Homeowners love soft surfaces like carpet, but they don’t always love maintaining them. Vacuuming every week or so is one thing; scheduling a hot-water extraction is quite another. How do manufacturers keep claims down when they know that consumers are not always going to follow maintenance procedures? By offering a full range of treatments built-in to the product. These treatments aren’t designed to replace regular cleaning and maintenance, but they do make missing an appointment here and there a little more forgiving.
Invista Surfaces, which owns the Stainmaster brand, offers four treatments for carpet, to protect against stains, soil, fading and static. Steve Griffith, chief marketing officer, said first it is important to understand the difference between stains and soiling. “When consumers spill something and react quickly, that’s a stain. Soil builds up over time. Over half of all carpet claims are for soil.”