Fun with Carpet!

WDD

WDD

Final Approach
PoA Supporter
Joined
Oct 16, 2019
Messages
8,855
Location
Atlanta / Marietta
Display Name
Vintage Snazzy (so my adult children say)
Home Airfield
KPUJ
Never saw this coming.

So, I took carpet out of plane for a good vacuum and hit it with home carpet cleaning machine. Had a spot on it I assumed was a stain.

And……. Carpet dye / color broke down and I have this mess. The “stain” was just the carpet loosing the color. I guess the carpet material just got old. Ordered a new carpet set from AirTex this morning.
IMG_1273.jpeg
 
WDD said:
Never saw this coming.

So, I took carpet out of plane for a good vacuum and hit it with home carpet cleaning machine. Had a spot on it I assumed was a stain.

And……. Carpet dye / color broke down and I have this mess. The “stain” was just the carpet loosing the color. I guess the carpet material just got old. Ordered a new carpet set from AirTex this morning.
View attachment 149024
Click to expand...
Get a real carpet knife if you have trim around the fuel selector. They are really sharp do a nice job of cutting clean.
I used to kick carpet. I keep one at each shop and hangar. Great for all kinds of cutting like opening cardboard boxes and more.
Put a fresh blade in when you start a carpet job and replace often.
 
I did a full Airtex interior back in 2014. I'm a big Airtex fan. However... Recently I discovered that the foam on the bottom of the carpet has completely disintegrated. It had crumbled into dust. This created quite a mess. I had to pull all the carpet and use a large wire brush to scrape all remaining bits of the crumbling foam off the underside of the carpet. A lot of vacuuming was involved to clean everything up. A little bit of research led me to conclude that 10 years is about the time this starts happening, so I was right on schedule. I'm keeping my foamless carpet for now, but if I ever replace it, I will find a place that doesn't have foam-backed carpet.
 
WDD said:
Never saw this coming.

So, I took carpet out of plane for a good vacuum and hit it with home carpet cleaning machine. Had a spot on it I assumed was a stain.

And……. Carpet dye / color broke down and I have this mess. The “stain” was just the carpet loosing the color. I guess the carpet material just got old. Ordered a new carpet set from AirTex this morning.
View attachment 149024
Click to expand...
I had almost the same color and it did the same thing. I’m guessing something spilled at some point that just leached the color
 
Initial Fix said:
I had almost the same color and it did the same thing. I’m guessing something spilled at some point that just leached the color
Click to expand...
OEM, AirTex, ???? I’m curious where this carpet came from.

Bonus: In our club planes we skipped the carpet and had a custom heavy duty set made with vinyl. Hard to stain, easy to wash, wears like iron.
 
Similar thing happened to me...both the color and disintegrating foam. I scraped the foam off and used RIT color remover to even out the color. If I were shopping for airplane carpet, I wouldn't buy Airtex unless I planned to replace it frequently.
 
WDD said:
The “stain” was just the carpet loosing the color.
Click to expand...
From the picture, I thought the "stain" is the original color and everything else is dirt/grunge.
 
WDD, pick a place and dab a little bleach on the carpet. I'm curious whether your carpet is solution dyed (meaning the yarn was made with color embedded like other plastics) or if the color was added through a wet dyeing process. I'd be surprised if anyone is dumb enough to supply wet dyed carpet for a use situation like aircraft carpet. FYI, solution dyed carpet/yarn won't lose color due to bleach.
 
asicer said:
From the picture, I thought the "stain" is the original color and everything else is dirt/grunge.
Click to expand...
Yeah, the original color was the darker, tan color. Had a lighter colored spot in the center, in front of where the fuel selector would be. After I cleaned it is when all the other patches of lighter, "splotched" coloring appeared. Literally pulled the color / dye out of the carpet with warm water and little carpet detergent.

kyleb said:
WDD, pick a place and dab a little bleach on the carpet
Click to expand...

kyleb said:
I'd be surprised if anyone is dumb enough to supply wet dyed carpet for a use situation like aircraft carpet.
Click to expand...

If I can find some bleach, I'll give it a try.
 
WDD said:
After I cleaned it is when all the other patches of lighter, "splotched" coloring appeared. Literally pulled the color / dye out of the carpet with warm water and little carpet detergent.
Click to expand...
You're sure you pulled dye out of the carpet and not grunge? ;)

Frankly, I think the lighter color looks better.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: WDD
Gary Ward said:
Get a real carpet knife if you have trim around the fuel selector. They are really sharp do a nice job of cutting clean.
I used to kick carpet. I keep one at each shop and hangar. Great for all kinds of cutting like opening cardboard boxes and more.
Put a fresh blade in when you start a carpet job and replace often.
Click to expand...
But be damned careful how you handle it, those blades are sharp!
 
My carpet is about the same. I’m trying to decide between new carpet and vinyl coin dot flooring. The vinyl is heavy, and I’ve readd that dirt, especially sand, will work its way below the vinyl.
 
ateamer said:
My carpet is about the same. I’m trying to decide between new carpet and vinyl coin dot flooring. The vinyl is heavy, and I’ve readd that dirt, especially sand, will work its way below the vinyl.
Click to expand...
Can't see how you'd get more sand and dirt under vinyl than you would with carpet. Either would be in removable panels, sections.
 
