Rug cleaning in Harrow

Rugs in Harrow get cleaned on site where the fibre allows it, laid flat on a groundsheet. A rug is not a carpet offcut: the dyes, the backing and the fringes all behave differently under a hot rinse.

Prices

Up to 2m² is £35, larger rugs are £51. Wool and synthetic rugs are cleaned by extraction. Delicate pieces get a low-moisture clean instead, which is gentler and slower.

The honest caveats

Viscose and bamboo silk do not take water well and can shed or stiffen, so on those we test a corner and sometimes advise leaving well alone. Vegetable-dyed wool can bleed, which is why we test before we wet anything. A fringe that is already grey from years of feet will improve, not whiten.

Drying

Flat, a few hours. We do not hang rugs to dry because heavy wet wool stretches under its own weight.

Large multi-generational Gujarati, Sri Lankan Tamil and Afghan households are common, and shoes-off habits keep grit out of the pile while heavy cooking oil in the air leaves a greasy film that plain hot water will not shift.

Fitted carpet as well? See carpet cleaning.

Questions we get asked

Do you take the rug away?

Not usually. Most rugs are cleaned in the house, laid flat on a groundsheet, and you have it back the same day. A rug that genuinely needs full immersion washing is a different trade, and where that is the case we will say so and point you at someone who does it rather than getting yours half right.

How much for a big living room rug?

£51 for anything over 2 square metres and £35 below it. Size is the only thing that moves the price. Fibre changes the method rather than the cost, so a wool rug and a synthetic one of the same size are the same money even though the wool takes us longer to do.

I have a viscose rug. Can it be cleaned at all?

Carefully, and with a warning first. Viscose and bamboo silk react badly to water, going stiff or shedding fibre, and any cleaner who tells you otherwise has not handled many. We test a corner. On some pieces the honest answer is to leave it alone or send it to a specialist, and we will give you that answer.

The fringes have gone grey. Will they come white again?

They improve. They do not come up white, because years of feet have ground dirt into the cotton and some of that is in the fibre now. Fringes also pull dye out of the rug body if they get over-wetted, so we work them by hand and stop short instead of chasing the last shade.