Rug And Carpets

Identification of Carpet Fiber

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:00:58 +0000

Carpet is constructed out of different fibers. It can be either natural or artificial. When you purchase carpet you would like to know the material or the fiber of which it is manufactured. Knowing fiber is essentialnotonly to judge its durability but also for its cleaning and spotting. Different cleaning methods are adopted for different types of fibers. For instance, for olefin fibers,chlorine bleach can be used. However hot iron or carpet protector cannot be used for olefin. Fiber testing is simple and you can do it yourself.

Olefin
If the fiber floats in water, it means it is olefin fiber. No testing kit is required. Its damn simple. Are you ready? Ok, take a glass of water and add little detergent. Hold the fiber under the surface of the water, and squeeze out all the trapped air, and let go. In case the fiber floats, it is olefin. If you want to use chlorine bleach, test the fiber with the same, this is a nylon-olefin blend. When it is put to burn test, it melts and burns. It continues to burn even when it is withdrawn from the flame. The odour is that of a candle wax odor and it produces a tough, tan bead.

Wool
The test of wool is very easy. If it is wet, it smells like a wet dog. There is another test namely the burn test. For this test use a butane lighter to melt or ignite an unknown fiber. This will help you in the determination of its types. Butane lighter avoids masking the odor of the burning fiber. Burned wool smells like burned hair. Moreover wool dissolves in undiluted chlorine bleach.

The testing of chemical fiber is however not easy. Its test requires chemicals like formic acid and hot cresylic acid.

Acrylic
If the fiber is acrylic it will melt and shrink as soon as the flame comes into its proximity. The fiber burns with lot of smoke rapidly with bright, sputtering flame. Even after it has been withdrawn from the flame it continues to burn, melts, and drips. It has an acrid odor and results in a hard, irregular black bead.

Cellulose
Cellulose fibers just like cotton or silk, burns and the ash crumbles

Cotton/Linen:
Cotton or linen burn with the yellow flame as soon as they are ignited. Even when the fibers are pulled out, they continue to burn with a red afterglow upon extinguishing. Cotton or linen fiber smells like burning paper.

Nylon
Nylon burns with a smoky flame it melts and tends to self-extinguish. On burning it smells like celery. The burnt nylon, is a hard, shiny brown or gray bead.

Polyester
Polyester too melts and shrinks from an approaching flame. It burns and melt slowly. Melting takes place in drips. While burning it smells sweet and produces a hard, shiny black or brown bead.

Protein
Protein fibers, burns easily and their ash crumbles – as do cellulose fibers such as cotton.

Rayon
Rayon burns rapidly with a blue flame. It continues to burn rapidly with a red afterglow when the flame is extinguished. Rayon smells like burning paper, leaves a gray to charcoal color light feathery ash.

Silk
When the flame approaches, silk curls away. It burns slowly and sputters. Weighted silk glows red. Out of the flame, it is self-extinguishing or may burn very slowly and smells like singed hair. Its residue is round, shiny black beads, easily crushed. Weighted silk has the skeleton of the original fiber.

Fiber Identification Chart

Fiber	Flame	Odor	Ash/Residue
Cotton/jute	orange ember	buming paper	ash
rayon	orange	buming paper	no ash or bead
wool	orange/sputters	buming hair	black ash/crumbles
silk	orange	buming hair	black beads/crushes
nylon	blue base/orange tip	plastic/celery	round, black bead
olefin/polypropylene	blue base/orange tip	asphalt	round, gray to brown bead
polyester	orange sputters black	sweet/fruity	round, shiny, black bead
acrylic	white/orange/sputters	acrid,bumt meat	black crust can be crushed

Social Labeling and Child Labour : Study

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:17:36 +0000

The problem of child labour has long been present in the carpet industry in India. Both government and the Non government organizations have taken many initiatives to curb this problem. In this venture, both these institutions are also supported by the international agencies also. Government on its front has passed many legislations like Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, the formulation of a National Policy on Child Labour in 1987 etc.

