Two Glasnevins, two kinds of carpet
Glasnevin spans two postcodes and two quite different kinds of house. The older part, in Dublin 9 around Botanic Road and the roads off it, has Victorian and Edwardian red-brick, and the long avenues towards Mobhi Road and Griffith Avenue are lined with 1930s semis. Over towards Finglas and Ballymun, on the Dublin 11 side, the houses are later: estates of semis and terraces, and some newer apartments.
The carpet follows the house. Red-brick homes often have a woven wool runner on painted stairs and wool or wool-blend carpet in the bedrooms. The 1930s semis tend to have a long hall running from the front door to the kitchen, a straight stairs and a fitted carpet throughout. The later estates usually have hard-wearing synthetics. Each needs a slightly different approach, which is why we ask for photos before pricing.
Wool runners on period stairs
A runner is a strip of carpet down the middle of the stairs, held with rods or fixed under each nosing, with painted or stained timber showing on either side. Many in Glasnevin's older houses are woven wool, often patterned, and some have been in place for a long time.
We clean a runner where it lies, one step at a time, with a small hand tool. Moisture is kept low so water doesn't creep into the backing or run onto the timber at the edges, and the solution is one that suits wool. Before any of that, we check the colours, because some older runners have dyes that move when wet. Our wool carpet cleaning page explains the reasoning, and stair carpet cleaning covers stairs in general.
spotless.ieWhat a clean can't do is replace wool that has worn away on the front edge of each step. If your runner is thin on the nosings, the colour will brighten and the grit will come out, but the wear will still be there.
1930s semis and the long hall
In a Griffith Avenue-style semi, the hall carpet takes a direct line of traffic from the front door to the kitchen, and the lane down the middle goes grey long before the edges. A pre-treatment on that lane loosens the oily soil that vacuuming leaves behind, and the hot rinse carries it away. The stairs and landing follow, and we finish the hall last, walking out the front door.
These houses can be cool in winter, with solid walls and big front rooms. Drying typically takes a few hours, and air movers help a great deal on the landing and hall, where there's often no window to open. Leave the heating on afterwards and keep internal doors open.
The front room of a 1930s semi often has a bay window facing the road, and years of sunlight can fade the carpet nearest the glass. Cleaning brightens the soiled parts of the room, but it can't put back colour the sun has taken, so a faded band by the bay may look more obvious once the rest is clean. We'll point it out from your photos if we can see it.
The Dublin 11 side
On the newer estates and apartments towards Finglas and Ballymun, the carpets are usually synthetic and the jobs more straightforward: a stairs, a landing and the bedrooms, or just the bedrooms in an apartment. Synthetics handle hot water well and dry a little faster than wool. If you're in an apartment, tell us about the lift, the parking and any rules from the management company when you send photos.
Send the hall, the stairs and any runner A photo from the front door, one from the landing and a close-up of the runner's pattern is enough for a fixed price, usually the same day.
Student rooms near DCU
DCU's main campus sits on the Glasnevin side of Collins Avenue, so a lot of rooms around here are let to students. Some are whole houses shared by a group; many are a single room in a family home. The academic year shapes the timing. Summer is when rooms are empty, and that's the easiest time to clean the carpet and the mattress together.
If you let a room, it's a small job: one bedroom carpet, perhaps the mattress, and the hall and stairs if they've taken extra traffic. For whole-house lets, see our end-of-tenancy carpet cleaning guide. If a house needs emptying first, our house clearance team in Glasnevin can do that.
Glasnevin and the neighbouring areas
We cover all of Glasnevin, Dublin 9 and Dublin 11, and the areas around it: Drumcondra, Phibsborough, Whitehall, Ballymun and Finglas. For the area just south and east, see our page on carpet cleaning in Drumcondra. Mattresses and sofas can be added to any visit; see mattress cleaning.
A runner, a stairs and two bedrooms is a very different job from a whole house, so we price from what your photos show, condition included, and agree the figure before booking. We're insured on every job, and Ciprian, who heads up our carpet cleaning, took a Prochem course in 2018. You can read how we work on our Dublin carpet cleaning page.
