Carpet cleaning and rug cleaning across the Northern Rivers and the Tweed

A few hours for normal walking in socks, and back to normal by the end of the day. We groom the pile so it dries evenly and get air moving before we leave. If it is a humid week we will say so and suggest you leave a fan running, because on this coast that matters more than it does anywhere else.

No. We move what two people can lift safely, clean underneath and put it back. Beds, wardrobes and anything full of books stay where they are and we clean around them. If you want the room done wall to wall, clear it before we arrive and tell us when you book.

We test it first. Wool takes less water and gentler chemistry than carpet, and some rugs, especially silk, viscose or anything with an unstable dye, are better off going to a specialist rug plant. If yours is one of those we will tell you at the walkthrough rather than find out the hard way on your living room floor.

Most will. Food, mud, coffee and general traffic soil usually lift completely. Dye based spills, bleach, rust and anything already scrubbed hard with a supermarket spot cleaner are the difficult ones, and some are permanent. We will tell you which is which before we quote, not after.

We look at the floors, test the fibre and tell you what will lift and what will not. Then you get a price. If it suits, we book a time, and we can put it on a schedule with your regular clean so you never have to think about it again.

A hire machine will lift surface soil and it is better than nothing. What it will not do is heat the water properly, put it in under real pressure or pull most of it back out, and that last part is what matters. A carpet left too wet is the problem, not the dirt. Most of the damage we get called to fix was done by a hire machine used with the best intentions and too much water, so if you do hire one, use half the solution you think you need and twice the dry passes.

Once a year suits most households. Make it every six months with pets, small children, or a house that opens straight onto sand or a paddock, and you can stretch to eighteen months in a quiet home with hard floors through the middle. Vacuuming weekly does more for the life of a carpet than anything else, and it is what decides how long between deep cleans.

Yes. The two names describe one method: heated water and solution injected into the pile under pressure and vacuumed straight back out with the soil in it. No actual steam is involved, and nothing is being sterilised. Dry cleaning and encapsulation are genuinely different methods, lighter and faster to dry, and they suit maintenance between extraction cleans rather than replacing them.

It can, and this is where most rug damage comes from. Wool and other natural fibres absorb far more water than synthetics, and a rug that is soaked like a fitted carpet can shrink, cockle at the edges or bleed dye between colours. Natural fibres need less moisture, gentler chemistry and controlled drying, which is why any competent cleaner tests the fibre before starting.

Often, but not always, and be wary of anyone who promises it outright. Surface cleaning lifts what is in the pile. Urine soaks through to the backing and frequently into the underlay and the floor beneath, and once it is there a surface clean will not reach it. That needs sub-surface treatment, and in bad cases replacing the underlay is the only honest answer.

Home carpet cleaning is usually priced per room or per square metre, with a minimum charge for a small job, and rugs are usually quoted separately by size and fibre. What moves the price is the area, the condition, whether furniture has to be moved and whether any spot treatment is needed. That's why we quote rather than publish a flat rate that would be wrong for most homes. Tell us the basics and you'll have a price back quickly, with no obligation attached to it.