The initiatives of government and NGO's are now supplemented by welfare and rehabilitation activities undertaken by the social labelling programmes. There are four types of Labeling assigned to carpets :

RUGMARK
Kaleen
Care and Fair
STEP

RUGMARK
RUGMARK label, was the first Labeling programmes introduced in the carpet industry in India in 1994. Registered under Companies Registration Act, this foundation consists of manufacturers, exporters, NGOs and development organizations. Manufacturer or exporter who wish to obtain license of RUGMARK has to submit a complete list of looms and/or sources of procuring their carpets to RUGMARK foundation. The list should be updated on a regular, half-yearly basis.

Kaleen
Kaleen is a Labeling programmes initiated by the government. It is promoted by the Carpet Export Promotion Council (CEPC), under the ministry of textiles. CEPC apart from providing the license to the exporters of carpets also takes measures to eradicate the child labour and see the welfare of the weaver in the carpet industry. CEPC introduced the Kaleen label in 1995 for carpets to be exported as a hallmark of commitment towards the eradication of child labour. Exporters of the carpet have to obtain license from CEPC. It is mandatory. The annual membership fee is determined by their annual turnover.

STEP
STEP is a labelling system started by members of the carpet trade in Switzerland in October 1995. It is basically y a company certification programmes, that aim to link Indian exporters and Swiss importers and consumers of carpets. STEP India office was established in May 1996. It provides license and the holder of such license can use the monogram of STEP in all advertising materials, showroom displays, etc. STEP established with the objective of providing socially just conditions in carpet production and trade, progressive elimination of child labour and standard working and health conditions for the carpet workers.

Care and Fair
Care and Fair, just like STEP is a company certification programme and not a product labelling initiative. Care and Fair does not monitor the carpet production but relies on moral commitment of its members.

Care and Fair addresses the concern of several carpet importers and retailers in Germany about the conditions prevailing in the carpet industry and the need to rectify it. The sponsors of CARE and FAIR intend to benefit the weaver households including the child labour

Secondary Backing Systems for Carpet

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:13:19 +0000

Carpet after being dyed is send for the secondary backing. Here the surface is smoothened and backing is applied. The secondary backing provides dimensional stability while locking individual tufts in place.

The application is easy. It is simply glued to the primary backing with latex. The latex is usually styrene-butadiene synthetic rubber (SBR) compounded with large quantities of powdered filler such as chalk. It has milky appearance. Chemical 4-PC, a by-product of the latex lends the carpet a smell peculiar to new carpet.

It is on the back of the carpet that the latex is applied. Carpet is made to pass through the puddle of latex. Latex is forced down by the blade around all the yarn on the back of the carpet, which locks the yarn into the backing. A second coat of latex is applied thereafter which holds the secondary backing onto the tufted material. This gives the carpet a dimensional stability.

After the completion of gluing of the primary and secondary backings, the carpet is sent to an oven to cure the latex. The Dimensional stability, imparted by the secondary backing, enables the carpet to retain its size and shape after installation.

Secondary backings used today are mainly woven polypropylene which is made of a leno weave of slit film and spun olefin yarns that forms a stretchable, all synthetic secondary backing fabric. The secondary backings are also made of Jute. However jute backings has several major problems, such as potential for browning and rotting.

Some of the secondary backing acts as a moisture barrier. These are commonly made from solid vinyl or urethane. The objective of this backing is to keep water-based spills from penetrating through the carpet. However, these backings also have certain disadvantages. They can trap any moisture trapped under them from evaporating. This can prove harmful to the concrete itself. This can also harm the glue if the carpet is glued down and fail the carpet installation. Since the pad does not absorb a spill, or pet urine, the material tends to spread outward more, making wicking over a larger area more likely.

Some of the carpet backings have soft impervious polyethylene backing which traps the liquids where they can be found and cleaned thoroughly before soaking into the padding and through to the floor.

Carpet backings without latex are also being produced by some manufacturers. This system eliminates delamination and gives carpet lighter weight, greater flexibility, easier installation, and more easily recycled. This also eliminates the “new carpet odor”.

