There is a call center we maintain that has blue CGD. The high traffic area are of course worn and the blue has faded reveling browns and grays. When it is wet the blue is vibrant and it looks fabulous. I'm always a little disheartened when it dries to that faded worn colour. I know that you can't repair a carpet by cleaning it but it seems to me there must be some product out there that can replicate the what it looks like when its wet.

Dye.

Thanks
Your Servant Alex

Cultivate the "OCCD" you had at first for the industry!

ummm yeah. but is there such a thing as a clear dye that would make it look like it does when it is wet?

It's pretty safe to conclude that the color fade that you're seeing is caused by delustering of the carpet fiber. In this case, it's very likely a result of abrasion. To illustrate how this occurs: Consider your brand new shiny car. Take a piece of sand paper and buff a spot on the hood. Now park it in a parking lot. That ugly spot on the hood of your car will be visible from clear across the parking lot.

What are we seeing here? The color of the scuffed paint hasn't changed. What has changed is the way it REFLECTS LIGHT. Vision is made up of reflection of light that gets processed through the eyeball and gets registered on the optic nerve. If the reflection of light is distorted, what we see looks different. Variations in the reflection will be most evident with lighter colors such as light blue and light gray.

This explains why the carpet looks brighter when the carpet is wet. The carpet is coated with water so its abraded surface appears normal. The reflection of light appears undamaged while it has a coating of liquid on it.

The bottom line here is that you can't repair damaged fiber, no more than you could repair a damaged paint job on your car by washing it. The carpet has been damaged! And unfortunately there's no way to repair that. Even if the carpet was "dyed", the abrasion would remain visible. It's time for replacement.

This underscores the need for encouraging your clients to get adequate walk-off mats and to maintain a good program of daily vacuuming. Dry soil is a carpets most damaging enemy. A single grain of sand consists of multiple rough "cutting" surfaces (that's why they make sandpaper from it). It is highly abrasive and it can permanently damage the carpet!!!

Here's a photo of grains of sand under an electron microscope...









Rick Gelinas
rick@excellent-supply.com

Most likely Olefin- not easily (if at all) dyed.

Make you own luck,

Del Scrivner
Owner/Operator
Cowboy's Carpet Care

Yeah I understand all that. It just seems to me that there ought to be a product that can do what the what the water does when when it is wet. This place does have walk off mats but they have 200 employees(in two shifts)in a 7000 square feet. its all cubicles so the traffic wear is pretty dramatic. they don't use chair mats so there are circular wear marks under every chair and many areas where the carpet is unglued. The previous tenants didn't want to send the money and it seems neither do these guys. Anyway I was just dreaming that there ought to be a product like that.

A misting system?  Grab the tanning oil too!

Make you own luck,

Del Scrivner
Owner/Operator
Cowboy's Carpet Care