[ Home ] [ Appearance Retention Reports ] [ Browning Reports ] [ Cleaning Errors Reports ] [ Color Loss Reports ] [ Delamination Reports ] [ Design Flaws Reports ] [ Double Stick Reports ] [ Fading Reports ] [ Fuzzing Reports ] [ Installation Reports ] [ Latex Problems Reports ] [ Lines, Bands, & Streaks Reports ] [ Maintenance Reports ] [ Matting & Crushing Reports ] [ Pooling Reports ] [ Shedding Reports ] [ Side Match Reports ] [ Specification Reports ] [ Thickness & Weight Reports ] [ Upholstery Reports ] [ Water Damage Reports ] [ Yarn Slippage Reports ] [ Yellowing Reports ]

[ Bleach Spots from Railway Iron ] [ Color Loss from Crocking ] [ Color Loss from Mop ] [ Color Loss from Nature's Orange ] [ Repetitive Odd Shaped Color Loss in Solution Dyed Nylon ] [ Nylon Bleeds after Cleaning ]

[ Home ]

Color Loss from Crocking, Pesticides, & Epson Salt

This report was done for the carpet mill and found not fault with manufacturing.

THE CLAIM STATISTICS

INSPECTOR WAS CONTACTED ON: 9/29/98

INSPECTOR WAS RETAINED ON: 9/29/98

DATE INSPECTED: 10/1/98

DATE WRITTEN: 11/11/98

PROBLEM REPORTED: Color Change

PROBLEM FOUND: Color Loss

WAS A DIAGRAM MADE?: No

SAMPLES FROM INSPECTION: None Taken

PERSONS PRESENT: Inspector & Claimant

THE CARPET

MANUFACTURER: Tuftex Industries

STYLE NAME & NUMBER: Monte

COLOR NAME & NUMBER: Mt. League 887

FIBER/ ID METHOD: Nylon-Chemical

FIBER HUE: Green

CONSTRUCTION: Tufted Cut Pile

YARN STYLE: Saxony

SQUARE YARDAGE: 130.67

BACK SYSTEM: Conventional Tufted

PRIMARY BACKING: Polypropylene

SECONDARY BACKING: Polypropylene

THE INSTALLATION

TYPE LOCATION: Residential

DATE INSTALLED: 1/97

METHOD: Stretch-In

CUSHION: 1/2-Inch Rebond 6 Lb./Cu. Ft.

SUBFLOOR: Concrete on the First Level, Plywood on the Second Level.

AREA INSTALLED: Livingroom, Diningroom, Stairs, & 4 Bedrooms

USE & MAINTENANCE INFORMATION AT THE TIME OF INSPECTION

LITERATURE RECEIVED WITH PURCHASE: Does Not Remember

TEMPERATURE: 74°F - 23.3° C RH 44%

ADULTS: 2 - CHILDREN: 3 - PET(S): 1 - Outside Dog

DO THEY SMOKE? No

SPOTTING AGENTS: See Report

VACUUM/FREQUENCY: Upright Twice Weekly

ENTRY-MATS: Yes

SOIL: See Report

HEATING TYPE: Forced Air Gas

COOLING TYPE: None

CLEANING: None

INSTRUCTION FOR THIS INSPECTION

Evaluate the problem reported and make a determination if the mill is responsible.

Site Conditions and Geographical Information

This is a freestanding, owner-occupied, two-story house, located a few hundred yards from the Pacific Ocean.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION MADE TO THE INSPECTOR

The carpet in question was selected as part of a remodeling project and was installed into two phases, downstairs and upstairs. Discoloring was noticed

• after a pest-control company applied pesticide in the livingroom/diningroom
• after an Epson Salt solution was spilled in a boy’s bedroom
• in front of the sliding-glass-door in the master-bedroom
• In front of the lavatories also in the master bedroom.

• Upon entering the livingroom/diningroom, in a fill-in piece connecting a hall from the main entrance, a side match was immediately noticed. The fill-in retained the original color while the livingroom/diningroom had a gold tint.
• A solid line of gold tip yarns ran along the far edge of the livingroom/dining room where pesticides had been sprayed. Discoloring was confined to the top half of the yarns.
• There were approximately ten other irregularly shaped spots ranging from two to seven inches through the trafficked areas.

STAIRS- No problem was noticed on the stairs.

BOY’S BEDROOM – approximately 25, one to two inch irregular shape gold spots that were lighter than the surrounding carpet were noted in front of the bed where the Epson Salt Solution had been spilt. Discoloring was confined to the top half of the yarn.

TWO GIRLS’S BEDROOMS – One or two coin size spots were noted in the trafficked areas. Discoloring was confined to the top half of the yarn.

• A sliding-glass-door with drapes open, faced the ocean. The non-trafficked side of the door was lighter blue hue compared to the surrounding carpet.
• A side match was noted running perpendicular to the wall where the sliding-glass-door was located. The side farthest from the door retained more of the original color.
• Irregularly shaped, one to two inch diameter spots were noted next to the bed. Discoloring was confined to the top half of the yarn.