A polymeric resin is used by the manufacturers in the finishing process. The resin in the heat and curing chamber reacts and creates a foam-like texture in curing chamber. This type of backing encapsulates the yarn for extra tuft bind with a cushion attached and also gives water repellency to provide a moisture barrier.

Carpet backings with urethane system functions as both the adhesive and the secondary backing and adheres to the back of the carpet by reacting with it. This system also acts as a moisture barrier which protects sub-floors and reduces wicking from spills. The Enhancer system of the backing protects the carpet against edge ravel, pilling and fuzzing.

Some other types of secondary carpet backings are : Poly Vinyl Chloride, Unibond backing, Unitary backing etc. Poly Vinyl Chloride is used because of its weight and stiffness. Unibond backing on the other hand is a hot-melt resin process that adheres the primary and secondary backing.

Health and Environment Benefits of Carpet

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:11:14 +0000

Carpet does not only adds beauty and style to the room but it also has many Environment and health benefits. Initially it was believed that carpet is the source of allergens and dusts. Dust has further health ramifications. No doubt carpet attracts dirt but it is a well known fact to get rid of the dust and dirt one has to clean it on a regular basis.

One gets wonderful feeling when walking on carpet. It is ideal for cushioning our footsteps, reducing slips and falls and minimizing injuries when falls do occur. Thus it provides safety protection for the whole family, but especially for toddlers and older individuals.

In cold seasons or climate, carpet provides actual thermal resistance, or R-value. It helps in the retention of the warm air for the longer period and provide warmth to the room. Modern household is a storehouse of electronic gadgets like big screen TVs, speaker phones, computers and modern sound systems. These gadgets make the household a noisy place. Carpet reduces the sound by absorbing it. If a cushion pad is added, beneath the carpet noise is reduced even further. Carpet also works as a sound barrier between floors by helping to block sound transmission to rooms below. And carpet on stairs helps mask the sound of constant foot traffic.

There is a misconception that people suffering from Asthma, allergy etc should not install carpet at home. However most of the carpet manufactured today are made from harmless materials found in clothing and other everyday fabrics, such as polyester, nylon and olefin fibers, which don’t trouble most people. One thing should be noted that though carpet of course do not improves the indoor quality of the air yet it exercise positive effect on the same. Due to gravitational force many small dust particles such as pollen and pet and insect dander, fall to the floor. Thanks to the carpet fibers which
trap the particles and reduce their continued circulation in the air. Regular cleaning will enable you to get rid of these accumulated duct particles completely.

There is one more conception. It is argued that the carpet aids in the growth of molds and emit volatile organic compounds, or VOCs. However mold grows and survives in a moist environment where dirt and dust provide nutrients. If you clean your carpet daily then there is no question of mold growing on synthetic fibers.

Scientific research also points out that new carpet is one of the lowest emitters of VOCs into the indoor environment, and that these emissions vanish very quickly. Small VOC emission hardly have any impact on health whereas odor from new carpet disappear within the first 48 to 72 hours after installation and even sooner with open windows or doors.

Carpet Disposal and Recycling

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:09:38 +0000

Million tonnes of carpet waste in North America go waste into landfills every year covering many thousan square km. Carpet waste are also considered as a source of environment pollution. Disposal of carpet has always been a problem in the past. To address this problem the carpet industry has teamed up with government agencies and other concerned groups to establish a program that encourages the recycling of used carpet materials.

Both the government agencies and the private companies have implemented a national agreement that sets goals for increasing the amount of carpet for recycling. One result of this cooperative effort has been the creation of entire industry that is built around the collection and recycling of used carpet materials.

World over people decorate their house with various floor covering items. Carpets fill the room with new beauty and gives wonderful experience underfoot. Wall to wall carpet, also called as tufted carpet, is still the most popular choice in floor covering for home and commercial applications. In fact, carpet accounts for over seventy percent of all flooring covering sales in the United States and tufted or wall to wall carpet represents over ninety percent of all the carpet sold.

Calculating the amount of the carpet sold in the United States and convert it to the number of pounds sold you come up with a staggering nine billion pounds.

