Carpet Dyeing

[ACE]

I have the opportunity to experiment on trashed apartment carpets before they hit the dumpster. I will take the color class later this year but have a few questions. Can olefin and polyester carpets be dyed? Would I use the same acid dye that is used on nylon? What should I use to clean the dye from sprayer wand ect? Any advice?

 

[jerry ACC]

No, Oly and Poly cannot, unless you use crayons.

 

[harryhides]

Sounds like you are talking about full room dyeing. This is not taught in the iicrc color class.

My advice is to go to your supplier and get a jug of dye ( whatever color you fancy ) go spray it all over that room and see for yourself what a pita it is - best to get it out of your system. You can flush the sprayer out with water because if you flush it out with bleach then you'll have to flush that out too.

 

[ACE]

Yea, I understand it is not taught in the color class but, I though the class might give me some insight. Why aren’t there more guys doing dyeing? Is low quality carpet going in the apartments now days the reason no one wants to bother with it?

 

[Guest]

Mike,although most guys frown on it,it is nessesary sometimes because some properties just dont want to spend the moneyon replacement,in that case,yes,practice on carpet like that,and if you use dyelock and rinse well,you can have something that will buy the management a little more time.

 

[harryhides]

The problem with full dyeing is that you are dealing with a very used carpet ie you do not know what has been done to it.
My last full dye job - we had a strip in front of the sofa that would not take very much dye ( I'm guessing that a solvent based protector had been applied to the sofa when it was cleaned earlier. ) The end result was a mess - something much worse than existed before we started on it.

Too many unknowns and too little income to be worth bothering with, imo.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Mike
Your Olefin and polyester are solution dyed, the color is built into the actual fiber. Nylon's the color is applied to dye sites, so those sites can be chemically opened and receive more dye.

Another problem with dyeing is you are limited to colors you can change to, unless you had a white carpet.

Too often people thought they could go from an ugly color to a nice modern color, you can't. Plus stains and wear are not remove, just recolored.


Apartments are a good candidate for complete dye jobs. Not as picky, extends the life, just make sure everyone understands the limitations!