Wool Pile, Long Landings and Period Rooms: Cleaning in Lexden

Wool is cleanable, but it is far less forgiving than synthetic pile, and the wrong approach can shrink it, distort it or pull colour out of it. That is exactly why the fibre and the colourfastness are checked in an out of sight corner before anything else happens. If a wool carpet is not in a state to be cleaned safely, you will be told so rather than talked into it.

Sometimes, and sometimes not. Rugs vary enormously in construction and in how their dyes behave, and some are not suitable for wet cleaning at all. What is underneath matters as well, since moisture and boards are not a happy combination. Send photographs of the rug and of any label still attached to it, and Louis will tell you what is realistic.

It can usually be improved a lot, but be clear about what is happening first. If the middle is soiled, cleaning lifts that and the difference closes right up. If the pile there has been walked flat and abraded over the years, that is physical change and it stays, though it will still look better clean than dirty. On a long landing the two usually occur together.

No, but it is worked differently. Stair nosings take almost all the wear on a period staircase, so they are treated as their own area rather than given the same pass as the treads and risers. A steep flight also affects how equipment is run and where hoses can sit, which is why access is looked at before anything starts.

That is your call, but a well made piece is usually worth cleaning before you decide anything. The fabric and the construction are assessed first and tested somewhere hidden, and if the covering is too fragile or too far gone you will hear that straight away. What Louis will not do is take on a piece he does not think cleaning can help.

Not the cleaning itself, which happens indoors. It occasionally affects the practical side, because older properties in a conservation area tend to have tighter frontages and fewer obvious places to leave a vehicle while equipment runs. Mention how the front of the house works when you enquire and it can be planned around rather than discovered on the day.

Mostly it affects time rather than method. A large drawing room takes a good deal longer to work through than a modern lounge, and the visit is planned accordingly, which is one reason a quote follows a proper look at the rooms rather than a guess over the phone. Give Louis rough room sizes when you enquire and the estimate will be closer to the mark.

It depends on the damage and, more than anything else, on whether matching material still exists. Offcuts from the original fitting, or a piece lifted from inside a wardrobe or from under something permanent, are usually the best source. A repair aims to be sound and much less noticeable rather than invisible, and you will be told what to expect beforehand.

Age works against you, and so does anything that has already been applied to it. An old mark may have changed the dye rather than sitting on top of the fibre, in which case no amount of cleaning brings the original colour back. Plenty of old marks still improve considerably. Louis will tell you which category yours looks like once he has seen it.

Yes, and they bring their own habits. Those houses tend to have smaller and more separated rooms than the villas, and carpet that has been replaced more recently, so the flooring is frequently modern even where the building is not. The assessment starts with the carpet in front of Louis rather than with the date of the house.

Possibly, and the first step is establishing what the floor actually is, because the wrong machine or the wrong product on the wrong surface can dull a finish or damage it outright. Older houses in particular throw up surfaces that need care. Describe it or send a few clear photographs, and Louis will confirm whether it is something he takes on.