The figure clearly points out that the carpet business can have a tremendous impact on the environment. Have you ever considered what happens to the carpet that is replaced every year? According to estimates over 4 billion pounds of carpet that is replaced every year goes to the landfill. The costs associated with properly disposing of all the used carpet can be felt by consumers, carpet sellers and installers as the cost of taking discarding carpet to local landfills continues to rise every year.

Since carpet sellers and installers tend to pass cost increases for disposal the consumer feels a bigger pinch. There is no telling how much used carpet is disposed of in ways that are less than legal or less than friendly to the environment.

Due to the initiatives taken by the corporate sector now various centers have been established in USA . This resulted in the decrease in the amount of used carpet materials that end up in the local landfill. On the other end of the carpet cycle, producers are working to incorporate more recycled carpet fiber into their products.

Since many consumers are increasingly concerned about the environment, it is important to note that the move toward increased recycling has been driven by more than just dollars and cents. Modern consumer has become more responsive to environmental needs and is conscious of the impact his buying choice would have on the environment and many of us are adjusting their spending habits as a result.

Carpet Cleaning Without Dangerous Chemicals

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:58:39 +0000

Just like other objects, carpets too get dirty but in comparison to others it is difficult to clean them. Carpets in general are reservoirs for dust mites, dirt, mold and pollutants. Infact in bathrooms, kitchens, basements and bedrooms they are problematic and should not be used in homes of asthmatics.

Carpets are home of dirts (as dust gets settled easily ) however it does not mean that you should avoid using it. After all they are magnificent item and are statement of your lifestyle. The point is this to avoid dirt, mites, molds and mildew you should keep a carpet clean. But how? Through dangerous and harmful chemicals or through natural means? Well, in market huge number of carpet cleaning agents are available. Some of which consist of harmful ingredients that have adverse effect both on the health and the environment. Use chemicals only in the extreme case. Choose the best cleaner after enquiring about the ingredients and their effects by the dealer.

Precaution is the best cure for those who want to prolong the life of their carpet. Place doormats at all entrances and encourage family members to wipe!. This prevents the dirt, pesticides and other pollutants from getting on carpets. Using large mats (covering two or three strides) will ensure that even those that refuse to wipe will leave most of the dirt clinging to their shoes on the mat rather than your carpet. Encourage family members to remove shoes upon entrance into the home. If going shoeless is not acceptable to family members, suggest that they wear slippers or socks.

Frequent vacuuming not only reduces the level of dust mites but also helps in getting rid of surface dirt on carpets before it has a chance to get ground in. Use appropriate vacuum cleaner with strong suction, rotating brushes and a HEPA filter, so the dirt and dust won't get blown back out in the exhaust.

If there is a spill on the carpet, attack it immediately before it is too late. Once the spill gets dried it may turn into stain that might be difficult to remove. In case of spill, take clean white (or light-colored) towels or paper towels and soak up liquid spills by covering them. Rubbing of the spill should be avoided as this might damage carpet fibers and make the stain spread.
To clean the stain, mix 1 cup warm water and 1/2 teaspoon mild liquid soap, such as dishwashing liquid or fine fabric detergent. Apply a small amount, blot by pressing a clean white towel into the carpet and lift. Then repeat the process until the stain is removed.

Many of he stains can be removed by using household ingredients. Here are some of the examples:
Club soda removes red wine stains.
Use an ice cube to harden gum and candle wax, then scrape off.
Sprinkle greasy stains with baking soda, corn starch or corn meal. Let stand six hours or overnight. Then vacuum.
Mix 1/3 cup vinegar with 2/3 cup warm water and apply to the stain. Then blot with a clean towel and repeat until the stain comes clean.
As a last resort carpet stain remover, try rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide.

If there is an odor in your carpet, Just sprinkle baking soda over the surface of the carpet. Let it stand for 15 – 30 minutes. Then vacuum. Keep kids away so they don't inhale the baking soda while it's applied.

