Filtration lines are those dark, grayish, black lines that may appear on carpet along the baseboards or under doors. Here in San Diego we don’t have clean air no matter how you like to think so. In addition to the air pollution that rolls in from Mexico, we have sticky jet fuel downtown, we have dust from East County and along with exhaust emission we also have tire particulate pollution from areas around freeway. We also create our own indoor pollution with candles, the fireplace, gas stoves, incense, and smoking. This has become a common problem today because homes are much more air tight than in the past.
Are walls have about 1/2 – 3/4″ gap before they meet the sub floor and it is here where the carpet get stuffed once it’s tacked. Stairs have plywood gaps, mobile homes also have a large center line gap and many upstairs rooms where air is inhaled & exhaled on a continuous basis. when we use our heating or air conditioning system we introduce the pressures & force these areas to breathe.
The end result of this continuous breathing of your home is a collection depot of the very fine deposits of pollutants that get trapped in these areas. Another factor is the charge that gets applied to these areas. Think of these areas as a charged filter like the old Ionic Breeze machine. You know, the walls had a mysterious of black stain that wouldn’t come off.
You will notice on many white or light colored carpets that you get these lines under doors that are normally kept closed and air is filtered under the door. You will also see the charge effect where drapes or closet doors run across the carpet on a regular basis.
The soiling condition can occur quickly, or it may develop over a period of months or years. The level of soiling is dependent upon the volume of airflow and the level of pollutants in the air.
Filtration lines may appear around baseboards, under doors, along the edges of stairs and possibly away from walls where plywood sub flooring materials have been joined. It may also occur under the skirting of furniture. Generally, the concentrated air flow will be from an upper level to a lower level of the home.
As said, filtration soiling can occur under closed interior doors where a central heating, ventilation, and air condition (HVAC) system is utilized. When possible, open interior doors to reduce filtration soiling that may develop under closed doors while the HVAC system is in operation.
While no one cleaning technique may be successful in all filtration soiling situations, recent innovations in soil- and stain-resist treatments applied to carpet have reduced the effort previously needed to remove the filtration soil. However, the complete removal of contaminants from the soiled areas can be complicated, depending on the type of contaminant materials present. To achieve the best results, the services of a cleaning professional should be considered.
Filtration soil is a complex mix of very fine even microscopic chemical particulates such as carbon, sulfur, oxides and silica soil plus oils. This very fine soil strongly attaches to carpet fibers and are not always removable.
