A lot of Fulham living rooms are wide oak boards with one good rug on top, and that rug takes the whole household’s traffic. We clean it in the room, lifted onto a waterproof sheet so the boards stay dry, once we have checked the colours hold.
Two sizes, two prices
Up to 3 square metres is £35. Over that it is £51, whatever the fibre. Multiply length by width to check: a 2m by 1.5m rug is exactly 3 square metres, so £35, and a 2.4m by 1.7m one comes to just over 4, so £51. A hall runner is measured the same way.
Add a rug to a visit for fitted carpets and it simply joins the total. On its own, one rug is below the £67 minimum, so pairing it with the stairs or a bedroom is the sensible way to book it.
The colour test
Before anything wet touches the rug, we press a damp white cloth onto each colour in turn, reds and dark blues first, since those are the ones that run. Any colour on the cloth and the method changes to cooler water and much less of it, with a fan on afterwards. Hand-knotted wool with vegetable dyes gets extra care at this stage.
The rugs that worry us most are viscose, which shops label art silk or bamboo silk. Wet viscose loses strength and the pile can flatten and twist. Brown marks can also surface as it dries. We test a corner, and on some pieces we will tell you it is better left without water altogether. Real hand-knotted silk usually belongs with a specialist rug washer, and we say so when we see one.
The fringe, and the back
A fringe is cotton, the loose ends of the warp threads, and it is usually the dirtiest part of the rug. We clean it by hand with a brush and keep it away from the body of the rug, so a wet fringe can’t pull colour across. It comes up brighter, though years of grey rarely go completely. We also turn a corner over and look at the back. Some tufted rugs have a latex backing that crumbles with age, which is worth knowing before anyone puts water on it.
Fulham’s hard water
SW6 is on a hard Thames Water supply. Rinse a wool rug in it and the minerals stay in the fibre, so the pile feels coarse once dry and picks up dirt again faster. Our last rinse is softened, and that is what leaves wool soft to the hand. Drying is flat on the floor with air moving across it. Hanging a wet wool rug would stretch it out of shape, so we never do. In a lower ground floor room it will take longer, so if there is space upstairs we can lay it to dry somewhere warmer.
Prices
| Service | Price |
|---|---|
| Bedroom | £36 |
| Living room | £43 |
| Knock-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, with a move-out clean | £36 |
| Flight of stairs, alongside an end of tenancy | £35 |
If the floor under the rug is carpet too, the fitted carpet page explains how a room is priced. Spills on a rug get the same treatment as spills on a carpet, as set out on the stain page. A rug in a Sands End flat costs what it costs anywhere else in Fulham, and the price list has every other figure.
Questions we get asked
Is it safe to clean a rug on our oak floor?
Yes, because the rug is lifted onto a waterproof sheet first and stays there until it is dry enough to handle. Damp wool left straight on oak can mark the finish, so we don’t lay it back down until it is ready. If it isn’t dry by the time we leave, we tell you when it can go back.
Our rug was sold as bamboo silk. Can you clean it?
Sometimes. Bamboo silk is viscose, and viscose weakens when it is wet. We try a corner first and watch for browning and twisting as it dries. On an inexpensive piece the risk may be worth taking; on one you love, we might suggest leaving it. If we go ahead it is £35 or £51 depending on size.
How soon can the furniture go back on the rug?
Once the pile is dry right down to the base, which on wool is often the evening and sometimes the next morning. Press a hand flat on the rug: if it feels cool, there is still damp in it. Because the last rinse is softened, it won’t feel crunchy when it dries.
The dog has chewed the fringe. Can you fix it?
That is a job for a rug restorer, who can re-knot the fringe or bind the end. We can clean round the damage carefully so it doesn’t unravel further, and tell you whether the rug looks worth repairing.