How long a cleaned carpet takes to dry

Why hot-water extraction dries faster than it sounds

The method sprays hot solution into the pile and pulls almost all of it straight back out in the same pass. Very little water is left behind: what makes a carpet take a day to dry is usually a machine that cannot recover what it puts down, not the method itself.

That recovery pass is the slow part of the visit and the part worth paying for. A clean that takes an hour and leaves the carpet soaking has not saved you anything.

What makes it slower

• A cold, closed room. Airflow matters more than heat; opening two windows on opposite walls beats turning the heating up.
• Thick underlay, or a deep wool pile that holds more water than a synthetic one.
• A very dirty carpet that needed several passes.
• Damp weather with the windows shut, which is most of a Derbyshire winter.

What to do while it dries

• Keep shoes off and pets out of the room for the first couple of hours.
• Leave the furniture where we put it until the evening; we pad the feet so nothing marks in the meantime.
• Open windows if it is dry outside, or run the heating with a door open if it is not.
• Do not put rugs back on top until the carpet underneath is fully dry, or you will trap the damp.