waterdamagequotesWet carpet: dried in place, or lifted and replaced
The most common call an Australian restoration company gets, and the decision they make in the first twenty minutes sets the cost of the whole job. Four of the five things that decide it are about the underlay and the floor, not the carpet.
Wet carpet is the most common thing an Australian restoration company is called to, and the decision they make in the first twenty minutes — dry it where it lies, or lift it — is the decision that sets the cost of the whole job.
What decides it
| Factor | Dries in place | Comes up |
|---|---|---|
| Water category | Category 1, from a clean supply source | Category 3 — sewage, flood water, anything that sat |
| How long it was wet | Hours, or a day | Several days, especially in warm weather |
| Underlay type | Bonded or felt, which release water | Rubber-backed or dense foam, which hold it |
| What is under the underlay | Slab, which can be dried | Particleboard, which swells and does not recover |
| Carpet construction | Synthetic, colour-stable | Wool or jute-backed, which shrink and can stain permanently |
Note that four of the five are about the underlay and the floor, not the carpet. That is the thing people find surprising: the carpet is usually the most salvageable component in the assembly.
Why underlay is the real problem
Carpet is a relatively open structure and air moves through it. Underlay is designed to do the opposite of that — it is there to be dense and to absorb. Once it is saturated, it acts as a reservoir feeding moisture back up into the carpet and down into the floor for as long as it takes to dry.
So restorers frequently make the economically obvious call: replace the underlay, keep the carpet. Underlay is cheap. Drying it is not, and drying it badly costs more than either.
The exception is jute-backed wool carpet, which is common in older Australian homes and is the one construction where the carpet is more fragile than what is under it. Jute shrinks, wool stains from furniture and from its own dyes, and the window for saving it is measured in hours.
Move the furniture, or put foil under the feet. Timber and metal furniture standing on wet wool carpet transfers stain within hours and the stain is permanent. It is the single cheapest thing you can do in the first hour and almost nobody does it.
What in-place drying actually is
- Extraction. A weighted extraction head pushed over the carpet pulls water out of the carpet and the underlay together. This removes far more water than any amount of air movement will, which is why it is billed first and by the hour.
- Air movers. Low-profile fans placed to push air across the carpet surface and, on some methods, underneath it through a lifted corner. They do not dry anything by themselves — they move moisture into the air.
- Dehumidification. The part that actually removes water from the building. The air movers put moisture into the air and the dehumidifier takes it out and drains it. Running air movers without dehumidification just moves the water somewhere else in the house.
- Monitoring. Daily moisture readings in the carpet, the underlay, the subfloor and the wall bases. This is the part that produces the document, and the document is what settles arguments with insurers later.
What it costs, line by line
Two Australian companies publish their rates. Reproduced here with the date read.
| Line item | Published rate | Basis | Published by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emergency call-out | from $149 | per attendance, excluding GST | QLD Flood Restoration |
| Standard water damage call-out, first hour included | from $198 | per attendance, not stated | Reztor Restoration |
| Carpet water extraction, first hour | from $250 | first hour, excluding GST | QLD Flood Restoration |
| Carpet water extraction, each hour after the first | from $90 | per hour, excluding GST | QLD Flood Restoration |
| Carpet dryer (air mover) hire | from $69 | per unit per day, minimum 3 days, excluding GST | QLD Flood Restoration |
| Dehumidifier hire | from $149 | per unit per day, minimum 3 days, excluding GST | QLD Flood Restoration |
| Carpet relay after drying | from $250 | per job, excluding GST | QLD Flood Restoration |
| Carpet cleaning, two rooms | from $120 | minimum, excluding GST | QLD Flood Restoration |
Multiplied out, a single room caught the same day and dried over the published 3-day minimum:
| Line item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Emergency call-out | $149 |
| Carpet water extraction, first hour | $250 |
| Carpet water extraction, 0 further hours | $0 |
| 2 carpet dryers x 3 days | $414 |
| 1 dehumidifier x 3 days | $447 |
| Total, excluding GST | $1,260 |
Two rooms over four days is $1,913 on the same rates. The calculator on the cost page does other combinations and shows every line.
Get wet carpet extracted today
The first twenty-four hours decide whether it is dried or replaced.
Drying is not cleaning
These are two different jobs with two different prices and they get conflated constantly. Drying removes water. Cleaning removes soil, odour and contamination, and it happens after the drying, if it happens at all.
hipages publishes Australian carpet cleaning rates of $40 to $60 an hour and $20 to $40 a room. QLD Flood Restoration publishes carpet cleaning from $120 minimum for two rooms and carpet relay from $250. Those are three separate published figures for three slightly different services and they are not interchangeable — which is exactly why quotes in this market are hard to compare.
When you ask for a quote, ask what it includes in these terms: extraction, equipment and days, antimicrobial, underlay replacement, relay, cleaning. A number without that breakdown cannot be compared with another number.
The mould clock
NSW Health’s guidance is direct about this: if water enters your home, completely clean and dry water-damaged carpets and building materials, and discard material that cannot be cleaned and dried completely. And NSW Health, Mould factsheet — mould returns unless the cause is fixed.
Carpet that was dried on the surface while the underlay stayed wet is the classic Australian version of this. It looks fine, it smells fine for about three weeks, and then it does not. The mould page covers what happens to the claim at that point, which is: less than you would like, because most policies cap mould at a sub-limit.
Get wet carpet quoted
Ask each company the same six things: extraction, equipment, days, antimicrobial, underlay, relay. Then the numbers are comparable.
Your enquiry is ready to send
Here is what happens after you submit:
- Your answers go to restoration companies that advertise for your postcode.
- No more than three of them may contact you, using the details you gave.
- You decide who, if anyone, you use. You are committed to nothing, and this does not lodge, alter or affect an insurance claim.
We are not a restoration company and we do not attend, assess or repair anything.
Common questions
Can wet carpet be dried without lifting it?
Often, and it is the preferred approach where the water was clean and the response was fast. In-place drying uses air movers and dehumidifiers to dry carpet and underlay together without pulling the carpet off the gripper, which avoids shrinkage and re-stretching.
How long does wet carpet take to dry?
Commercial drying is usually a matter of days rather than hours, and the published Australian rate cards this site reproduces carry a minimum hire of three days for dehumidifiers and air movers, which tells you what the industry expects.
Does wet underlay have to be replaced?
Frequently, and more often than the carpet does. Rubber and foam underlay holds water, does not release it readily, and is cheap to replace relative to the cost of drying it. Carpet on top of it may be entirely salvageable.
What does it cost to dry wet carpet in Australia?
On QLD Flood Restoration's published rates, read on 20 September 2026: carpet water extraction from $250 for the first hour and $90 an hour after that, carpet dryers from $69 per unit per day and dehumidifiers from $149 per unit per day, both with a three-day minimum, all excluding GST.
Can carpet that has been wet with sewage be saved?
Generally not. Category 3 water means porous materials are removed and disposed of rather than dried. NSW Health's position is that absorbent materials such as carpet may need to be professionally cleaned or replaced where they are mould-contaminated.
Sources cited on this page
- QLD Flood Restoration, published equipment hire and extraction rates
- Reztor Restoration, published call-out fee
- NSW Health, Mould factsheet
- hipages, carpet cleaning cost guide
- Insurance Contracts Regulations 2017 (Cth)
Every figure above was read from the source it is attributed to on 20 September 2026. How we check this.