the carpet fibers, but it doesn't last.

When you understand how carpet can "appear" to be soiled, you're one step closer to knowing how to educate your customer so they don't set their expectations too high on the results they expect from carpet cleaning.

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