Steam clean carpets with plain water in some cases can also be tried. Just use water and operate the machine as directed. The application of hot water also removes a considerable amount of dirt, even without detergent. Alternatively, use a mixture of 1 cup white vinegar and 2-1/2 gallons of water. This is an effective way to remove shampoo residues from earlier cleaning attempts.

If you are using soap or detergent, use a mixture of no more than 3-4 tablespoons of mild liquid soap or detergent and at least one gallon of water. Do not mix vigorously because suds may clog the machine.
Avoid steam cleaning carpets in winter, when you can't open windows, and on very humid days during the summer. Once your carpet is cleaned open all the windows and fans to speed drying time. Avoid carpet cleaning on humid or damp days.

Are Carpet Cleaners Safe?

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:37:23 +0000

It is the fact that all carpets will get dirty over time. Carpets and rugs, no doubt take a lot of abuse from rambunctious children and pets, dinner guests who spill, people who refuse to wipe their feet before entering. This makes carpet cleaning inevitable at some point. However you should know that some carpet cleaners consist of toxic ingredients, some of which are not listed on labels because they are considered "proprietary" or "trade secrets".

Some of the carpet cleaners can be particularly dangerous, because they contain chemical solvents. The chemicals present in the cleaners dissolve dirt without soap and water, and give off strong odors. Some of the carpet cleaners include other compounds that produce lots of fumes (like formaldehyde), acids, pesticides, disinfectants, lye (sodium hydroxide), fragrances and many others.

Fabric and carpet stain repellents often consist of plastics and other potentially dangerous ingredients. Some of the cleaners contain ingredient such as perfluoro-octane sulfonate which is an organic pollutant (POP). PFOS, a suspected hormone disruptor, accumulates in the environment and the tissue of animals and humans. Despite this, the cleaner has been used for the last fifty year. However now the companies have decided to phase it out.

The chemicals present in the carpet cleaners and protectors evaporate and may concentrate in the air, causing indoor air pollution. This is more likely if the room is not well ventilated, the weather is hot and humid or the room is damp. Indoor air pollution has many health ramifications such as headaches, irritation to eyes, nose and lungs, asthma attacks, congestion, sneezing, coughing, fatigue, nausea and other symptoms.

Carpet shampoo is one of the important carpet cleaning product. Carpet shampoos usually leave behind a sticky residue on carpet fibers. Though the residue cannot be perceived and felt yet it can make carpets feel rougher and you may be able to smell it. Not only does the residue attract and latch onto dirt, but children, who crawl and play on carpets, can inhale these residues and get them on their hands, which often go into their mouths.

Dry shampoos, powders and foams get attached to carpet fibers. The solvents and detergents present in these cleaning agents are applied for a specific period of time, then vacuumed to remove the cleaning product. However often the residue of these cleaning agents penetrate deep into the fibers from where it becomes impossible to vacuum them. The dust and the powders can enter the human system through inhalation. In fact, anti-dust-mite carpet treatments sometimes contain tannic acid or benzyl benzoate, both of which are skin, eye and respiratory irritants. Deodorizing powders often contain fragrances that irritate asthmatic lungs as well.

Hence it is advisable to use carpet cleaners that are approved by a recognized authority and agency. Check the ingredients of the cleaner and enquire from the manufacturer or dealer about its application. Also find out whether the chemicals present in the cleaners release gas or vapor. If it is so then after cleaning the carpet put it outside for 48 hours and then place it in the room. While placing, keep the ventilation of the room open.

Dangerous Chemicals Found in Some Carpet Cleaners

Solvents

Butoxyethanol and other glycol ethers
Tetrachloroethylene
Perchloroethylene

Acids and other corrosive chemicals

Hydroxyacetic acid
Hydrofluoric acid
Nitrilotriacetic acid
Sodium hydroxide
Sodium carbonate

Mildewcides and Disinfectants

Tributyl tin
Formaldehyde
Phenol

Other chemicals

Butane, propane and isobutanes (aerosol propellants)
Dibutyl phthalate
Nonylphenol ethoxylate (surfactant)
Octylphenol ethoxylate (surfactant)