I’ve been in this industry 33 years, having started in retail sales and management, then in the carpet cleaning, maintenance and repair business which lead to looking at problems and correcting them. The Carpet Capital of the World, Dalton, Georgia, was my second home for 25 years before we moved here four years ago. People think that after all that time in the industry, being involved primarily in the problem side of the business, that I’ve seen it all – nothing could be further from the truth. Everyday is a new experience. Either someone figures out how to do something wrong more creatively or a manufacturer develops a product that is problematic or, the most common problem, someone doesn’t understand something about the product. More than anything, it’s a constant learning and education process, explaining to someone why something didn’t work and what can, short of replacement, be done about it.
I’m going to share with you some of the most recent problems we’ve dealt with.
A doctor from a large medical facility in South Alabama called to lament about a problem they have with an Armstrong Medintech floor. The doctor of this facility wanted to cover his existing Terrazzo with Medintech because it is used in so many health care situations successfully. He researched the product, went to look at three installations of it and decided to purchase it. He contracted with a flooring dealer who claimed to have Armstrong certified installers. The flooring was installed on a weekend and when he arrived on Monday morning he was horrified. The floor, as he reported to me initially on the phone, looked nothing like what he had seen installed the places he had visited. He said, “I can see the seams from the parking lot.” He called the dealer to complain, they came back, installed two saddle seams which only made the problem worse. The manufacturer didn’t send anyone to look at the flooring as they should have and as they normally do. They have field tech reps that are supposed to get involved in this type of a situation.
When we were called to get involved in this case I wanted to go see a Medintech floor installed at the hospital here in Dalton. As luck would have it, the hospital is doing an addition and renovations and Medintech flooring was being installed when I called the general contractor. When I got the hospital the installers were still working on the floor, welding the seams and trimming them. The installation had inset borders which intersected with darker colored squares of the material. The material was coved and had inside and outside corners. To watch the two installers work was to witness mastery. The seams were welded almost imperceptibly, the corner coves looked like they were painted on the wall – this installation was as close to perfect as it gets.
The complaint installation I went to look at was one of the worst installations of any flooring material I have ever seen. The base of the outside corner coves looked like they had been attacked by a hacksaw. I questioned whether they had been subjected to some type of extraordinarily abusive use and was told no and shown corners under kick spaces that looked the same. They had photographs which were taken right after the installation documenting the condition. All seams were a mess. The welds were concave, the welding material soft, there were bubbles in it, the seams were not even or cleanly cut, the vinyl flooring material was scratched in the length, along the seams and across the width of the seams. The cuts around small floor drains were hacked and uneven, there was adhesive on the floor next to the seams that was discolored, there were locations on the seams where the welding rod was uneven and not blended in. Simply put, the floor was ruined and the installation mess could only be fixed with divine intervention. There was no way this job was installed by Armstrong certified installers. Looking at all the documents involved in this case we found the prices charged for installation services were below what Armstrong would consider normal. When questioning an employee of the medical facility, present at the time the floor was installed, she said the installers were griping about having to drive so far to install the floor, that they didn’t want to work on the weekend or at night and they were grouchy and unruly. This speaks volumes about why the installation looks the way it does and the itemized bill tells more of the story.
The dealer is suing the facility for payment, they have not admitted to ruining the floor, accept no responsibility for it and they have expressed no intention of taking care of this claim. The floor has to be replaced – it can’t be fixed. The medical facilities counter suit has more merit than the dealers suit for payment, anyone could look at this installation and determine that it was not professionally installed. This installation is a travesty, it gives the industry a bad name, casts suspicion on legitimate commercial flooring contractors and makes the commercial consumer paranoid about purchasing a vinyl flooring that has an excellent performance record. This is not the way to do business in the commercial arena.
The next case involves one of the most beautiful commercial carpet installations I’ve seen in a long time but I’ll give you the details of why this carpet generated a panic call from the interiors contractor and a plea for immediate assistance.
This is a double stick installation of Karastan woven commercial carpet in four different styles, one used in offices, one used as outfill borders, one as insets in common areas and one used as the field for corridors and common office areas. The concern was for the carpet soiling rapidly, it had been installed three weeks prior to their call to us. There were also cuts on the surface of the carpet, some pulled loops and some fraying at the seams of one of the products. None of these conditions were noticed until shortly after the move in. Prior to my arrival, which was the day after we got the call, the carpet had been cleaned. I was told black dirt was removed from the new carpet that they didn’t think was normal and they were right, it wouldn’t have been. The carpet had dark spots on it before cleaning, the cleaning removed most of them but some had come back, they said. I was expecting to see a real mess when I got there but I didn’t.
