CM/Spotlight: Carpet Care Color Repair Is Now Possible For Everyone With the advent of new technologies, repairing dye is easier, and more accurate, than ever. By: Jim Smith M James (Jim) B. Smith is an IICRC-approved instruc-tor and a senior practicing inspector. His educational studies come from Texas A&M University and the University of Houston. He has been in the clean-ing industry since 1975. For more information, visit his website at www. CarpetInspector.com/jbs or call (972) 334-0533 or (800) 675-4003. Most carpet cleaning technicians have not done spot dyeing because they had difficulty getting the right color back into the carpet and making the dye colorfast. Two electronic tools have improved the chances for success: ■ New cellphone apps measure the primary colors of red, yellow and blue. These apps are available in the online store available on all smart phones for a very nominal price. ■ Electronic pH meters are available from most cleaning supply houses. The reason these tools are of value is because the two problems in doing spot dyeing is color blindness and getting the pH right. These tools overcome these issues. Therefore, a better way of determining accurate primary colors is needed by everyone. By the way, dogs have only two groups of cone cells; cats have three, but not our three; and birds and fish have four sets of cone cells. This means all these animals see different hues along the color spectrum. Therefore, do not train your dog to do color repair. Additive Color Theory When red, green and blue lights are mixed together, they make white light. This is why televisions sometimes have red, green and blue cables. Image courtesy of ArturMarciniec/iStockphoto/Thinkstock Color Blindness Some degree of color blindness affects approxi-mately 10 percent of men and one percent of wom-en. It rarely means one only sees gray; instead, the normal human eye sees in three hues: ■ Red ■ Green ■ Blue. This ability is due to a special cell-group behind the retina of each eye called “cone” cells, which are like radio receivers. Red, green and blue represent three different ra-dio frequencies. When one cannot properly see one of these col-ors, the condition is known as Daltonism. Even without this condition, most senses can grow numb after a while. For many, this numbing effect happens in the fi-nal stages of spot dyeing, when the discernment is most critical. for more info Visit www.cmmonline.com and type in search keyword: Carpet Repair . For more information on related products, visit www.cmmonline.com , select BUYERS’ GUIDE from the main navigation bar, and enter keyword: Dye Repair . We now have the technology to help make dye repairs easier and more accurate than ever. 20 CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management ® • June 2013
CMM – Archives June 2013: 20
