What is a Carpet Softwash – and Why It’s Often a Waste of Money
If you’ve recently been shopping around for carpet cleaning quotes, chances are you’ve come across some surprisingly cheap prices. Maybe you saw an ad offering to clean a room for £25 or £30 or an entire house for under £100. Sounds like a bargain, right?
Well, it might not be. In many of these cases, the service being offered is what’s known in the trade as a softwash. And while it may sound gentle and effective, the reality is very different. As a carpet cleaning consultant with decades in the industry, I’d like to pull back the curtain on what a softwash really is—and why it often leaves customers disappointed.
What is a Softwash?
A softwash is essentially a very basic quick wetting of your carpet. It usually involves spraying a detergent solution onto the carpet, then giving it a quick pass with a lightweight machine—often a hire machine or something not much more powerful than a domestic retail machine. The goal isn’t deep cleaning; it’s surface-level freshening up designed to be quick, not effective.
Softwashing is sometimes referred to as “splash and dash” in our industry. It’s quick, cheap, and doesn’t involve much training or skill. But here’s the catch: it doesn’t clean your carpets properly.
Why Softwash Doesn’t Cut It
The biggest issue with softwashing is that it only wets your carpet for show. It doesn’t reach down into the fibres where the real grime builds up—things like grit, pet dander, allergens, dust mites, and deeply embedded soils.
Worse still, because the machines used in softwashing are often underpowered, they don’t extract much of the moisture out of your carpet. This leaves carpets very wet, sometimes for 48-72 hours or more. That kind of damp environment is a breeding ground for mould and bacteria—not something you want in your home.
Many customers report that their carpets feel sticky or even dirtier just weeks after a softwash. That’s because the cleaning solution wasn’t rinsed out properly, leaving behind residues that attract new dirt even faster than before.
A Cheap Price… with a Catch
Softwash services are often advertised with very low upfront prices to get the phone ringing. But once the cleaner is in your home, it’s common for them to start upselling.
They might say:
- “Oh, that stain needs a deep clean—that’s extra.”
- “This room has a heavy traffic area, so it’s not included in the basic price.”
- “If you want it dry today, that costs more”
Before you know it, that £25 to £30 room clean turns into £150 or more, and you’re feeling pressured to agree because they’re already halfway through the job. Sadly, these tactics are more common than you might think, and many homeowners feel taken advantage of.
What a Proper Professional Clean Looks Like
Now let’s talk about the right way to clean a carpet. A proper professional clean involves multiple steps designed to not only make your carpets look great, but also remove the deep-down grime and leave your carpets dry in hours, or even minutes—not days.
Here’s what a top-tier carpet cleaning process typically involves:
- Thorough vacuuming to remove loose dirt and dry soils.
- Pre-treatment with eco-friendly solutions to break down stubborn dirt and stains.
- Agitation, often with a mechanical brush, to lift soils from the base of the carpet.
- Extraction using a powerful machine that filters and removes dirt and detergent.
- Drying with high-powered vacuums or drying systems to ensure carpets are left just slightly damp and ready to walk on within an hour or two, or even dry and ready-to-use.
This type of clean not only looks better—it lasts longer. Without sticky residues left behind, your carpets stay clean for months, and because they dry so quickly, there’s no risk of damp smells or mould growth.
Value for Money
While a proper clean may cost more upfront—perhaps £50–£60 per room rather than £25 – £30—it offers far better value for money in the long run. You’re not just paying for a surface soaking; you’re investing in the hygiene, comfort, and longevity of your home.
Think of it this way: would you rather pay a little more for a job done right the first time, or pay twice—once for a cheap softwash, and again when you realise it didn’t work?
In Summary
Softwashing might seem like a good deal, but it often delivers poor results, leaves carpets wet, and leads to unexpected upselling. A proper professional clean, on the other hand, gives you deep cleaning, fast drying times, and true peace of mind.
So before you book the cheapest option on Google, ask yourself: am I getting a proper clean—or just a softwash in disguise?