Tales from the Floor: Mystery Spots

Every once in a while we’ll get asked a question on what is causing dimples in the carpet along the wall. They usually look like this: 

It usually shows up a few months after installation. It’s mostly visible on dense, saxony style carpets. It is on only one side of the hallway, steps, or room. The questions range from the padding breaking down, to something the installer may have done.

The favorite story Mark likes to tell is the homeowner said they were from the installers “knee kicky thingy.” After doing a thorough inspection Mark said, “by chance, do you have a cat?” The homeowner used some colorful language explaining that it couldn’t be the cat. Then said cat walks through the room in the exact spots as the prints. After some more colorful language the homeowner called his wife explaining that the *insert colorful language* cat was causing the prints. Ah, karma at its best…

Cats are perimeter and typically walk in the same places in a room. It can be because of territory marking or routine/familiarity. Cats also walk in their own footprints so their hind paw steps where their front paw did. There’s nothing wrong with the carpet. The cat found the place they like to step!