About WhatsCleaning
WhatsCleaning is an independent UK information site about carpet, upholstery and stain cleaning. We build free tools and write honest guides. We don’t clean anything, sell anything, or pass your details to anyone who does.
Why the site exists
Most stain advice online has two problems. It ignores the surface — as if red wine behaves the same on a wool rug, a nylon carpet and a leather sofa — and it’s usually written to sell you something. The result is confident-sounding advice that sets stains, bleaches wool and rings microfibre.
We built WhatsCleaning around the one idea that fixes both: the right method comes from the chemistry of the stain and the nature of the fibre, matched together. That’s what the stain finder does — every pairing gets its own researched method, not a reworded generic one.
Our methodology
Chemistry first
Stains are grouped by what they are — tannin, protein, oil, dye, adhesive, wax, ink — because that determines what dissolves them. Surfaces are grouped by fibre family, because that determines what they can survive. Every guide is the intersection of the two.
Industry standards, not folklore
Our guidance is aligned with WoolSafe product standards, NCCA (National Carpet Cleaners Association) best practice, and manufacturer care-label conventions (the W/S/WS/X codes). Where popular tricks conflict with those — salt on red wine, hot water on blood — we say so and explain why.
Prices are ranges, sourced
Cost figures come from published national cost guides and are always presented as ranges, dated, and labelled as estimates. We never invent a precise price, and nothing on the site is a quote.
No commercial interest
No lead forms, no affiliate links, no sponsored products, no referral fees. When a guide says “call a professional”, that’s the chemistry talking — we gain nothing either way.
Honesty about limits
Some stains are permanent. Dye on wool, aged grease on polypropylene, ink on aniline leather — there are pairings where the honest answer is “maybe, partially” or “this is professional work”. Our guides say that up front rather than after you’ve spent an afternoon scrubbing. And every page carries the same caveat: spot-test first, and your item’s own care label outranks us.
Questions, corrections, suggestions?
We’d genuinely like to hear them — accuracy is the whole product.
Contact us