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Area Rug Pooling and Pile Distortion

We found some great information about Rug Pooling from Lynn Tall owner at Rug Advocate and Scott Gwilliam, owner of Rug Worx

Have you ever seen an area rug that has a “wet” or patchy, dirty looking area? Almost as if someone has spilled water on it? This phenomenon is known as area rug pooling or pile distortion. Its origin is unknown but can be a real eyesore, especially if you are not accustom to what rug pooling is and what can be done.  Its occurrence can happen in any rug or home wall to wall carpeting. If you take a look at the picture in this post you can see that the red Chinese runner has a wet or dirty look to it. Depending on what angle you look at the rug, the wet look may appear to be different. It can also look different if its located in different rooms of the home, this is because the lighting change will also make the rug look different.  If you were to get on your hands and knees and rub your hand through the two distinguished areas you would notice that the fibers feel differently. There is times that simply brushing the rug all in the same direction will fix this type of situation, but it actual Rug Pooling situations the fibers are permanently distorted in unwanted directions.

So What Do We Know About Permanent Pile Reversal Also Known As Area Rug Pooling?

To be frank, unfortunately not all the much. Despite years of research to understand what is the actual cause, there has not been much progress in understanding the variables involved when it comes to rug pooling also known as pile distortion.

The following are possible causes of rug pooling/pile distortion. 

-Originally noticed in wall to wall carpeting, it can also occur in any cut pile area rug, including hand knotted, tufted, woven, bonded, knitted or hand-mad area rug.

-No wear or traffic patterns are necessary for pooling to appear. Even new area rugs and wall-to-wall carpeting are subject to these permanent pile distortion patches. Longer, loose-woven fibers of plush-piled rugs and carpet, and lower performing fibers like faux silk, and or Viscose seem to be especially prone to pooling.

-It can occur in area rugs made from all carpet fibers and blends of different fibers, for example nylon, wool, acrylic, polypropylene and other blends.

-There is nothing that can be done to permanently reverse or repair the appearance of a rug or carpet with pooling. While rug and carpet cleaners may be able to do a wet washing and groom out the affected areas, this may not improve the area at all and usually has very limited results.

-Specific cleaning methods are not the culprit.

-Floor temperature, humidity, air currents, static electricity and earth ray have all been investigated as possible causes

If you think Rug Pooling or Pile Distortion is the cause of the unwanted look on your area rug give the Oriental Rug Cleaning Plant a call and we can evaluate your rugs unique circumstance.

 

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