Carpet Steam Cleaning FAQs

Drying time depends on the carpet's material and type, and on the humidity in your home. It can take anywhere from 3 to 24 hours to dry completely (occasionally a little longer), but you can walk on it straight after cleaning if you need to. Ask us about protective shoe covers.

Be wary of any carpet cleaner who promises over the phone that your carpets will be dry in two hours. That's rarely realistic unless you're having them dry cleaned or paying extra for drying equipment to be set up in your home. It's a claim made to win the booking, so it's worth asking how they'll actually achieve it.

This is a sales tactic known as bait and switch. The advertised price is set low enough to win the booking. Once the cleaner is in your home, you're told you need to pay for extras: stain treatment, an “industrial” clean, medium to heavy soiling, deodorising, rooms being larger than the quoted size, sanitising, Scotchgard protection, and so on.

A reputable professional carpet cleaner in Glasgow will give you the real price upfront, even at the risk of losing the job to a cheaper-sounding quote. Spot and stain removal, heavy soiling and deodorising should all be included in the price you're given over the phone.

Not with a two-step deep clean. Rapid re-soiling is caused by residue left in the carpet by poor cleaning methods, and that residue attracts dirt.

A two-step deep clean first uses pressurised hot water and cleaning agents to loosen the soil. The technician then removes the dirt and cleaning solution with a pH-balancing rinse and powerful extraction, leaving the carpet soft, clean and free of dirt-attracting residue.

No. The two-step deep clean uses a powerful fibre rinse, but it extracts the rinse, the cleaning solution and the dirt in the same step. Your carpet gets as clean as possible while the underlay and sub-floor stay dry.

To get anything truly clean, you need water to flush out the cleaning agents and the dirt. Hot water extraction does exactly that. Imagine washing your clothes and never rinsing them: that's effectively what happens to carpets cleaned without extraction.

The two-step process uses a pre-conditioning spray to loosen soil, followed by a hot water fibre rinse and powerful vacuum extraction to remove both the cleaning solution and the dirt.

Good equipment is only half of it. A carpet cleaner who has invested in a quality truck-mounted machine has taken the first step towards an honest, thorough job. The second is a willingness to take their time and do the job properly. If your cleaner seems to be rushing, that's a warning sign.

Yes and no. What harms carpet is poor-quality machinery that leaves too much water behind, so the carpet can't dry properly. Cleaned to the correct standards, with equipment that extracts the water effectively, your carpet has nothing to fear. Major carpet manufacturers, including Shaw Industries, recommend hot water extraction for cleaning.

Yes. Carpet protector is an excellent product and one that genuine carpet and upholstery professionals recommend. Most new carpet already has protector applied by the manufacturer, but it wears off over time through foot traffic and regular vacuuming.

Protector sometimes gets a poor reputation because some uncertified cleaners heavily water it down. If a price for carpet or upholstery protection looks too good to be true, it's likely being diluted too far to work.

Thorough, frequent vacuuming is the most important thing you can do to keep your carpet looking good, especially in high-traffic areas. It removes dirt particles that dull the carpet's appearance and wear down its fibres.

Use a vacuum cleaner with a turbo head, and put walk-off mats at entrances to reduce the dirt tracked onto your carpets.

A good vacuum cleaner makes a real difference to how long your carpet lasts. Almost any vacuum removes surface dirt, but only a quality machine removes the soil embedded in the pile.

We recommend a vacuum with a rotating brush or beater bar that agitates the pile to loosen embedded soil. Some thick loop-pile carpets can go fuzzy with a rotating brush, so for those a good suction-only machine is better. If you're unsure, ask a carpet technician.

There are three key things to do:

1. Vacuum frequently.
2. Clean up spills promptly.
3. Have your carpet professionally cleaned periodically.

We recommend professional cleaning at least once every 12 months.

When vacuuming no longer lifts all the soil, or spots won't come out with normal care, it's time for a trained professional. A professional cleaner knows how different carpets are constructed and which products and methods are safe and effective for each. Most carpet manufacturers' warranties also require periodic professional cleaning.

No. Many major carpet manufacturers recommend professional cleaning at least once a year. Soil built up in the carpet, combined with foot traffic, creates abrasion that breaks down the fibres. The busier the area, the more dirt and bacteria build up, and the more often it needs cleaning.

No. Years ago, some carpets shrank when cleaned because they had a jute backing. Jute is a natural fibre that can shrink when it gets too wet, and older steam cleaning equipment sometimes over-wetted carpets. Today almost all carpet has a synthetic backing that resists shrinking, and powerful truck-mounted extraction equipment stops the backing getting too wet in the first place.