Up until now there has been no industry-wide standard or any published guidelines stating what appearance retention is, nor has there been anything to gauge it in the commercial segment of the market. There were no written guidelines or standards by individual manufacturers either that gave any type of measure to the change in a carpets appearance relative to pertinent factors and the location of use. Appearance retention is simply the carpets ability to resist uglying out for a reasonable period of time. Every end user expects that the considerable investment they make in carpet is going to be amortized over several years. Depending on whether the carpet is installed in a hospitality environment or a government building, time is a variable element. Any pre-mature change in the carpets appearance, which is measured by the expectations of the end user, and judged at least in part by the statements made by the product information, salesperson, architect, designer or specifier, is used to gauge the performance and appearance retention of the carpet. Simply, if they thought it was going to keep looking good, it better or you’ve just stepped into the slop.
The Key Elements of Appearance Retention
Appearance retention is a factor of the carpets construction, its use and abuse, color and maintenance.
Construction: generally speaking, the denser the product the better it will perform and therefore the better it should look and hold up during its performance life. A tighter yarn twist, closer gauge, higher stitch rate and lower pile height all factor into density relative to performance and appearance retention. Carpets that are constructed with the proper characteristics for the intended use will deliver the expected results and should maintain close to their original appearance for as long as they are in service, providing they are properly maintained and installed. It is always possible, and often beneficial, to test the product beforehand to determine exactly how it will look and perform in the use environment. The product shouldn’t be under-built or over-built for the intended use. Under-built will yield poor performance and complaints. Over-built could have the client spending more money on the product than necessary. One thing that must be understood is that weight has nothing to do with performance. There are many more factors that will make a product perform and weight isn’t one of them – density is the key. With the new backing systems and construction technologies it is possible to make carpet that will look good until the end user gets tired of looking at it and some of these products have much less than 20 ounces of face weight. In fact, with the advancement in fiber performance, yarn technology and backing systems it is possible to get very high performance out of low face weights. Construction of the product is relevant to texture retention which is what appearance retention is based on. The use of loop pile, cut pile or cut and loop pile should be matched with the traffic the product will be subjected to and what is expected of its performance and appearance retention.
Color: the importance of color cannot be neglected when considering the appearance retention of a commercial carpet. Color has no bearing on the texture retention of the carpet but is has a huge influence on how good the carpet will look when placed into service. In general, the lighter the color the dirtier the carpet will look because it is less able to hide soil despite any soil or stain resist treatment it might have. The darker the color the better the carpet will mask tracked in soil. The more the surface of the carpet is “busied” by pattern and texture the better it will look overall. The proper color and texture are crucial to appearance retention. A carpet constructed dense enough to support the weight of a tank won’t look good if the color is a bright yellow, light blue or some other light color that will minimize the value of it’s appearance and thus its performance. This carpet might never wear out but it will certainly ugly out and when it does it will be perceived to be failing to perform in the end users opinion. Nothing makes a client feel worse than owning a beautiful new carpet that looks ugly after a very short period of use. This is a problem which can be easily avoided by using the correct product for the application.
Use and Abuse: two factors rarely given enough serious attention during the specification and sales process. Two questions that must be answered are: 1. Where and how is the carpet going to be used and 2. How is it going to be maintained? The answers will direct the decision for the product to be specified to the right place. That is a product that will live up to the expectations of the end user. What does this mean? A heavily used area will require a carpet that is capable of delivering exemplary service and one that will look good while doing so. A light use area can escape with a flooring product that is not engineered to be beat up everyday by heavy traffic and minimal care. Just by looking at the space a new carpet is going to be installed in, or if a new construction, what the space is to be used for, will dictate what kind of carpet will qualify for application in that particular environment.
Maintenance: the last part of the puzzle. No matter what carpet is used, unless it is properly maintained, the key word being properly, it will be destined to fail. A planned maintenance program must be part of the decision making process to use a particular type and color carpet. Maintenance will prolong the life of the carpet and keep it looking good over that life span. A floor plan should be used and color coded, and the methods of cleaning designated with frequencies of service, for traffic categories determined to be heavy, medium and light use. The first line of defense is vacuuming with equipment designed to remove soil effectively and efficiently before applying any cleaning method. Therefore it is important to engage the services of someone who really understands the carpet, how it is going to be used and the methods which should be employed to clean it. The issue should be re-visited after the first year to determine if any changes are required and to evaluate the carpets performance, and response to the use and cleaning it is being subjected to.
The New CRI Appearance Retention Rating System:
The ARR system identifies the level of appearance change of a carpet surface resulting from foot traffic. These guidelines will assist specifiers in selecting commercial carpets with acceptable appearance retention performance in the specified end use application.
