Potted Plants and Carpet don’t mix

It happened again the other day. A customer moved one of her potted plants in preparation for the carpet being cleaned and discovered mould and a carpet that had rotted away.

Natural fibres are more suseptable

This being a wool carpet and a natural fibre, it was particularly susceptible to this form of damage. Man-made fibres such as Nylon and Polypropylene normally don’t suffer the same amount of damage due to their composition. But they will suffer from mould growth on the dye sites resulting in an unsightly mess and a not very nice odour. Often the mould is able to be removed from man-made fibres but colour loss will occur. A very weak solution of bleach can sometimes work but colour loss will occur as well. For other spots and stains please use our Stain Chart.

This carpet above had completely rotted away, the primary backing being polypropylene remained. Obviously at some stage this will need to be repaired. As long as there is an off-cut or another piece of the carpet it can be repaired reasonably successfully. Sometimes carpet repairs involving re-joining pieces of carpet in small areas can be noticeable, it really depends on the type of carpet and the condition.

Problems can occur that are difficult to fix.

I really don’t suggest having pot plants on carpet. Even glazed pots can let some moisture vapour through, damaging your carpet. You will also always run the risk of over-watering the potted plants. This could result in water seeping under the pot where it could cause mould growth. Having pot plants with plastic inner containers still runs the risk of over-watering as well and if this is not noticed, the above carpet damage can result.

My suggestion, just don’t have pots on carpet. But if you have to, try to keep the plant above the carpet so you can see what’s happening underneath. Try to make the pot as waterproof as possible. Aluminium foil between the pot and the base or the base and the carpet will also help to a certain extent.