Carpet Cleaning

It works by hot-water extraction, not a quick surface wipe. We work a cleaning solution into the pile, agitate it so it loosens the dirt sitting down at the base of the fibres, then pull the lot back out under suction. That suction is the part that matters, because it lifts the loosened grime and most of the moisture in one pass. A domestic vacuum skims the top. This reaches the dirt you can feel but rarely see, the gritty stuff packed into traffic lanes and around doorways.

Yes, and on a lot of inventories it’s the difference between a clean pass and a deduction. Check-out clerks look hard at carpets, because that’s where wear and neglect show first. Flattened traffic lanes, marks at the doorway and a general greyness all get noted, and a freshly extracted carpet answers most of that. We can’t undo genuine damage like burns or bleach spots, but ground-in dirt and dullness usually lift, and that’s what most reports flag.

Most water-based spills and everyday odours come out: tea, coffee, mud, food, and the stale smell carpets pick up over a tenancy. Pet odours we can often knock right back, though a carpet that’s been soaked repeatedly underneath may hold a trace. Some marks are permanent and we’ll say so on the spot. Bleach has stripped the colour, so there’s nothing to clean. Old dye transfer, rust and ground-in paint tend to stay put too. We’d rather tell you straight than take money for a result we can’t get.

Most carpets are dry within two to six hours, depending on the pile and the airflow in the room. A thin loop pile in a warm flat with the windows open dries fast. A thick wool pile in a cold, shut-up room takes longer. Our extraction pulls out most of the water as we go, so carpets are damp rather than wet when we leave. Open a window or put the heating on low and it speeds things along.