IslamabadCleaners
Rugs are not carpets — and should not be cleaned like them
A rug is not a small carpet, and treating it like one is how rugs get ruined. Wall-to-wall carpet is a uniform synthetic product, fixed to the floor, built to take aggressive hot-water extraction. A rug — a hand-knotted qaleen, an oriental or Afghan piece, a silk-blend runner, or even a good machine-made rug — is a loose textile with its own fibres, its own dyes and its own construction. Wool and silk need gentler chemistry and lower temperatures than nylon. Vegetable and cheaper synthetic dyes can bleed the moment hot water hits them. A heavy rug that stays wet in its foundation can develop mildew or dry stiff. If you have wall-to-wall carpet, see our carpet cleaning service — this page is about the loose pieces.
Our process starts with identification and testing. We look at the fibre, the construction and the dyes, and we test a hidden corner for colour-fastness before any solution touches the visible pile. That test decides everything that follows: which chemistry we use, how much moisture the rug can take, and whether it can be cleaned in place at your home or needs to be collected and washed at our facility where drying can be controlled properly. An honest company tells you which your rug needs; a careless one puts a hot extraction wand on a seventy-year-old qaleen and hopes.
Rugs here take a particular beating. Islamabad's dust settles into the pile continuously and grinds at the fibre base every time the rug is walked on, and in most homes rugs sit in the busiest rooms — under sofas and dining tables, in drawing rooms that fill up at Eid. Most of the rugs we clean come to us before Eid and family events, after a spill on a good piece, or when a rug comes out of storage smelling of damp. Whatever the trigger, the rug is inspected first and you get a straight answer about what cleaning will and will not achieve.
What is included in a rug clean
Every rug is assessed individually before cleaning. This is what the service covers, whether the rug is done at your home or collected.
- Fibre and dye identification — wool, silk, cotton foundation or synthetic, hand-knotted or machine-made, checked before anything else is decided
- Colour-fastness test — a hidden corner tested with the intended solution, so bleeding dyes are found before they can ruin the visible pile
- Dry soil removal — thorough dusting and deep vacuuming of both faces, because the grit at the fibre base does more damage than any stain
- Stain pre-treatment — food, drink, oil and traffic marks treated individually with chemistry matched to the fibre
- Washing or low-moisture cleaning — full wash for rugs that can take it, controlled low-moisture extraction for delicate pieces cleaned in place
- Fringe cleaning — fringes cleaned and detangled separately, since they are usually cotton even on a wool rug and grey first
- Controlled drying — the rug dried flat or hung with air movement until the foundation, not just the pile, is dry
- Final grooming and inspection — pile brushed to lie correctly, and the rug checked with you on return or before we leave
Want this done at your place? Send us the details on WhatsApp — fixed quote in minutes.
Get a free quoteWhat this service does not include
- Repair work — rebinding edges, securing fringes, patching holes or moth damage; we can point you to repair specialists but do not do the needlework ourselves
- Guaranteed removal of old set stains, dye bleed that has already happened, or sun fading — fading is fibre damage, not dirt
- Restoration of antique or museum-grade pieces beyond careful cleaning — if a rug is too fragile to clean safely, we will tell you rather than risk it
- Wall-to-wall fitted carpet, which is a separate service with its own process and pricing
- Moth treatment and fumigation, though we will show you the evidence if we find moth activity
- Underlay and floor cleaning beneath the rug, unless booked alongside as part of a floor or deep cleaning job
How it works
Tell us about the rug
Send a WhatsApp with the rug's approximate size, what you know about it — hand-knotted or machine-made, wool or silk — and a photo. Photos of any stains help us give a realistic answer before we quote.
You get a fixed price on WhatsApp
From your photos we tell you whether the rug is best cleaned at home or collected for a full wash, and send one fixed price in writing either way. On the day we identify the fibre and construction and test a hidden corner for colour-fastness before anything touches the visible pile.
Clean the right way for that rug
Delicate pieces get gentle chemistry and controlled moisture; sturdy machine-made rugs get a deeper wash. Fringes are done separately, and stains are treated individually before the main clean.
Dry fully, then return
The rug is dried until the foundation is dry right through — the step most often skipped, and the cause of most mildew smells. Collected rugs are returned rolled and ready to lay; rugs cleaned at home are left with drying arranged and instructions for when to walk on them.
What affects the price
Size of the rug
Measured by area. A small prayer-mat-sized piece and a room-filling 12-by-9 qaleen are priced very differently.
Fibre and construction
Silk and fine hand-knotted pieces need slower, gentler work than a synthetic machine-made rug, and that time is reflected in the price.
Condition and staining
General dust and traffic greying is the base case. Heavy staining, pet accidents or smoke odour need extra treatment passes.
At home or collected
In-place cleaning avoids transport but limits how wet the rug can get. Collection for a full wash includes pickup and delivery and suits rugs that need deeper work or careful drying.