The carpets were installed on the ninth floor of executive offices – they were subjected to light traffic. They were not filthy when I arrived, in fact they looked excellent except for a few areas where there were minor faint dark spots. The cuts on the carpet surface were from installation. They were angular at inside and outside corners. When the installer cut the carpet to fit it he nicked the surface of the carpet beneath it. After the damaged carpet acclimated, was subjected to traffic and vacuuming, the nicked fibers expanded and blossomed exposing the surface cuts. There were some kicker pulls at corners, a few patches which were subtly visible, fraying on one style of the inset carpet, and a randomly scattered pulled loops in field areas. This may sound like a lot but keep in mind we look with a very critical eye. None of what was seen was extensive and it could all be fixed. The installation overall was beautiful. The patterns were all perfectly aligned, everything was square, the layout and choice of product in the combinations used was one of the classiest I’ve seen.
The pulled loops could be reinserted in the carpet. Because this is a very densely woven product the pulled loops can be pushed back in and the compression from the fit should hold them in place. For added strength a dab of latex could be placed on the yarn to further anchor it. The frayed edges at seams, which were sealed, were from the loop being nicked or cut. Some of these could be trimmed and the seam could be lifted up enough to expose the edges of the carpet, or the carpet slightly lifted off the pad, carefully, and the edges sealed more effectively. Some surface cuts could be trimmed with napping shears and others will require patches. Because this is a block pattern with a row of cut pile it lends itself well to placing a patch that would be virtually invisible. The patches made, some of which were fill, during the original installation could only be seen because the linear pattern was not match dead on. A fraction of an inch will throw the pattern off but these too can be fixed by replacing them with perfect alignment, which can be achieved.
The initial cleaning of the carpet was done in one corridor with hot water extraction, using a portable machine and the rest was cleaned with the bonnet method. The dark soil they saw could have been from dirt left in the waste tank of the extractor. The fraying at seam edges could have been created or made worse by the bonnet cleaning pulling laterally on the face of the carpet – one of the reasons this method is not condoned by the carpet industry.
We got new samples of the carpet for testing. The tests were for accelerated soiling, extractable matter, tuft bind, and fluorine. There was no inherent residue in the carpet to instigate soiling. We even extraction cleaned a new piece of the carpet to see if there was anything that would turn the water black. The water from the extractor was trapped and was only murky not black or filthy – this you’d expect to see. By the way the carpet exhibiting the concern for soiling, which is the field carpet in the corridors, is a very light color which will show soil and not hide it – not the perfect color choice. The tuft bind tests were over 18 pounds, this is excellent. The pulled loops, which had some fraying on the tips, had to have been snagged by something to cause them. None of them were pulled out, only up higher than the rest of the carpet surface. The accelerated soiling test, which is a test to see how dirty the carpet gets and then how well it cleans up with vacuuming and then extraction cleaning, were no surprise either. The lighter color had a 3.5 on a scale of 5 which would be considered about normal for that light a color. The darker color tested at 4.5 with 5 being no change, soiling would not be blatantly evident on this carpet. The fluorine level was 959 very high and very effective for a commercial product.
There were no manufacturing defects in these carpets. All the concerns can be corrected. The biggest problem is the lightest color was used in the highest traffic area – a specification problem. If the carpet had been a light or medium brown there would be no concern for its appearance. Because the carpet in the highest use areas is a very light color any soiling or spillage will show and be exacerbated. This carpet is going to require diligent care and maintenance. Every issue, and then some, was noted, analyzed, tested, evaluated, explained and resolutions described. As a result the carpet will not be replaced, the contractor is at ease as is the end user and the designer. Further, the light color in this scheme, which was to be used on two more floors with heavier traffic, has been eliminated and a darker color with a busier pattern from Karastan chosen, which we helped them select.
This is an example of what happens when people are reasonable, they don’t allow a concern to fester and don’t wait for the situation to blow up on them. There is virtually no loss on this job at all. The biggest expense was our fees, which are very small in comparison to what could have been if they didn’t act fast. As I’ve always said, the carpet never lies, it will always tell you what’s wrong if you know how to interpret what it’s saying. The evidence on sight revealed causes and answers and the carpet autopsy, the lab testing, gave us conclusive answers eliminating the carpet as the problem and confirming they made a wise choice and purchase. Knowing what you’re looking at and matching it to the appropriate tests, some even unorthodox, will always give you answers.
Everyday commercial dealers, contractors, manufacturers and end users are faced with situations like these. You can see for yourself from the abbreviated examples shared here why problems exist and what should be done to prevent them. When you need help with anything like this or just want to ask a question, call me. In fact, if you are facing a perplexing claim, call right now.
Author – Lewis G. Migliore – The Commercial Flooring Report
LGM and Associates – The Floorcovering Experts