Can Carpet Cleaning Really Get Rid of Fleas?

When fleas take hold in your home, the first instinct is often to reach for the carpet cleaner. But is that enough? The short answer is: not quite. Here’s what you need to know to tackle a flea infestation properly — and why the best results come from combining two approaches.

Why Fleas Are So Hard to Eliminate

Fleas aren’t just a surface problem. These tiny parasitic insects lay eggs deep within carpet fibres, pet bedding, and furniture — and their lifecycle has four stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Most of what’s hiding in your carpet is invisible to the naked eye, which means a quick clean rarely gets to the root of the problem.

What Carpet Cleaning Can (and Can’t) Do

Professional carpet cleaning — particularly deep steam extraction — offers real benefits. It removes dirt, allergens, and debris, improves indoor air quality, and physically eliminates many adult fleas and larvae from your carpets. Accend Solutions’ carpet cleaning services use professional-grade equipment to do exactly this, reviving both the cleanliness and appearance of your carpets.

However, flea eggs and pupae are resilient. They can survive standard cleaning methods and hatch days or even weeks later, restarting the infestation cycle from scratch. Even hot water extraction, while more thorough than basic shampooing, is unlikely to reach every hidden life stage. Pest experts at Itch Pet and Rentokil confirm that carpet cleaning alone simply isn’t enough to eliminate a full infestation.

That said, carpet cleaning plays an important supporting role: by stripping away debris and exposing more of the carpet’s surface, it makes subsequent pest treatments significantly more effective.

Why Professional Flea Treatments Are Essential

To truly break the flea lifecycle, you need targeted pest control — not just a clean carpet. Accend Solutions’ flea pest control service addresses the problem at every stage, typically including:

• Contact insecticides that kill adult fleas immediately
• Insect growth regulators (IGRs) that prevent eggs and larvae from developing into new adults
• Targeted application into cracks, crevices, and sheltered areas where fleas hide
• Follow-up visits to catch any fleas that hatch after the initial treatment

This multi-stage approach is the only reliable way to stop an infestation from returning.

The Winning Combination

Think of carpet cleaning and flea treatments as partners, not alternatives. Cleaning removes the debris and many of the visible flea stages; treatment eliminates what’s left and prevents new generations from developing. Together, they cover every phase of the flea lifecycle — giving you the best chance of a lasting solution.

It’s a similar principle to pet care: grooming removes what’s visible, while vet-approved flea medication stops reinfestation at the source. Neither works as well without the other.

Practical Steps for Homeowners

While professional help is essential, a few actions on your end will improve results considerably:

• Vacuum thoroughly before treatment to remove surface eggs and expose deeper flea activity
• Treat your pets simultaneously — fleas on animals will reinfest treated areas if pets are left untreated
• Wash all pet bedding and soft furnishings in hot water before and after treatment
• Keep follow-up appointments with your pest control provider until the infestation is fully resolved

The Bottom Line

Carpet cleaning alone is not a solution for a flea infestation — but it’s a valuable part of one. When combined with professional flea treatments, it creates an environment where pest control products can work more effectively, leading to faster and longer-lasting results.

If you’re dealing with a flea problem and want it handled properly, the smartest approach is a coordinated strategy: professional cleaning to prepare the space, and expert pest control to eliminate the infestation at its source. Accend Solutions offers both services across Roodepoort, Randburg, and the wider Gauteng area.