Steam carpet cleaning, as most people call it, is hot water extraction: a hot rinse is sprayed into the pile and a portable machine sucks it out again along with the dirt. It is priced per room, and a bedroom is £36.
No steam is blown into the carpet. The name stuck because the rinse is hot and a little vapour rises off the wand as it works. Room, stair and landing prices are on the carpet cleaning page; this one deals with the method and the drying.
Hot water extraction, step by step
- Dry soil first. Grit, sand and hair need to come out dry, since water would only turn them into mud, so vacuum the room before the visit.
- Reading the carpet. The cleaner checks what the pile and backing are made of and, if in doubt, tests a corner hidden behind a door or a sofa.
- Pre-spray. A solution matched to the fibre goes on and sits for a few minutes to loosen the greasy film that holds dirt to the pile.
- Spotting. Individual marks such as tea, wine or mud get their own treatment.
- Rinse and extraction. The wand sprays hot water into the pile while the vacuum in the same head draws it back up, so the water is pulled out almost as soon as it goes in.
- Grooming. The pile is brushed one way so it dries standing up and the room looks even.
Why a hire machine leaves the carpet wetter
The machines people hire from a supermarket or keep under the stairs work on the same idea, but with far less suction. More of the water stays down in the carpet, so it stays damp for much longer, and on a wool carpet over a jute backing that can mean shrinking at the edges or brown tide marks wicking up from underneath. Home users also tend to pour in too much shampoo. Leftover detergent is slightly sticky, which is why a patch cleaned at home often looks grubbier a month later than it did before. A professional portable machine pulls much harder, and the rinse lifts the cleaning solution out with the soil, so far less is left in the pile.
Wool, nylon, polypropylene and blends
Wool is springy and a little coarse to the touch, and it is common on the stairs and in the front rooms of older London houses. It soaks up more water than any synthetic and reacts badly to strong alkaline products and very hot water, so it gets a solution made for wool, a cooler rinse and extra drying passes.
Nylon is in most newer fitted carpets and in offices. It is tough and copes with a hotter rinse, though its dyes can shift under harsh spot removers, so the cleaner keeps to milder products on it.
Polypropylene is the waxy-feeling carpet in many rented flats and in loop-pile styles. It barely absorbs water, so it dries fastest, but it hangs on to oily dirt; the pre-spray is aimed at grease, and walkways that have flattened over time will lift only a little.
Blends, often four parts wool to one part nylon, are treated as wool. If you have no label or receipt, say what the carpet feels like and the cleaner will check on arrival.
Drying in a real London flat
A carpet dries when moving air carries the moisture away. In summer, open windows on opposite sides of the flat for a through draught. In winter, put the heating on and leave one window slightly open, because a sealed room with hot radiators just turns into a warm, humid box. A fan pointed across the floor helps, and in a basement flat a dehumidifier does more than anything else. A synthetic carpet in a bright, airy room normally takes a few hours. Wool, thick pile, ground floors in old houses with solid floors and a wet week in November all slow it down, so leave doors between rooms open and give it the evening.
Aftercare once the cleaner has gone
Outdoor shoes stay off until the pile is dry to the back of your hand, since damp fibre picks up whatever is on a sole. The plastic tabs or foil under the furniture legs stay in place until then as well. Put rugs back only when both the rug and the carpet underneath are dry, and keep pets with muddy paws in another room for the evening. Once everything is dry, a slow vacuum lifts the pile and picks up any loosened grit that rose to the surface. For the next spill, blot with a white cloth and cold water and do not scrub. A protector applied after the clean gives a little extra time to do that.
Questions about steam carpet cleaning
Can hot water extraction shrink a carpet?
Shrinking happens when a carpet, usually wool on a jute backing, stays wet for too long. Hot water extraction pulls most of the rinse straight out, and wool gets extra drying passes, which keeps the carpet far drier than a hire machine would. If your carpet has rippled or shrunk before, tell us when booking.
Will steam cleaning bring back a flattened carpet?
It removes the dirt, and the grooming at the end lifts the pile somewhat. Pile that has been crushed in a walkway for years will not stand up like new, though, and threadbare patches on the stair nosings stay threadbare.
Can a rug be steam cleaned the same way?
Most wool and synthetic rugs, yes, in the room where they lie. Silk, viscose, jute and some cotton rugs react badly to water, so the rug cleaning page explains how those are checked first.
What does steam carpet cleaning cost in London?
A living room is £43, a hallway £22 and large open floors £3 a square metre, with any one-off visit starting at £67. The price list has every item.