Carpet Shading

Carpets Shading, what is it?

A carpet or rug can sometimes seem to appear lighter or darker in some areas making them stick out to the rest of the carpet, this effect is caused by changed in the direction of the pile and made visible by light reflecting of the carpet surface.

Depending on the direction you look at the carpet from, these areas will appear lighter or darker than the rest of the carpet, This condition is called shading, pile reversal, pooling or watermarking. 

The pile of a carpet has a natural slope called pile direction. As long as all the tufts slant in the same direction as they usually do the carpet will appear the same colour from whatever angle you look although the whole piece can look light and darker depending if you are looking into the pile or on top of it.

Over time some of the tufts may lean against the the rest of the pile which causes light to be reflected differently in certain parts of the carpet.  These changes in the direction of the pile usually occur gradually in traffic areas or in front of frequently used furniture. in some cases shading can occur in areas of less use and even under furniture, it can even happen in brand new carpets!

Shading happens most on deep, dense cut pile carpet and the issue is most obvious on plain carpets,  patterned carpets hide the issue quite well. In some cases shading can appear worse after the carpet has been cleaned which make the client believe the shading occurred because of the carpet being cleaned.

Shading doesn’t affect the durability or wear of a carpet and is not a manufacturing defect or fitting fault, it cannot be predicted or prevented.

Not a lot can be done to prevent or correct shading, it is a characteristic of certain types of carpet, however it can be helped by brushing the pile in one direction during weekly maintenance for example, vacuuming.