Berber carpet
Berber is a looped carpet, often olefin, that hides soil well but can wick stains back up and snag. Because it is frequently oil-loving olefin, it needs regular oil removal, and spills should be treated at the source so contamination in the backing does not wick to the surface as it dries.
What makes it Berber
Berber is a construction rather than a fibre: continuous loops left uncut, usually in a heavier flecked yarn. The loops are what give it the dense, low, hard-wearing surface.
It is most often made in olefin, sometimes nylon, occasionally wool. The fibre underneath decides how it behaves chemically, so "Berber" alone does not tell a cleaner what they are dealing with.
It hides soil, which is not the same as not having it
The flecked colouring and the dense loop conceal dry particulate remarkably well. That is a genuine advantage for appearance and a real liability for maintenance, because the visual signal most households rely on simply does not arrive.
On an olefin Berber the oil is accumulating the whole time regardless. By the time it does look grey, the sand has been grinding at the wear surface for a long while.
Wicking is the characteristic problem
A loop construction over an absorbent backing gives a spill a clear route down. Once material reaches the backing, moisture from a later cleaning carries it back up to the surface as the carpet dries, and the spot reappears a day later — sometimes larger than it was.
That is wicking, and it is diagnostic rather than a cleaning failure: it means the deposit sat below the level a surface pass reaches, so it needs a sub-surface flush rather than another pass across the face.
And a snag is a repair, not a clean
Because the loops are continuous, a pulled loop runs. Vacuums with aggressive beater bars, pet claws and furniture all do it, and a run that is left gets longer.
A snagged loop should be trimmed level rather than pulled, and a genuine run needs a repair. No amount of cleaning addresses it, and we will say so at the walk-through rather than afterwards.
The follow-up
questions.
Not hard, but unforgiving of shortcuts. It hides soil so it gets left too long, it is usually olefin so it holds oil, and its construction makes spills wick back up if they were not treated at the source.
Wicking. The spill reached the backing, and moisture from cleaning carries the remainder up to the surface as it dries. It indicates a sub-surface deposit, which needs flushing rather than another surface pass.
A snag should be trimmed level rather than pulled. A genuine run needs a repair by an installer — it is not something cleaning addresses, and pulling it makes it longer.
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