Unfortunately, there is a great deal of confusion about capret protectors in our industry. Untrianed and sometimes downright unscrupulous carpet cleaners give out false information, and in the worst cases, intentionally misrepresent the product.
WARNING: The protector that was in your carpet may be gone, leaving you exposed!
A nylon stain-resistant carpet is made with two protective properties: the first is an acid dye blocker that is basically a clear dye that fills the extra dye sites in a fiber, This helps to keep “foreign” dyes (such as red dye in a beverage) from penetrating the carpet fiber. The second property is called a fluorochemical. Two commonly used fluorochemicals are 3M Scotchgard™ or DuPont™ Teflon®. This treatment helps keep spillage from actually getting to the acid dye blocker, but its biggest job is to resist dry soil.
By resisting dry soil, less soil bonds to the carpet, therefore more dry soil is picked up by your vacuum or cleaning. Making sure that you have a sufficient amount of protector on your carpet will help keep the soil from bonding to the carpet. Once it bonds to the carpet, it acts like sandpaper on your traffic area. Once the traffic area yarns are broken down, there is no way to bring them back to their original state.
Two Primary Ways that Factory Protector is Removed from a Carpet
1. Regular Foot Traffic
Over a period of six months to two years, depending on the traffic, a significant amount of carpet protector can be removed from your traffic areas and needs to be reapplied.
2. High-alkaline Cleaner
Many cleaners use harsh chemicals on the carpet; those chemicals will strip your carpet’s factory protection. If you have had your carpet cleaned in the past, there is a good chance the cleaner removed a significant amount of protector. It needs to be reapplied.