by Brianna Crandall — March 10, 2014—The Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC) recently announced the publication of a new standard approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), as well as a draft revised standard, both related to textile floorcoverings, or carpets and rugs.
ANSI/IICRC S800 defines basic operational procedures and techniques for inspecting/evaluating: carpet types, characteristics and conditions; specification; installation procedures; and post-installation maintenance and cleaning. This enables professional inspectors to determine appropriate procedures for inspecting textile floor coverings. S800 is not written to teach detailed inspection procedures; numerous manuals, videotapes, workshops and seminars are available to teach comprehensive textile floor covering inspection procedures, notes IICRC.
This standard was created for use primarily by professional inspectors, and secondarily for carpet manufacturers, product suppliers, building contractors, architects, specifiers, designers, distributors, flooring retailers, end-users, facilities managers, institutions and others involved in the textile flooring inspection industry. Every textile floor covering has unique characteristics, and each inspection project should be carefully evaluated to determine proper application of this standard, notes IICRC, with any appropriate deviation tempered with care, common sense and professional judgment.
IICRC is revising the IICRC S100-2011 Standard and Reference Guide for Professional Cleaning of Textile Floor Coverings. The revised draft of S100 Standard is available from February 28 — April 14, 2014 for review and comment as part of the 45-day public review period. In addition, the draft S100 Reference Guide is also available separately during the same time period for informal peer review and comment.
IICRC S100 describes the procedures, methods and systems to be followed when performing professional commercial and residential textile floor covering (e.g., carpet and rugs) maintenance and cleaning. This Standard does not specifically address the protocols and procedures for restoration or remediation of contaminated textile floor coverings, notes IICRC, and no attempt is made to evaluate the strengths or weaknesses of individual cleaning methods or to compare or contrast one method with another.