The Scope of the Guidelines: The Carpet Appearance Retention Ratings (ARR) identifies change-in-appearance on a 1 to 5 numbered scale: 5 represents no change in appearance, and 1 represents a very severe change. The ARR indicates the amount of surface appearance retention expected in a given traffic area during the first year of service. The ARR does not reflect the potential influence of variable factors such as soiling, staining, maintenance and installation. Carpet with a higher ARR, such as 4.5 or 4.0, will retain its original new appearance longer in various traffic conditions than carpet with a lower ARR. These guidelines are not applicable to rugs, needled textile floor coverings with pile, or electrostatically flocked textile floor coverings.
Appearance Retention Rating Determination:
The Appearance Retention Rating Determination value is determined by grading the appearance change of a carpet subjected to exposure conditions in accordance with the ASTM D-5252 (Hexapod) test practice. The Hexapod test subjects a section of carpet, placed in a cylindrical drum containing the weighted Hexapod device, to a predetermined number of cycles (12,000) replicating foot traffics and use. The carpets are tested without underlay of any kind to determine the full affect of the test on the carpet itself without any cushioning system. The exposure-conditioned carpet appearance retention shall be rated according to CRI TM Assessment of Carpet Surface Appearance Change using CRI Carpet Appearance Retention Grading Scales – a visual comparison and rating system.
To obtain the projected appearance retention performance, carpet must be correctly installed following manufacturers instructions and in accordance with the installation guidelines in CRI – 104 Standard for Installation Specification of Commercial Carpet. Continuing maintenance must be in accordance with the carpet manufacturers recommendations.
Following is Table 1, which is the Appearance Retention Rating Determination for Commercial Carpet. This is based on a 12,000 cycle Hexapod exposure conditioning test. Commercial carpets shall have at least a: >2.5 ARR for application in a Moderate traffic end use >3.0 ARR for application in a Heavy traffic end use >3.5 ARR for application in a Severe traffic end use There is a Table 2, which we’ll give you examples for selecting an ARR for a specified end use.
The moderate, heavy, or severe end-use classification is determined based on the expected number of users, type of traffic, anticipated frequency and intensity of use, and similar factors. The classification system indicates the minimum Appearance Retention Rating for an individual end-use application. At the discretion of the specifier, a higher ARR classification may be specified for the end use application. This would be determined by an individual classification of the end use as it relates to information mentioned previously in this article. In other words, any particular traffic load determination by the specifier or consultant, based on qualifying the end use and user, would be the basis for categorizing the carpet selected for the application. The traffic level classification for stair applications, however, will always be rated as severe.
Table 2: Each end use application is identified with either a Moderate, Heavy or Severe Traffic Level Classification. For an individual end-use application, select a commercial carpet with at least an ARR as indicted in the Traffic Level Classification column ( you can find this on the CRI website www.carpet-rug.com and look under Appearance Retention Rating Guidelines).
Without going over the entire chart some of the listing for businesses are: Banks and Credit Unions, Bowling Alleys, Chapels and other Religious Facilities, Child Care Centers, Golf Courses, Lodging Facilities, Medical Facilities, Retail Stores, etc. For each of these listings, which are used as examples, there is subcategories for the areas of use.
The information I’ve just written about can be found on the CRI web-site, www.carpet-rug.com. With this article and the information on the web site, there is no reason for anyone to put the wrong carpet in the wrong place. Further, there is now a guideline for particular usage and performance for commercial carpet products. This should allow for complaints and claims to be minimized or eliminated, especially relevant to a products loss of appearance. This is almost always equated to a problem with the product and seldom does anyone want to, nor are they willing to, accept the fact that they chose the wrong product, knowingly or not. This guideline goes to the biggest category of complaints and claims and that is- not understanding the product and where and how it should be used. We all hear that installation is the biggest complaint but it’s not; not knowing or understanding is.
More and more the manufacturers rep is relied upon to be the technical expert and information maven for carpet. They may understand their product but they don’t look at the project in an objective way simply because they want to sell the product they represent and there’s nothing wrong with that. The issue is that someone should be looking at the entire project to determine if the products being considered, offered, specified and chosen are actually going to perform up to the expectations of the end user. Too often they don’t because someone didn’t consider the construction of the product, the colors being used and the affects the traffic, use and abuse would have on them. Further, proper maintenance procedures, techniques and scheduling were not seriously considered and made part of the decision making process.
Almost every problem that can be experienced in the commercial carpet/floor covering arena could have been prevented had an objective look at how the product was going to be used and cared for. But, not to minimize it’s importance, installation does, in fact, play a big part in this equation as well.
We can help you with any concerns you have with any floor covering product you’re working with whether you’re a contract dealer, end user or manufacturer. Need help? Call us and ask.
Author – Lewis G. Migliore – The Commercial Flooring Report
LGM and Associates – The Floorcovering Experts