Is my carpet worn out, or does it just need a clean?
You want to know whether this carpet has anything left in it.
A carpet is finished when the pile no longer stands back up, when the backing shows through in the traffic route, when ripples return after restretching, or when smells come back within days of a professional clean. Everything short of that is usually a cleaning job.
Written for: Anyone looking at a tired floor and wondering whether to spend on cleaning or on replacing.
The five signs it is genuinely finished
Look at the traffic route and the corners of the same room side by side. The corners tell you what the carpet used to be, and the difference tells you how much life is left.
- Matted pile that does not lift after vacuuming or steam cleaning
- Backing visible through the pile anywhere on the walking route
- Ripples or waves that come back after being restretched
- A smell that returns within days of a professional clean
- Seams lifting, edges fraying, or gripper showing at the skirting
Signs that look terminal but are not
Shading and pile reversal, where a patch looks lighter or darker from one direction, is a characteristic of cut pile carpet rather than damage. Flattening under furniture usually recovers once the furniture moves. Old stains that a domestic machine will not shift often come out with proper hot water extraction.
It is worth having a professional clean before you write a carpet off, because a good clean on a carpet with pile left in it can buy several more years.
The underlay question
If a smell keeps coming back, particularly a pet smell, the problem has almost certainly gone through the carpet into the underlay and possibly the floorboards. Cleaning the carpet cannot fix that, because the source is underneath it.
That is a replacement job, and it is one where the underlay must come out too, with the boards sealed before anything new goes down.
Age, honestly
Age alone does not decide it. A wool blend in a quiet bedroom can be perfectly good at twenty years, while a light polypropylene on a busy staircase can be finished at five. What matters is the traffic that has crossed it, not the date on the invoice.
If you are replacing, do it in the right order
Decorate first, then carpet. New paint splashes and dust are far easier to deal with before the floor goes down, and skirting boards can be painted right to the base without cutting in against a new carpet.
Still wondering?
- How do I tell a worn carpet from a dirty one?
- Compare the walking route with a corner of the same room. If the corner pile stands up and the route does not, the fibre is worn. If both look equally dull, it is soiling and a proper clean will help.
- My carpet has gone wavy. Does it need replacing?
- Not necessarily. Ripples are usually a stretching or humidity issue and a fitter can restretch it. If the waves return after that, the backing has gone and it is time for a new carpet.
- Why does the smell come back after cleaning?
- Because it is not in the carpet. Pet accidents soak through into the underlay and the floorboards, and no amount of surface cleaning reaches them. The underlay has to come out.
- Should I decorate before or after new carpet?
- Decorate first, every time. Paint, dust and filler are far easier to manage on an old floor, and the skirting can be finished properly before the new carpet is tucked in.
- Is it worth replacing just the stair carpet?
- It often is, because stairs wear several times faster than the rooms around them. Matching an existing colour is easier if you bring an offcut in, though clearance stock does not repeat.
Where to go next on the site
Bring a photo of the worn area to the counter
The team can usually tell from the pile and the backing whether it is a cleaning job or a replacement, and if it is a replacement you will get a price the same day.