Watermark on my carpet - pile reversal explained ~ Art of Clean - UK

Pile reversal sounds like a very unpleasant condition and there is no known cause and it’s not a totally understood situation. But be rest assured it’s a very common occurrence found on dense, high quality, cut pile carpets.

You may have noticed strange marks on your carpet which look like pooling, shading or water marks and this is known as ‘pile reversal’.

With new carpets, the pile stands almost upright but occasionally large areas of the pile can suddenly re orientate to lie in one particular direction, whilst adjacent areas lie in another direction. This causes the apparent shade change and will more apparent in certain lighting conditions, as the tufts viewed from one direction, have the appearance of looking lighter and vice versa.

According to Cleaning Research International, “there is no certain cause, and for this reason pile reversal is not considered to be a defect. And although there is no certain cause, there are a number of factors which may encourage pile reversal to develop, such as the relaxation of tensions imparted during manufacture, constructional aspects of the floor are telegraphing through the pile or excessive changes in humidity may exacerbate the problem.”

Unfortunately, once the alteration has occurred, cleaning a carpet will not satisfactorily correct the defect but if you do not want pile reversal then our advise at the Art of Clean would be to consider purchasing loop pile carpet, as you’ll never find the defect on this type of carpet.

Please take a look at the following film. In 2013 Art of Clean, took a trip to the Blue Mosque in Turkey to learn more about the manufacture and cleaning of rugs and you'll see on the carpets in the Blue Mosque that it's full of pile reversal.