27/05/2026
Please read 🙏
We’re into the time of year (generally May to September) where I take many distressed calls from people who have used their own DIY carpet cleaning machines (the type you can rent from the supermarket or buy on the high street) to clean their own carpet.
The call usually sounds something like ‘can you help me, my carpet absolutely stinks after I’ve cleaned it’
So, being brutally honest these £200 machines don’t extract as much moisture out of the carpet as a £3500 professional machine.
This time of year when it’s hot and humid this can cause really bad smells that can last for a week or two. I hear it all the time and feel it’s right to help people with this post.
What causes this smell is the high humidity in the air, which prevents the carpet drying quickly, as humid air can’t absorb any more moisture. After a few hours tiny Mould and Mildew Spores deep in the carpet pile start to germinate and grow. As they grow they off-gas a musty smell (some people says it’s like cabbage or turnip smell).
It’s the opposite to what you’d expect. Most people think that hot weather means carpets dry quicker… but sadly not on humid days.
If you do get a badly smelling carpet the worst thing you can possibly do is clean the carpet again (or add any more moisture) as you are just adding more moisture and will make matters even worse.
The Moulds and Mildews that create the smell require moisture to thrive so will go on giving off an odour until the carpet is completely dry, which in the humid months, June – September, can take up to a week or two.
It can even happen to some of the cheaper untrained carpet cleaners, with under powered machines.
So, threee options to help eliminate this risk ⬇️
1) don’t use a DIY carpet cleaning machine on a humid day. If you insist on using one please open all doors and windows to try to encourage air flow through your property. And/or get some fans blowing through the room. That should help reduce the risk a little.
2) wait until the less humid months before using one of these machines. Use them October through to April.
3) ring a professional carpet cleaner…. But more importantly make sure they use anti fungal treatments and have a machine that’s capable of extracting a high amount of moisture from the carpet. I don’t know that exact percentage, but I’d guess that there are less than 25% of professional carpet cleaners who use an anti fungal treatment in every clean. I do, for this exact reason! A professional who’s trained and experienced will know how to use just enough moisture, use the right anti fungal chemicals and adjust their process on a humid day, to eliminate the risk.
I promise this isn’t an anti-DIY carpet cleaning post (I even have some customers who use me once a year for a proper deep clean, but use their own machine in between to take surface dirt off). It’s very much a post to try to help reduce the number of people who get a stinky carpet with a bit of insight 🙏👃😷
If you do get a smelly carpet I don’t mind you messaging and I can give advice and try to help by loaning you a fan etc - but I won’t re-clean it (adding more moisture) as it’ll just make it worse.
Hope this helps a little 🙂