WDD said:
OEM, AirTex, ???? I’m curious where this carpet came from.

Bonus: In our club planes we skipped the carpet and had a custom heavy duty set made with vinyl. Hard to stain, easy to wash, wears like iron.
Click to expand...
OEM was possibly airtex but there wasn’t a label and since it’s removable no paperwork
 
WDD said:
Can't see how you'd get more sand and dirt under vinyl than you would with carpet. Either would be in removable panels, sections.
Click to expand...
My guess is that the carpet will trap/hold the sand and dirt, whereas the vinyl will allow it to roll off the sides.

I'm wondering for cert. aircraft if the coin stamped vinyl is 'legal'. Does Airtex or others provide burn test rating, or is it needed the same as the other materials?
I would like the vinyl myself, although molded edges might help with the dirt problem, and possible spills. Seems the edges might get it the way a little though.

Weathertech, are you listening? ;)
 
Skyrys62 said:
I'm wondering for cert. aircraft if the coin stamped vinyl is 'legal'.
Click to expand...
It is and most product bought from reputable vendors will have burn docs. Have installed more coin dot than anything else. As to trimming out the edges there are various methods depending on attaching structure and what you want keep out.

Initial Fix said:
OEM was possibly airtex but there wasn’t a label and since it’s removable no paperwork
Click to expand...
If by no paperwork you mean a logbook entry it depends if the flooring was included in the empty weight calculation. If so one is needed.
 
mark.staggs said:
Nice. This is a similar option to SCS Interiors' vinyl options. Someday I'm going to switch since I like the idea of being able to "mop" out dirt and grease I inevitably track in.
Click to expand...
Most vinyl smokes a LOT when it burns. And produces toxic fumes.
 
kyleb said:
Most vinyl smokes a LOT when it burns. And produces toxic fumes.
Click to expand...
I'd assume the fire rated vinyl used would have that at an escapable / no worse than fire certified carpet level.

Tangent: I was cutting a little bit of PVC drain pipe with a Dremel. Got hot, melted a bit. Yikes - the fumes almost knocked me over. I see how people die in a house fire not from the fire but the smoke and toxic fumes from what it's built from.
 
WDD said:
I'd assume the fire rated vinyl used would have that at an escapable / no worse than fire certified carpet level.
Click to expand...
I know a little about carpet burn certification. I don't know anything about vinyl burn certs. I know even less about vinyl SMOKE testing or if that is a thing for light aircraft, just that vinyl typically has horrible smoke/fume issues when burned.

So ask for a sample. Set it on fire. Observe the results. FAFO if you will. ;-)
 
I'll take a pass on that home test. And I know even less about burn certs than you. But given the use of vinyl flooring in airliners, and that our interior guy installed vinyl from his supply of airplane appropriate materials, I'm confident burn cert vinyl exists.
 
kyleb said:
I know a little about carpet burn certification. I don't know anything about vinyl burn certs. I know even less about vinyl SMOKE testing or if that is a thing for light aircraft, just that vinyl typically has horrible smoke/fume issues when burned.

So ask for a sample. Set it on fire. Observe the results. FAFO if you will. ;-)
Click to expand...
The SCS interiors samples that I ordered have the relevant burn cert FARs referenced on the back of them. But, I like the idea of setting stuff on fire just to see what happens.

I'd assume the Lonseal is similar based off of the info in their aircraft materials manuals I found on their site.
 
mark.staggs said:
The SCS interiors samples that I ordered have the relevant burn cert FARs referenced on the back of them. But, I like the idea of setting stuff on fire just to see what happens.

I'd assume the Lonseal is similar based off of the info in their aircraft materials manuals I found on their site.
Click to expand...
A flame certificate doesn't address smoke or fumes. Vinyl is typically problematic from that perspective. Note that smoke/fumes are not mentioned in the relevant CFR.

 
SCS (and probably others) also sells wool carpet. More expensive than nylon but about the same price as vinyl.
 
dmspilot said:
SCS (and probably others) also sells wool carpet. More expensive than nylon but about the same price as vinyl.
Click to expand...
From a burn perspective, wool fiber is superior to nylon. Nylon is superior to polypropylene or polyester.

The downside of wool? It is wet dyed. There are no blue or red sheep. So bleach or strong chemicals will remove the pigment. Artificial carpet fibers generally have the pigment embedded in the fiber, which means they are integral and can't be bleached out.
 
  • Like
Reactions: WDD
kyleb said:
A flame certificate doesn't address smoke or fumes.
Click to expand...
It actually depends on the burn cert reference. In general, the industry standard is to Part 25.853 Appx F which does have provisions for testing smoke, drippings, and toxic releases. While the burn testing requirements vary depending on the aircraft certification (CAR, FAR 23) I prefer and always recommend 25.853 tested materials. And just to note the 23.853 reference is technically no longer valid on new aircraft since the Part 23 rewrite, however, its still valid on aircraft certified prior to that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top