Number of rugs
Several rugs done in one booking cost less per rug than separate visits — many customers do the whole house's rugs before Eid in one go.
Frequently asked questions
How much does rug cleaning cost in Islamabad?
The main factors are the rug's size, its fibre and construction, and its condition. A machine-made synthetic rug is quicker and cheaper to clean than a fine hand-knotted wool or silk piece of the same size, which needs gentler chemistry and slower work. Whether the rug is cleaned at home or collected for a full wash also affects the price. Send photos of the rug on WhatsApp and we give you one fixed price in writing before anything starts, and if you have several rugs, one booking for all of them costs less than doing them separately.
Can you clean the rug at home or do you take it away?
Both, and the rug decides which. Sturdy machine-made and most wool rugs in reasonable condition can be cleaned in place at your home with controlled moisture, and dry within the day. Rugs that need a deeper wash — heavy soiling, pet accidents, odour in the foundation — and delicate pieces that need careful drying are better collected, washed at our facility, dried fully and returned. We tell you which your rug needs when you send the photos, with the reasons, and collection includes pickup and delivery back to your door.
Will the colours run?
This is the right question to ask, and the reason we test before we clean. Some rugs — particularly older pieces and some Afghan and Iranian dyes — will bleed if hit with hot water or the wrong chemistry. We test a hidden corner with the intended solution and wait for the result before touching the visible pile. If the dyes are not stable, we switch to a gentler cold-process method, and if a rug cannot be cleaned safely at all, we hand it back and say so. What we do not do is find out about bleeding dyes in the middle of your rug.
Do you clean hand-knotted qaleen and oriental rugs?
Yes — they are the reason this is a separate service rather than a line on the carpet page. Hand-knotted qaleen, Afghan, Iranian and other oriental pieces are cleaned according to their fibre and dye behaviour: gentle chemistry, controlled moisture, fringes done separately by hand, and drying continued until the cotton foundation is dry right through. We will also tell you honestly if a piece is too fragile or too valuable to clean without a specialist restorer — that happens rarely, but when it does you deserve a straight answer.
How long does a rug take to dry?
A rug cleaned in place with low-moisture methods is walkable the same day, usually within a few hours. A fully washed rug takes one to two days to dry properly at our facility, because the foundation holds water long after the pile feels dry — and returning a rug with a damp foundation is how mildew smells start. In humid monsoon weeks, drying takes longer, and we would rather keep the rug an extra day than return it damp. We give you the expected return date when we collect.
What is the difference between this and your carpet cleaning service?
Carpet cleaning covers wall-to-wall fitted carpet — a uniform synthetic surface, cleaned in place with hot-water extraction, dried where it lies. Rug cleaning covers loose pieces, which vary hugely in fibre, dye and construction and often cannot take that treatment. The processes, the chemistry and the risks are different, which is why they are separate services. If you have both — fitted carpet plus rugs laid over it, which is common here — we can quote and do both in one booking.
Can you remove the smell from a rug that was in storage?
Usually, yes. A musty smell from storage is normally mildew activity from the rug being stored with some moisture in it, and a full wash with proper drying removes it in most cases. What we check first is whether the mildew has damaged the foundation or the dyes — if the cotton base has rotted, cleaning cannot reverse that, and we will show you what we find. We also check stored rugs for moth activity, which is common in wool rugs stored unwrapped, and tell you if we find it before it spreads to other textiles in the house.
How often should rugs be cleaned?
For rugs in daily-use rooms, once a year is a good rhythm — the dust load in Islamabad and Rawalpindi means grit builds at the fibre base faster than in cleaner climates, and that grit abrades the pile every time the rug is walked on. Between cleans, vacuum without the beater bar on delicate pieces and rotate the rug occasionally so wear and sunlight spread evenly. Most of our customers book all their rugs once a year, usually in the weeks before Eid or before winter guests.
Areas we cover
We clean rugs across the whole of Islamabad and Rawalpindi — at your home or with pickup and delivery. These are the areas we work in most often, but if yours is not listed, send us a message and we will tell you straight away.
- DHA Phase I & II
- Bahria Town Phase 1–8
- Bahria Enclave
- F-6
- F-7
- F-8
- F-10
- F-11
- G-9
- G-10
- G-11
- E-11
- I-8
- Blue Area
- Gulberg Greens
- Gulberg Residencia
- PWD Colony
- Media Town
- Soan Gardens
- Park Road
- Bani Gala
- Saddar
- Rawalpindi Cantt
- Chaklala Scheme III
- Bahria Town Rawalpindi
- Askari 10
- Askari 14
- Adiala Road
- Gulraiz
- Satellite Town
- Peshawar Road
- Morgah
- Westridge
Book rug cleaning in Islamabad or Rawalpindi
Send us a WhatsApp with your area, the number and rough sizes of the rugs, and a photo or two. We will send one fixed price in writing — including pickup and delivery if the rugs need a full wash — before anything starts.
We answer messages 24 hours a day, and in most cases you will hear back within minutes.
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