After many months of nagging the landlords work finally started on our bathroom tiling this month, a long and drawn out process, it probably would have been quicker and easier to do the job myself despite no previous experience. With all the old tiling chipped off the walls the young man set to work putting up the new tiles, I've never known the process to generate so much noise or so much mess and I was less then impressed when he left our home, a trail of dirty plastered boot prints making their way from the bathroom, down the stairs and towards the front door, his attempt at brushing up the dust and dirt had little effect and was undoubtedly just for good measure then actually in order to clean up after himself and so we were left with his trail of prints to clean up ourselves, I probably could have complained but considering how long it took to get the tiling done in the first place it would undoubtedly take twice as long to get the carpet cleaning issue sorted out and was easier to do the job myself.

As with all products of this nature it is recommended that you carry out a patch test just to be sure that the colour is not going to run in any way, but I've never been the patient sort and being in a mad rush to get the house perfect before Baby Lumpy arrives in July I set to cleaning the stairs straight away, fortunately there were no problems with the colour on my carpet. To use the spray you have to apply it directly to the fabric whether it be your carpet or furniture and leave it for a few moments, it's recommended not to get the fabric too wet though, then massaging the formula into the pile of the fabric going from the outside to the centre of the stain using a damp cloth or sponge. After working on the stain you should blot any excess moisture and then repeat the process but this time with clean water, again making sure it's not over wet and blotting up any excess, finally after the treated area has dried you should give it a vacuum to finish it off.

The spray itself has a citrussy smell, a little overpowering when you're up close and personal scrubbing the carpets and I'd highly recommend making sure you're in a well ventilated area or take breaks in the case of long jobs, it is dispersed in a fine mist spray and soaks straight into the carpet, I'm sure once upon a time you were left with foamy bubbles from 1001 products but as long as it does it's job I don't care if the product gives me bubbles or not. Because I had to clean my entire stairway and landing I used at least two 3rds of the product in one go however for smaller stains, or smaller areas the product will last a lot longer and is certainly worth keeping at the back of your cleaning cupboard just in case. The product claims to have a built in fabric conditioner which I'm sure would be very useful on upholstery, I didn't really notice a lot of difference in the softness of my hall carpet though and it also promises prevention from re-staining, now I'm not entirely sure how that's meant to work, after all if a bloke walks through your house with dirty boots he's going to leave a mess whether you've applied a stain remover to your carpets or not, I guess only time will tell if this claim is true.

Costing in the region of £2.99 for the 500ml bottle 1001 Troubleshooter is available from Wilkinsons as well as many supermarkets and home stores.