Cleaning a rug costs £35 if it measures 3 square metres or less, and £51 above that. The fibre decides the method, and the price stays the same whichever method it gets.
| Clean | Price |
|---|---|
| Bedroom | £36 |
| Lounge | £43 |
| Through lounge | £61 |
| Stairs, per flight | £41 |
| Small rug (to 3m²) | £35 |
| Rug, over 3m² | £51 |
| Carpet per bedroom, alongside an end of tenancy | £29 |
| Living room carpet, alongside an end of tenancy | £36 |
| Stairs, with a move-out clean | £35 |
Grit goes right through
A year of feet pushes grit deep into a rug. Some of it lodges in the knots and cuts at the fibre each time someone steps on it. The rest drops through to the floor, which is why lifting a rug so often leaves a grey outline on the boards. A vacuum run over the top face collects very little of this.
So before any water, the rug is turned face down and vacuumed from the back. The vibration shakes loose grit out of the knots and onto the floor, where it is easy to collect. Then it goes face up for a second pass. We keep going until the vacuum stops picking up dust, and on an old wool rug that can take a while.
Testing the dyes
Every rug gets a damp white cloth pressed on a hidden corner. Hand-knotted wool with natural dyes can bleed, and a rug that marks the cloth gets a cool, low-moisture clean, or advice to send it to a specialist rug wash. Machine-made wool and synthetics take the full hot rinse. Viscose is the awkward one (shops also call it art silk or bamboo silk), because water can stiffen it and turn it yellow, so we test carefully and may suggest leaving it alone.
Drying it flat
A wet rug dries face up on a clean floor. Hanging it would stretch the wool, so we never do that. On the engineered oak common in the Nine Elms towers, we lay a sheet underneath and prop one edge so wet wool is never sitting on the wood. With a window open it is usually fine to walk on by the evening and dry right through by the next morning. A rug that sits in a draught dries noticeably faster than one tucked away in a closed room.
Fringes
Fringes are the ends of the warp threads, usually cotton, and they collect the grime at the doormat end of the room. We clean them by hand with a brush and stop before they are soaked, because over-wet fringes can draw dye out of the body of the rug. They come up lighter. Grey that has built up over years seldom comes up white.
Rugs on Battersea floorboards
Rugs over bare boards are common in Battersea’s conversions and mansion flats, and old boards with gaps let dust rise from below into the underside of the rug. If yours lives in a room like that, clean the rug when the fitted carpets are done, since the kit is already in. A sofa can join the same visit too (see upholstery), and every other figure sits on the price list.
Questions we get asked
We have no garden or balcony. Where does the rug get cleaned?
Indoors, which is how nearly all of ours are done. The rug is cleaned where it lies on a groundsheet, or on a clear patch of floor nearby, and dried flat indoors with a window open. Nothing gets carried down to the street wet.
There is a grey outline on the floorboards where the rug was. Is that from the rug?
Mostly, yes. It is grit that has worked through the weave and dropped out of the back. Vacuum the boards while the rug is lifted and have them clear before it goes back down. A rug that sheds that much dust is overdue a clean from the back.
Our rug says viscose on the label. Is it worth trying?
Sometimes. Viscose takes water badly and can stiffen or yellow, so we test a corner and look at how the fibre reacts before deciding anything. If the test goes badly we would rather you kept your money. A dry clean from the back still takes a lot of dust out of it.
When can the coffee table go back on the rug?
Once the rug is dry right through, which usually means the next morning. Before then, put foil or plastic under the legs so nothing marks the damp pile, and keep the room aired overnight if the weather allows.