How we look after the house while we work
Foxrock homes tend to be large, detached and well kept, often with painted woodwork, good furniture and carpets that cost a fair amount. A carpet clean in a house like that is as much about how we behave inside as how well the carpet comes up. Here's what you can expect:
- Shoe covers indoors. On at the door, kept on throughout.
- Hoses kept off paintwork. We route them along the floor, away from door frames, newel posts and skirting.
- A test before anything else. Every carpet and rug gets a check of the fibre and a hidden test spot.
- Furniture handled properly. Lighter pieces are lifted, not dragged, and put back on foil or plastic tabs. Antiques and heavy pieces are cleaned around.
- Rooms finished in order. We work back towards the door, so nobody walks on clean carpet.
- The kitchen left as found. The extractor's dirty water goes down a sink or toilet, and we rinse it after.
It's simply how a house like this should be treated, and it's the same care we'd want in our own homes.
Wool carpets and runners
Wool and wool-rich carpets are common in Foxrock's larger homes, often in good weights and sometimes with a woven runner on the stairs and landing. Wool is one of the best fibres to clean: it holds soil loosely and releases it well. It's also the least forgiving of mistakes. Over-wet it, use too strong a solution or too much heat, and it can shrink, brown or feel harsh afterwards.
So the moisture is kept low, the solution suits wool, and the extraction is thorough, which leaves the carpet damp rather than wet. Drying still takes a little longer than a synthetic, typically a few hours depending on airflow, and longer in big rooms on a cool day. Our wool carpet cleaning page explains the reasons in more detail.
A runner on painted or varnished stairs is cleaned in place, step by step, with a small tool that keeps water off the timber either side.
spotless.ieFormal rooms and fine upholstery
Many Foxrock homes have a front room or drawing room that's kept for good, with a patterned carpet, a rug and upholstered furniture that's rarely sat on. These rooms don't get dirty in the usual way, but dust settles, sunlight fades, and the carpet in front of the fireplace or the sofa gets a light, even grey film.
Upholstery in these rooms can be delicate: damask, velvet, silk blends and old furniture with no care label. We check the fabric and test before any water goes near it, and some pieces are better left to a specialist; we'll say so. Our upholstery cleaning page explains which fabrics we clean. Rugs are covered on our rug cleaning page.
Send us the rooms, the stairs and any rugs Photos taken from each doorway, plus a close-up of the runner and any rug labels, are enough for a fixed price, usually the same day.
Guest rooms and rooms that wait for visitors
A larger house usually has a bedroom or two that only fills up at Christmas or in the summer. Those carpets get very little foot traffic, but they're worth a look before visitors come. Under the bed and along the skirting is where clothes moths like to settle in wool carpet, because it's dark and undisturbed. A clean doesn't repair moth damage, but it does remove the dust and fluff they live in, and you'll know whether there's a problem before anyone arrives.
The guest-room mattress can be cleaned on the same visit; our page on mattress cleaning in Foxrock covers it.
Planning a larger house
In a big house, it's worth thinking about the order of the day. We usually start upstairs, in the rooms furthest from the stairs, then do the landing and the stairs, and finish in the hall and the ground-floor rooms. That way the bedrooms are drying while we work below. If some rooms matter more than others, such as the guest rooms before a visit, tell us and we'll prioritise them.
You don't have to do the whole house at once. Many people do the stairs, landing and main rooms one visit, and the rest another time.
Foxrock and Dublin 18
We cover Foxrock, Cornelscourt, Cabinteely, Carrickmines, Deansgrange and Leopardstown. Most houses here have a drive, which keeps the van off the road and close to the door; just let us know about any gate. Nearby, see our page on carpet cleaning in Leopardstown. If a family home is being emptied for a sale or downsizing, our Foxrock house clearance page explains how we handle it.
In a larger house, the figure reflects the number of rooms, stairs and landings, any rugs, upholstery or guest-room mattress, and their condition, and it's settled before we book. We're fully insured, and our carpet work is led by Ciprian, who completed Prochem carpet-cleaning training in 2018 (certificate). The full service is on our Dublin carpet cleaning page.
