How Long Does Carpet Cleaning Take

Cleaning carpets or rugs is neither easy nor pleasant, but it’s necessary for improving your home’s environment. Carpets may absorb smells, smoke, liquids and debris quickly, but they certainly don’t release them that easily. At least not without a good deep cleaning. Getting your carpets professionally cleaned is an efficient solution. One of the best advantages is that it can save you time and a substantial amount of work.

How long does it take to carpet clean a room?

If we have to give an average time, that would be 30 minutes per single room. An hour is usually the time an experienced carpet cleaning technician needs to tackle two rooms. This time can be extended to 80 minutes when additional house areas are included, for instance, carpeted stairs or a hallway.

Of course, you need to keep in mind that this time frame is not definitive. Every case is different and there are a lot of factors at play. Each one can prolong or shorten the time necessary for getting all dangerous contaminants out of a carpet’s material.

What determines how long carpet cleaning will take

The condition of the carpets

Carpets with light soiling usually require only a little bit of freshening up. However, if you haven’t deep cleaned your carpets and rugs for a while, then getting all the accumulated grime out will require more time and effort. Old or new stains, as well as high-traffic areas, need to be pre-treated with a specialised product before the carpets can be cleaned. A lot of people try to apply DIY cleaning techniques to remove the stains. Unfortunately, sometimes this leads to further damage to the fabric. With the stains being harder to erase, the time for the thorough cleaning of the carpets increases, too. 

The size of the carpet or rug

Larger carpets will inevitably require more work. When you have several of those in the bedroom, living room and other parts of the house, at least 10 to 15 minutes may have to be added to the average carpet cleaning time. 

The type of carpet cleaning method

The two main procedures to choose from are hot water extraction, often called steam cleaning, and dry cleaning. The carpet cleaning specialist will conduct an inspection to determine which is the most suitable method for your carpets based on their material. This is when obstructions like light furniture can be removed to help with the successful completion of the service. While the needed performance time for both carpet cleaning methods is pretty much the same, the hot water extraction procedure also includes a drying time of 3 to 6 hours.

How long do you have to stay off the carpets after cleaning?

As mentioned earlier, when the carpets or rugs are dry cleaned, you will be able to safely walk on them almost immediately after the professionals are gone.

Although your floor coverings may not be too wet after a hot water extraction cleaning, it is best to avoid walking on them or moving furniture back to its place until the material is completely dry. It’s not good for carpets to stay wet for too long or bacteria and unpleasant odour could appear. Therefore, consider ways to speed up the drying of your rugs.

If that’s not possible, at least make sure you don’t contaminate the fibres with dirty shoe footprints and resort to protective overshoes.