Wear

The most common carpet warranty is a “wear” warranty. The definition
of “wear” in the consumers mind may be somewhat different than “wear” in the manufacturers mind.

Since nylon was highly abrasion resistant, foot traffic had very little effect on this tough
new fiber. To capitalize on this, wear warranties were issued on all nylon constructions to publicize the fact that nylon would not wear away.

Unfortunately, in the consumer’s mind, the definition of wear has been lost. Currently,
the consumer has the impression that “wear” relates to appearance.

Other warranties such as matting and crushing should be reviewed carefully as well.
Matting is the intermingling of yarn at the tips or untwisting of the yarn. There may be an acceptable loss of twist built into these warrantees that may be unacceptable to the average consumer.  Crushing, or the flattening of the pile, may have a clause that states if the pile can be restored to within a certain percent of the original pile height, the warranty does not apply. Hot water extraction and a pile rake will usually restore pile height which upholds the warranty.

Most carpet manufacturers offer “wear” warranties of various time lengths. According to
these warranties, “wear” is defined as the loss of pile weight or pile fiber (usually 10 percent) due to abrasive loss of fiber by weight. What appears to be wear, or pile fiber loss, may actually be matting, crushing or permanent fiber damage caused by soiling rather than loss
of fiber. There is seldom actual loss of pile fiber. (See also Matting, Crushing.)