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To keep your carpet looking its best, it’s important to deep clean it from time to time. Here are 5 easy steps to follow to deep clean your carpet yourself…

1. Shampoo the carpet

There are plenty of good carpet shampoos available these days, and they’re pretty easy to use if you follow the manufacturer’s instructions. If you can, choose a carpet shampoo that includes a protecting agent in it, such as ScotchGard.

2. Use a carpet cleaning machine

To get an even better result than hand shampooing your carpet, hire yourself a carpet cleaning machine. You can hire carpet cleaning vacuum cleaners from local hardware stores, usually charged by the day at around £20-£30 per day.

3. Use ice to remove carpet dents

We’ve all seen the indents that heavy furniture leaves on a carpet. But did you know that rubbing an ice cube over them can help remove the carpet denting? Give it a try, it’s like magic.

4. Be quick (and gentle) with stains

If you notice a liquid stain on your carpet, try and treat it as soon as you can to avoid it sinking in and drying out. And when you do clean it, take care not to over-blot it as that can push the liquid further into the carpet fibres and make the stain worse.

If it’s a bad stain, you can use a pre-treatment carpet cleaning product, to help loosen the stain before you clean it.

5. Dry the carpet thoroughly

If you let your carpet get too wet it can actually cause the staining from underlay or the dyes of backing materials. Instead make sure you dry it out properly, using a hair-dryer if necessary to speed up the drying process.

How long does it take for carpet to dry after cleaning?

Depending on the time of year and the method of cleaning, an average carpet will take 6-10 hours – though in winter months it can take up to 24 hours to be completely dry.

How to dry carpet fast after cleaning

There are a few ways that you can help speed up the drying process after cleaning your carpets, including:

• Create a good air flow by opening windows to let fresh air help dry out the carpets – great in the warm summer months, not so effective in cold weather
• Use a fan or blower to help move the air around, which will help dry the carpets faster
• Use a hair dryer to dry out your carpet if you cleaned in certain isolated spots, not such a great method to use if you’ve done a large area of carpet

Don’t have the time or energy to deep clean the carpets yourself? Fret not, we’ve got plenty of carpet cleaning companies operating in Alford who can do it for you. Use our online search to find carpet cleaners available near you.

If you’re looking to get the best results from cleaning your carpets, we would always recommend hiring a professional carpet cleaner to do the work for you. As skilled experts in treating stains and cleaning carpets, a professional carpet cleaner has the right tools and products to get your carpet look as clean as possible.

Benefits of hiring a professional carpet cleaner

Here are some of the reasons why hiring a professional carpet cleaning service is worth the money you spend:

• It saves you the time and hassle of doing it yourself

• A professional carpet cleaner know the best cleaning method and products to use on your carpet

• They’ll clean your carpet thoroughly without causing damage to the fibres

• Experienced carpet cleaners can do the job much more quickly and efficiently than a DIY attempt at carpet cleaning

• They already have the tools for the job

• Most reputable carpet cleaners will offer a customer satisfaction guarantee so you can be confident they’ll do a good job

It’s quick and easy to get quotes from the best carpet cleaning companies in Alford with our get a quote feature. Pop in the details of your carpet cleaning job and we’ll reach out to local carpet cleaners that come well recommended by your neighbours.

How long does carpet cleaning take?

The length of time it takes to clean a carpet will depend on a number of factors, including: the size of the room, the number of rooms, the condition of the carpet, the method of cleaning, and the experience of the carpet cleaner.

As a general rule, you can expect a professional carpet cleaner to take about 30-40 minutes per room. Bear in mind that if carpets are heavily stained and/or require a pre-treatment, then this will take longer.

How does steam carpet cleaning work?

A steam cleaner uses actual steam to clean various types of surfaces, but shouldn’t typically be used for cleaning carpets and the steam can damage the carpet fibres and also remove the protection of any anti-stain treatment.

Instead, a traditional carpet deep cleaner is usually used, which is designed to push a mixture of warm water and cleaning solution into the carpet to clean deep down. The ‘dirty’ solution is then sucked up from the carpet, leaving the fibres and carpet base clean.

