Stairs, landings and hall runners
In a Ranelagh period house, the stairs is usually the hardest-working carpet in the place. Every trip up and down grinds grit into the front edge of each tread, and the hall and landing take the same traffic every day. The wear shows first as a grey, flattened look on the nosings and a darker lane down the middle of the hall.
Stairs are cleaned by hand, one tread at a time, with a small tool on the risers and nosings and the main wand on the landings. Traffic lanes get a pre-treatment first, so the hot-water rinse has something to work with. A runner held with stair rods is cleaned in place.
Be realistic about what a clean can do here. It lifts the grit and the grey film, brightens the colour and takes out most everyday marks. It won't rebuild pile that has been walked flat for twenty years or mend a frayed edge on the bottom step. If the stairs carpet is close to the end of its life, we'll tell you from the photos, and you can decide whether a clean is still worth it before a replacement.
The two short videos on this page were filmed on carpet jobs in Ranelagh.
Wool, wool blend or synthetic?
Many period houses have wool or wool-blend carpet, especially on the stairs, while apartments more often have synthetics. It matters, because each fibre reacts differently to heat, moisture and cleaning solution.
| Fibre | What it's like to clean | What we watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Wool | Hides soil well and responds to cleaning, but holds water longer | Controlled moisture and a suitable solution, so it doesn't shrink or brown |
| Wool blend (often 80/20) | Behaves mostly like wool | The same care as wool |
| Nylon | Hard-wearing and cleans up well | Some old drink stains act like dye and stay |
| Polypropylene | Shrugs off water-based spills but holds on to oily soil | Greasy traffic lanes need a proper pre-treatment |
| Viscose or "art silk" | Delicate, marks easily when wet | We test first and may advise against wet cleaning |
If you're not sure what you have, the label from the fitter or a photo of the back of an offcut helps. If neither is to hand, we check on the day before starting.
spotless.ieRugs on Ranelagh floorboards
Plenty of homes here mix stripped or painted boards with rugs. We clean rugs on site, and a damp rug shouldn't go back on timber until it's completely dry, so plan on leaving it up for the afternoon.
Traditional and Persian-style rugs get a colour-run test before anything else, and the fringes are handled separately because they're usually cotton and can discolour. Some rugs, such as silk, viscose or valuable hand-knotted pieces, are better off with a specialist who can wash them fully, and we'll say so. The detail is on our rug cleaning page.
How a visit runs
- Look and test. We walk through the rooms with you, check the fibre and test a hidden spot.
- Pre-treat. Spots and lanes get a pre-treatment that suits the fibre.
- Rinse and extract. Hot water goes through the pile and straight back out with the dirt.
- Stairs and hall. It makes sense to finish here, so nobody walks over clean carpet to get out.
- Dry and check. Air movers if needed, then we look over the result together.
Drying is typically a few hours, depending on ventilation and carpet type. Big period rooms with high ceilings dry faster with a window open and the heating on. Our carpet work is led by Ciprian, who trained with Prochem in 2018 (you can see the certificate).
Ranelagh and the roads around it
We cover the whole of Ranelagh and its edges: Milltown, Sandford, Beechwood, and across to Rathmines and Donnybrook. Parking near the village can be tight, so mention whether there's a driveway, permit parking or a pay-and-display bay nearby. Apartments close to the Luas often have management company rules on access and parking, and a quick word with them in advance saves time on the day.
Each job is priced on the rooms, the stairs and landing, any rugs, sofas or mattresses, and their condition. A photo of each carpet and a note of how many flights of stairs you have is enough for a fixed price; send them on WhatsApp or through our contact page. For sofas and chairs, see upholstery cleaning; for beds, mattress cleaning. The wider service is explained on our Dublin carpet cleaning page.
