Carpet is a very popular choice for flooring, both in residential and commercial spaces. While a high-quality carpet should last for many years, occasionally, there are issues that cause owners to have problems with it. The flooring and carpeting industry refers to one of these problems as corn rowing. Corn rowing usually occurs in wall-to-wall carpeting and is used to describe rows of carpet fiber that alternate between high and low. It occurs when some rows do not mat down while others do.
To understand how it happens, you need to know how manufacturers make carpet. During the making of a piece of carpet, the tufting machine laces the fiber through the backing, creating tufts that are close together. In a more expensive carpet, the yarn tufts are very close together, while in a lesser quality carpet, they are further away from each other. Corn rowing most often happens when the tufts are further apart.
When people walk on carpet, normal foot traffic puts pressure on the fibers. Because the fibers have spacing between them, some fibers lack support from neighboring fibers and get pushed down. As a result, some rows remain erect while others mat down. Corn rowing appears exclusively in high traffic areas or on spots where doors pull on the carpet repeatedly. It primarily develops across the width of a carpet, though not always. It can also happen when the owner uses a vacuum with the brush set too low.
This setting crushes the fibers instead of brushing them. Because of the alternating rows of firm and crushed fiber, the result resembles a corn field.
Leave a Reply