domestic
Rug cleaning
Rug cleaning costs £45 to £150 for an ordinary rug and £150 to £600 for a hand-knotted oriental one, which is nearly always taken away and cleaned at a plant rather than in the house. The difference is not service level: a valuable rug needs full immersion, controlled drying and dye testing first, and none of that happens on a living room floor.
What this covers
What it costs. Rug cleaning costs £45 to £150 for an ordinary rug, £150 to £600 for a hand-knotted oriental one and £20 to £45 a square metre at a plant. Full cost breakdown.
What the job covers
- Wool, silk, cotton and synthetic rugs
- Hand-knotted oriental and Persian rugs, cleaned at a plant rather than in the house
- Dye and colour testing before any water touches the rug
- Pet odour treatment, and moth treatment where needed
- Fringes, binding and small repairs
What is involved
Dye bleed is the risk that makes this a specialist job. Many hand-made rugs are dyed with colours that run when wet, and the test is a damp white cloth pressed on each colour before anything else happens. A cleaner who skips it and finds out afterwards has produced a permanent problem, and it is the commonest way a good rug is ruined.
Plant cleaning is a different process from in-home extraction. The rug is dusted first, which removes the dry soil that a vacuum cannot reach and which is often several kilos on an old rug, then washed by immersion, rinsed, and dried flat under controlled airflow. In-home extraction can do none of those things, and on a wool rug on a wooden floor it also risks the floor.
Fringes are usually the giveaway on quality of work. They are cotton where the rug is wool, they grey differently, and they need cleaning separately by hand. A rug that comes back clean with grey fringes has been cleaned quickly.
Choosing someone for the job
Ask whether they dye test, and whether it happens before or after collection. Before is the right answer.
Ask whether the rug is dusted before washing. On an old rug that is where most of the soil actually leaves, and it is the stage most often skipped.
For anything hand-knotted or inherited, ask what happens if it is damaged, and whether they are insured for goods in their care. That cover is not the same as public liability.
Common questions
Can a rug be cleaned in the house?
A synthetic or machine-made rug, yes. A hand-knotted or wool rug is better taken away: it needs dusting, immersion and controlled drying, none of which can happen on your floor.
How long will it take?
Three to ten days for plant cleaning, depending on the rug and the drying. Anybody promising same-day on a wool rug is not drying it properly.