Backing Separation
Description
The top of the carpet may start coming lose from the lower layer under the
influence of heavy traffic or decomposition of the glue joining the two
backings. The backing of a carpet comes in two parts- 'primary backing' is the
one that is attached to the face yarns while the 'secondary backing' is glued to
the floor. These two layers are attached together using latex glue. This is also
known as delamination.
Cause
This is caused when latex deteriorates under the influence of age and strong
physical forces also overwetting. Though a more expensive (and hopefully a better type of) latex
may not break down as rapidly as inferior quality latex, no variety is immune to
eventual decay.
Treatment
The primary and the secondary backings can be glued back together but it might
be a costly and labor intensive procedure. It may actually be cheaper to invest
in a superior quality carpet (backing) or to replace it, if damaged in a flood
replacment via your insurance company is best and if damage is caused by
the cleaning company the their third party insurance should pay out.