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Nestor Kelebay wrote: Bionic: "This is the best group I could find to post my question."
I'm actually a little surprised by that remark.
"She lives in an apartment with a carpeted dining area, and she has 2 little kids. Not good for the carpet!"
Not if the person who specified the carpeting knew enough about carpeting to be doing that job competently.
I fully expect that dining room carpet is probably an Olefin carpet or a solution dyed nylon carpet. Nowadays carpet is made from three kinds of synthetic fibers (nylon, polyester and olefin) and one natural fiber (wool).
Olefin carpet is unique in that Olefin plastic cannot be dyed by conventional methods as Olefin fibers don't have polar sites on the surface of the fiber that dye moleules are attracted to. As a result, dye simply won't stick to Olefin fibers.
In order to give Olefin fibers colour, they use a technique called "solution dying", which is basically adding tiny coloured particles (called "pigments") to the molten Olefin plastic before drawing it into a fiber. The resulting Olefin fiber has colour because it has coloured particles encased inside it very much like the raisins in raisin bread.
Because Olefin plastic is non-polar, it is the most water resistant carpet made, and by that very nature also the most resistant to water based stains.
And, because the coloured pigments in Olefin carpet fibers are encased in Olefin plastic (which is very similar to polypropylene), you can use bleach straight out of the jug on a 100% Olefin carpet without harming the carpet. This allows a person to use bleach to remove otherwise impossible stains from an Olefin carpet without harming the carpet colour.
DuPont has spent a king's ransom trying to make their Antron IV nylon more stain resistant. Within the past 10 years, other companies have leap frogged DuPont by making carpet out of solution dyed nylon fiber. Since nylon is the strongest fiber with which carpets are made, nylon carpets are the longest wearing carpets. By making that nylon carpet out of solution dyed nylon, you also have a carpet that you can use bleach on to remove stains without harming the carpet. This results in a very durable carpet that you can get virtually any stain out of quickly and easily with bleach (without harming the carpet).
So, if whomever ordered that carpet knew enough about carpets to be doing his job competently, then that's either an Olefin or solution dyed nylon carpet in your daughter's dining room, and you may be worried unnecessarily.
I own a small apartment block, and so it's in my own best interest to keep abreast of technology. However, the vast majority of landlords don't, and it's very possible that whomever ordered the carpet really didn't know what you do now, and spilling anything on that carpet could stain it.
I'm wondering if the best solution wouldn't be to buy a 5 X 8 piece of inexpensive Olefin carpet, a 5X8 piece of 6 mil polyethylene plastic sheeting, and install them in your daughter's dining room to protect the existing carpet.
------------------------------------- ..in solidarity with the movement for change in Iran.