Carpet cleaning in Portobello

A machine that doesn't need the van outside

Portobello's streets were laid out long before anyone thought about parking. Red-brick terraces sit right on the footpath, the canal-side roads are permit or pay-and-display, and there's rarely a space outside the door you need. A truck-mounted carpet machine, with a long hose from the van through the front door, doesn't suit streets like these.

We use a portable hot-water extraction machine instead. We unload, carry it in, and the van can be parked wherever there's room, even a street or two away. The machine plugs into a socket and fills from a tap, and when its tank is full of dirty water we empty it down your sink or toilet. Nothing trails out the front door for the afternoon.

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Steep stairs and top-floor flats

Many of the older houses here were divided into flats years ago, so the one you're cleaning may be up two or three flights of steep, narrow stairs. That's fine. The machine and hoses come up by hand, and we're used to working on landings barely wider than the stairs.

Steep stairs are cleaned the same way as any others, by hand, one step at a time, with the small tool on every tread and riser. On a tight staircase we keep the hose close to the wall so nothing catches on banisters or doors. If the stairs carpet is shared with other flats, it usually belongs to the landlord, so check with them before booking it.

Small rooms, a lot of furniture

A Portobello flat often fits a bed, a wardrobe, a desk and a sofa into a space meant for half that. It's not a problem, but it helps to know how we handle it:

• Clear the floor. Shoes, bags, laundry, books and anything stored under the bed.
• Light furniture moves. Chairs, side tables and small units are moved and put back.
• Heavy furniture stays. Wardrobes, beds and full bookcases are cleaned around.
• Rugs come up. Lift them so we can clean underneath, and ask if you want them done too.

In a small room every square metre counts, so the edges along the skirting matter as much as the middle. We take the hand tool round them.

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Grey lines along the skirting

Older terraces often have a feature that puzzles people: dark grey lines along the skirting boards, under doors and around the edges of the stairs. It isn't dirt walked in. It's dust filtering out of air that seeps up through gaps in the old floorboards beneath, and the carpet acts like a filter. City-centre air and a draughty floor make it worse.

These lines respond to a targeted pre-treatment and a slow pass with the hand tool, and most improve a lot. Some leave a faint shadow, because the soil is very fine and has been building for years. We'll point them out from your photos so you know what to expect.

Parking: what to tell us

Before the day, a short message saves a lot of driving around:

• whether the street is permit parking, pay-and-display or has a loading bay
• the nearest place a van can stop for a few minutes to unload
• which floor you're on, and whether there's a lift
• the bell or the code, if the front door is shared

We'll take it from there. If a visitor permit is the easiest option on your street, we'll ask about it when we confirm the booking.

Flats changing hands

Portobello has a steady turnover of tenants, and the carpet is often what stands between a tenant and their deposit. Book a day or two before the final inspection so the carpet is dry when the landlord or agent comes round. Our end-of-tenancy carpet cleaning guide explains what a clean will and won't fix.

Landlords turning a flat round can book the same way, with keys left with a neighbour or the agent. If a tenant has left furniture or bags behind, we can clear those first: see flat clear-outs in Dublin.

Portobello and its neighbours

Portobello sits on the city side of the Grand Canal in Dublin 8, with Rathmines over the bridge in Dublin 6. We cover both, and the streets around them, from Harold's Cross to Camden Street. See our pages on Rathmines, Dublin 6 and Dublin 8, or Dublin city centre if you're closer to town.

Prices depend on the rooms, stairs, any rugs or sofas, and the condition of each, and they're fixed before booking. Rugs are cleaned on site after a colour test; see rug cleaning. We're fully insured, and Ciprian, who leads the carpet work, trained with Prochem in 2018. The method, start to finish, is on our carpet cleaning in Dublin page.