These are carpet tiles in a busy office.

There is minimal spills from coffee, etc; on the carpet.

The carpet was encapsulated the week before Christmas last year.

Prior to cleaning, the carpet was showing early signs of these lines coming through on the tile edges.

After cleaning, they were negligible.

They have had an "carpet expert" come in (I don't know who), who has told them that the carpet should never have been "steam cleaned".

What do you think.

I will be going back tomorrow to see if they have any spare clean tiles to determine the backing. (& find out where the "expert" came from )



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All serious answers are thanked for in advance.

Ooroo,

Shortestwun.



I've seen the light, and changed my wicked ways.
www.get.shorty.com.au

These lines indicate that you're not dealing with spills, since spills don't take on the proportion of straight lines.

Moisture is coming up from the floor. Either the moisture was introduced from cleaning (possibly overwetting) the carpet, or it is coming from some other source.

There appears to be crud wicking up from under the carpet. And as it wicks it finds the most direct route to the surface - which is around the perimeter of the tile squares.

Here are a couple of questions that I'd be wondering...

1. Where is the source of moisture coming from? Was it from a cleaning process, or did it come from some other source?

2. And what crazy level of crud is under this carpet that's causing it to wick dark colored lines around the perimeters of the tiles?

Now how to fix this problem?

I'd suggest treating the lines with a good NO-GUNK encapsulating pre-spray (like Encap-Punch). Give it a little dwell time. And then BONNET CLEAN the entire carpet with a strong mixture of an encapsulating bonnet cleaner (again Encap-Punch will work well for this).

By cleaning the carept with a LOW MOISTURE method, you can be assured that the "wicking problem" will be kept under control. And if you're using an encap product like Encap-Punch, you should be able to help get the wicking under control too.

But this still doesn't address the issue that something weird is going on here. There appears to be something screwy about this carpet installation. So there's a likelihood that this problem may occur again. My guess is that there is something wrong with the flooring and/or the adhesive that was used. After all Shorty - you live is a sauna in Cairns, so the adhesive (or an adhesive derivative) could possibly be leeching to the surface on account of the heat and humidity.

Well that's my take on it. Let's hear from the rest of you guys too.














Rick Gelinas

do the stains feel oily or sticky? It looks like excessive glue.

They are carpet tiles right, pull one up and see what is going on under them. Could be sub-floor problem, bad latex, etc etc. This is the only way I can see to get to the root of the problem.

Like I said, I will be going back there today (now it's 07:36).

I will be pulling up a tile and will let you'all know the outcome.

This is a guv-urn-mint building, electoral office .

It is air conditioned during work hours and naturally, fully sealed otherwise.

The tenant moved in a bit over twelve months ago.

I encapped it with minimum moisture the week before Christmas, it was already showing slight leaching before I cleaned it.

As far as I'm aware, no other carpet cleaner has touched it.

It is on the ground floor, although it is about four foot above street level.

It is also directly above an underground carpark.

The closest water source such as a faucett or lavatory, etc; would be 75-80' away from where the photos were taken.

Sewage pipes, etc; in the underground carpark are fixed to the ceiling and exposed.

I have never seen carpet glue react like this ie; melting as such.

Vac A Ways' Spot n Boost did take away most of the stain although I believe a rinse, or encap; would be required to finish the job.


Back in a few hours.

Thanks.

I've seen the light, and changed my wicked ways.
www.get.shorty.com.au

I'm in the camp that it could be glue. The chair rolling over it could worsen the situation, causing the adhesive to squeegee out. I've seen a similar problem when carpet tiles were installed over a concrete floor that was coated with an epoxy. It seemed like the adhesive was just 'sitting there,' and didn't get absorbed into the floor, and never really dried or cured.

Hope this helps...

Kevin Kluth
Pinnacle Cleaning
www.rochestercarpetcare.com
www.rochesterrugcleaning.com
Cleaning carpets and rugs in the Rochester, NY area since 1980

Okay, I've formed an opinion.

Tell me what you think.

Take note of the wetness not only on the back of the tiles, but also on the concrete slab & the different colors of moisture.

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This vinyl plank floor (imitation timber), is in two offices adjacent to the passageway, it is also in the front foyer.

Note the dark lines where moisture is migrating through.


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I have also checked the tiles with a moisture sensor which was giving positive (wet) readings even where there are no dark lines, indicating the entire slab is wet or damp.

As stated before, there are no water pipes in the concrete slab.

Also for those that may have thought, it is not a mold problem.

Being in a guv-urn-mint building, slab moisture levels were determined prior to installation, installation was also done in accordance with manufacturers procedures.

The tiles have been down for about 18 months.

After installation, the office was renovated which took about a month.

No air conditioning was on during this time.

After staff moved in, I believe that the air con; has been set at too low a temperature which has resulted in an accumulation of moisture condensating under the tiles when the air con; is off.

Same as condensation on the inside of window panes, compared to the ambient outside temperature.

This has then had a reaction with the glue which has in effect turned to a watery substance.

Because the tiles are impervious, the only way for the moisture to exit would be through the joins as indicated in the photos.

Some information in my original post was incorrect, after speaking with the carpet installer, he told them that I would have needed 3" of water on top of the tiles to cause the damage.

He was not aware that I had cleaned them, and he is also aware that in commercial, all my work is encap;

So, what do you think. ??

Thanks again,

Shorty.

I've seen the light, and changed my wicked ways.
www.get.shorty.com.au

I don't think I have ever seen carpet tiles that were glued down. If they were glued, wouldn't that be an installation error? No telling what type of glue was used in the process. If the finger pointing seems to be heading towards Shorty, I would suggest that their "inspector" focus on the installation rather than the carpet cleaner. I have also seen situations where the mix ratios in the concrete slab material has been wrong and required partial removal of the slab in a large office building.

Also (for what it's worth) back in the early 90's, I helped a carpet mill create a temporary cure for a huge batch of tiles that had a problem with a sticky, yellow dust showing up on executives' shiny shoes. The dust was migrating up from the tile backing. It was caused by bad resin mix ratio. I realize this is a different problem than you are dealing with. My point is that giant carpet mills can have manufacturing problems that create odd situations. This is a weird problem, but I don't see how your encapping could have caused it.

I'm sorry if I am incorrect on this (first time for everything) but I thought that the purpose for the carpet tile was ease of removal and replacement in case of permanent stains. I think most carpet tiles are designed to be held in postion by "tension" with it's neighboring tiles. Therefore no glue. It looks like there is glue under those tiles. If the tiles were manufactured with a backing designed to be used without glue, then perhaps the glue reacted badly when it contacted the tile backing. Many glues will not cure properly if used improperly.

I used to live in an area with a very low water table. We would see this all the time on vinyl floors and carpet tiles. The moisture (and minerals) would come up through the concrete via capillary action (hydrostatic pressure) and push the sticky glue out. It looked exactly like your pictures.

The test - in a two foot area remove tiles. Clean and dry concrete. Place plastic sheeting on floor and duct tape securely all the way around. Come back in a day or two. If moisture is under plastic you'll know that it is coming from underneath. If dry then you know the moisture may have come from above.

Possibly an internal pipe break? or sprinkler pipe near by broke?