1. An ultra-violet light was used to draw a reflection from substances with optical brightening agents. Yellow reflection will come from most urine stains; a blue or lavender reflection from detergents. The result of this test revealed that there were no reflections in the carpet.
2. Numerous moisture tests were performed using a Delmhorst Moisture Sensor. This test would indicate the presence of moisture locked-up in salt compounds from urine and detergents. The results of these tests showed moderate to high reading in the spots in the livingroom/diningroom and low to moderate readings in the non-affected areas. There was no reading in the upstairs spots.
3. A chloride test strip test by Quantab® was made in gold line next to the wall in the livingroom/diningroom areas and in the unaffected areas adjacent to the spots. The result of this test revealed that there was no difference in the chloride levels between the two areas.
4. A bleach test was performed using a test kit from COLOR MATCH SYSTEMS and revealed that there were no bleaching agents in the light spot.
5. Numerous pH tests were taken using a digital type pH meter and a special low moisture probe that made direct contact with the face yarns. This device is accurate to ± 0.1 and was calibrated with a laboratory testing solution

• Unaffected areas of the livingroom were between 6.5 to 6.6.
• The solid line of gold tip yarns ran along the far edge of the livingroom/dining room was 7.0.
• The spots in the boy’s bedroom measured 6.3 while the non-affected areas in the same room varied from 6.5 to 6.8.
• The light-blue fibers next to the sliding-glass-door in the master bedroom measured 6.3 and so did spots next to the bed.
• pH reading through the non-affected area measures between 6.0 to 6.3 in this room.

1. Samples of the un-installed remnant were soaked for 48 hours in a salt solution, an acid solution, and an alkaline detergent solution.

• The salt solution did not bleed
• The acid solution turned green, but color was still intact on the yarn.
• The alkaline solution turned green, but color was still intact on the yarn.

1. AATCC 107 COLORFASTNESS TO SOLVENT was performed at Independent Testing Laboratories Inc. in Dalton, Georgia. The result of this test was a rating of 4-5 on Gray Scale and 2-3 on the transferred scale.

THE ISSUE

The questions that I have been asked to address are what caused the color loss and are the carpet manufacturer responsible?

GUIDELINES FOR EVALUATING THE ISSUE

Color loss problems can occur when:

1. Oxide of nitrogen and sulfur in the air common to the Southern California atmosphere, high efficient force air heating systems and other gas appliances react with carpet dye.

2. Sun light or in particular ultraviolet rays from the sun affect the dye.

3. Bleaches, oxidizing agents or other chemical residues have been applied to the face yarn.

INDUSTRY STANDARDS & DEFINITIONS

According to the FLOOR COVERING DICTIONARY, it says this about Color Loss:

FADING - Loss of color. Caused by actinic radiation such as sunlight or artificial light, atmospheric gases including ozone, nitric oxide, and hydrogen sulphide, cleaning and bleaching chemicals such as sodium hypochlorite, and other household and industrial products, chlorine chemicals or swimming pools, and other factors. Commercial installations in areas where such exposures occur require extreme care in selection of colorfast carpet. All carpet will fade under certain conditions. The greatest sun fade potential is a Southwest exposure while the least is a Northwest or North exposure. Unprotected carpet, those in front of windows without drapes, in a Southwest exposure can show very noticeable color loss after as little as 6 months. Examples: A brown carpet will fade to light green in ,areas where it receives direct sunlight because the color component most severely affected is red. A green carpet will fade to yellow because color component most affected by the direct sunlight is blue.

THE INSPECTOR'S ANALYSIS

Oxide of nitrogen and sulfur or fume fading occurs next to baseboard like what is seen in the livingroom, but since this condition was not seen elsewhere in the installation and pesticides were sprayed here, it was not a likely candidate.

Some sun fading has likely occurred in the master bedroom next to the sliding-glass-door where the carpet turned blue. Green is made of yellow and blue dye and the lighter shade of blue in the master bedroom next to the sliding-glass-door would likely be the result of the loss of yellow dye. Sun fading often exceeds industry standard on west exposures when locations are high on a hill or close to the ocean such as this dwelling.

Bleaches oxidizing agents or other chemical residues are the best candidates for explaining the majority of the color loss. Whereas bleach or oxidizers can be ruled out based upon testing, variances in pHs were noted in all of the color loss areas indicating a strong relationship to chemical residues. Pesticides have been recognized as one of the chemical residues responsible for color loss and the goal line in the livingroom/diningroom would be highly indicative of type loss. However, the soaking tests suggest that chemicals other than the pesticides could also caused a color loss. However, AATCC 107 COLORFASTNESS TO WATER testing indicates that detergent appropriate for maintenance of the carpet will not result in a substantial color reduction on the face yarn. Although it should be noted that considerable color and/or dye can be transferred or removed from the yarn. The likely reason for this seeming paradox could be explained by excessive dye resulting on crocking. Thus, color loss cannot be explained by Epson Salt or common spills and is likely the result of chemicals that are inappropriate for carpet.

An unexplained issue is what caused the side match in the livingroom with the fill-in piece and in the master bedroom. Fading to a side match has been theorized in previous inspections but lacks significant laboratory testing. Likely candidates for causing the fading would be oxides of nitrogen or sulfur and/or o-zone, although both darker hues were further away from sunlight. Further testing could resolve this problem, but side match was not the issue of this report.

CONCLUSION

Color loss in the carpet in question was due to chemical residues based upon filed testing and is not the manufacturer's responsibility.