If in doubt, speak to your local carpet cleaning experts for their professional advice – they’ll be more than happy to suggest the best cleaning method for your carpet, and give you a quote at the same time.

If you’ve noticed that your fabric sofa is looking a bit grubby or has collected stains that you want to get rid of, here’s our quick guide to the best way to clean a fabric sofa…

1. Remove any loose dirt

Before you whip out your upholstery cleaning products, it’s a good idea to remove any loose dirt, pet hair and debris from the sofa. Using a handheld vacuum or the upholstery attachment for your main vacuum will make it quick and easy work to complete the first step of cleaning your sofa. Just make sure you vacuum all the crevices of your sofa to get all the debris out.

2. Remember to clean the legs

It’s surprising how many people forget to clean their sofa legs when cleaning the rest of the sofa fabric. Even if the sofa legs are made of wood or metal, give them a wipe down.

3. Always read the (sofa) label

Just like you would with a new item of clothing, when you’re cleaning a sofa you need to check the label for guidance on how best to clean it – and what not to do. Here’s a key to help you understand the codes on sofa labels:

• W = You can use water or water-based products
• S = Only use water-free, solvent-based cleaners
• SW or WS = You can go use water or a solvent cleaner
• X = Only vacuuming or brushing, no water

4. Start with spot cleaning

Once you know what products you can and can’t be used to clean your sofa, you’re ready to start cleaning. Though before doing the whole sofa, start with a spot test on a discreet, unseen part on your sofa to check that the fabric is safe to clean.

Once you’re confident that the cleaning product and sofa are a good match, you can get to work on the whole sofa:

• Dampen a microfibre cloth with your cleaning solution and gently dab or scrub any stained areas on your sofa
• Moisten a clean cloth with water and use to remove the soap (rinsing regularly)
• Use a dry cloth to remove excess moisture from the area while gently rubbing

Top tip: It might be tempting to vigorously scrub any visible stains, but it’s important to be gentle so that you don’t damage the fibres of the sofa fabric.

5. Dry the sofa thoroughly

After you finish cleaning your whole sofa, use a towel to dry it and then leave it overnight to completely dry out. If the weather is warm enough you might want to open a window to help the sofa fabric dry out faster.

If your sofa label shows an X, or you don’t have the time or energy to clean the sofa yourself, hire an upholstery cleaner to do it for you. Use our get a quote feature to get multiple quotes from sofa cleaning companies operating in Alford.

What is upholstery cleaning?

Upholstery cleaning is the removal of dirt and stains from the fabric on your furniture, such as sofas, armchairs and dining chairs. Upholstery cleaning can involve cleaning the entire piece of furniture, or cleaning the fabric in isolated spots if the dirt or staining only affects a small patch of the fabric.

Here are some average upholstery cleaning costs you might expect to pay in Alford:

• Armchair – price starting from £15 steam clean or £40 dry clean
• 2-seater sofa – from £35 steam clean or £60 dry clean
• 3-seater sofa – from £45 steam clean or £80 dry clean
• 4-seater sofa – from £100 dry clean

For an accurate cost, scroll/swipe up and contact your local Checkatrade-approved upholstery cleaners.

For cleaning upholstery, you’ll usually be quoted a price per item of furniture – which will vary depending on whether it’s dry cleaning or steam cleaning.

Here's how you can make sure you find and hire the right carpet and upholstery cleaners for you:

1. Search a trade directory

Our directory is the go-to resource for homeowners looking for tradespeople, suppliers, and cleaners for home improvement projects.

Tradespeople only get a place in our listings if they pass up to 12 checks.

2. Check online reviews

Looking at online reviews can be super helpful when deciding which carpet cleaning company to use.

A quick online search will help you check a cleaner’s credentials, including the work quality and comments from their previous customers.

At Checkatrade, we only display reviews from real-life customers.

3. Ask for recommendations

Your friends, family, and neighbours can be great sources of recommendations for carpet & furniture cleaning companies near you. Ask around to see who comes recommended.

And don’t forget to cross-check those recommendations on Checkatrade!