domestic
Curtain and blind cleaning
Curtain cleaning costs £20 to £45 a pair cleaned in place on the pole, and £40 to £90 a pair taken down, dry cleaned and rehung. The choice between those two is mostly about shrinkage: cleaning on the pole very rarely shrinks a curtain, because it never gets wet enough to, and dry cleaning a lined pair occasionally does.
What this covers
What it costs. Curtain cleaning costs £20 to £45 a pair on the pole and £40 to £90 a pair taken down, dry cleaned and rehung. Full cost breakdown.
What the job covers
- Curtains cleaned on the pole, without taking them down
- Take-down, dry clean and rehang as one service
- Linings, blackout and interlined pairs
- Roman, roller and vertical blinds
- Voiles, nets and sheers
What is involved
Most lined curtains are three fabrics behaving differently. The face fabric, the lining and sometimes an interlining between them were made separately, and they do not move at the same rate when they are wetted and dried. That is where a hem that used to touch the floor ends up an inch above it.
On-the-pole cleaning avoids the problem by not creating it. A low-moisture solution is worked through the fabric and extracted, the curtain stays hanging under its own weight the whole time, and it is usually dry within a couple of hours. It will not rescue a curtain that has years of smoke in it, but for dust, light soiling and smell it does what people actually want.
What really ages a curtain is sunlight rather than dirt. A south-facing pair rots along the leading edge and in the lining, and that fabric can tear on the rail during take-down. Any company that has done this for a while will tell you before they touch it rather than after.
Choosing someone for the job
Ask whether they clean on the pole or take down, and which they think yours needs. A company that only offers one will recommend that one.
Ask what they do about linings that have perished in the sun. The honest answer is that they may not survive handling, and hearing it first is better than hearing it afterwards.
Ask who rehangs. Getting heavy interlined curtains back on a rail is a two-person job and not everybody includes it.
Common questions
Will they shrink?
Rarely, if they are cleaned on the pole, because they are never saturated and never taken off. Dry cleaning a lined pair carries more risk: the solvent and the tumbling act on the face fabric and the lining at different rates, and the hem is where that shows.
How long do they take to dry?
One to three hours on the pole, with the windows open. Take-down and dry clean is usually three to seven days away from the house.