Comparisons and decisions
Clean or replace your carpet?
Clean carpet that is soiled, spotted or smelly; replace carpet that is worn out. Carpet lasts 5 to 15 years on Angi’s figures, and new carpet runs $3–$11 per square foot installed, against $75–$125 per room to clean.
In Moorpark: carpet cleaning from about $75 per room, priced before any work. Services fulfilled by our affiliated service partner, Maid VIP. Downtown and High Street, Mountain Meadows, Peach Hill and Carlsberg, Moorpark Highlands, Campus Park, Northwest Moorpark. Call (805) 552-5198
Should you clean or replace your carpet?
Clean the carpet when the problem sits in the fibers: soil, spots, gray traffic lanes, or odor that a cleaning or a urine treatment can reach. Replace it when the carpet itself is worn out: crushed pile that grooming won’t lift, a pad that has broken down, or odor that survives a urine treatment. Age matters too, since carpet lasts 5 to 15 years on Angi’s figures.
How long carpet lasts
Carpet lasts 5 to 15 years, depending on the carpet type, the pad and foot traffic, on Angi’s figures; HomeAdvisor puts it at 5 to 20 years with the right care. Regular professional cleaning is part of that care: carpet makers such as Shaw recommend hot water extraction every 12 to 18 months.
Signs your carpet needs replacing
Angi lists the signs that cleaning won’t fix:
- Stains that come back after professional cleaning
- Matted, crushed fibers in the traffic lanes
- Odor that persists after treatment, a sign the pad or subfloor holds it
- A pad that has broken down underfoot
- Allergy symptoms that cleaning doesn’t improve
- Age: most manufacturers expect carpet to last about 10 years with proper care
What cleaning and replacing cost
| Job | National figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Professional cleaning | $75–$125 per room | HomeAdvisor |
| New carpet, installed | $3–$11 per square foot installed | Angi |
| Average replacement job | $1,778 | Angi |
| Removing old carpet | $1–$5 per square foot | HomeAdvisor |
| New pad | $0.75–$2 per square foot | HomeAdvisor |
For three 150-square-foot bedrooms, cleaning runs about $225 to $375, and replacing the 450 square feet about $1,350 to $4,950 before removal. Replacement is flooring work: jobs of $1,000 or more need a license from the Contractors State License Board, and this site doesn’t refer them.
Typical national figures, not quotes. The cleaning company confirms the price before any work.
Pet urine damage: clean, replace the pad, or replace the carpet
Pet urine damage doesn’t always mean new carpet. When urine has soaked the pad, the stained section of pad can be cut out and replaced, at $0.75–$2 per square foot for new pad on HomeAdvisor, and a stained subfloor sealed, while the carpet is relaid and treated. New carpet makes sense when the backing itself has broken down or the stains cover much of the room.
Sources
Prices are typical national figures, not quotes, read October 2026; no Moorpark averages are published. Local facts come from the pages listed.