A full bottle of Rioja across 6m² of 80/20 wool loop pile in a Fenchurch Street boardroom. The client's pitch was the following morning at 09:00. The facilities manager called at 19:15.
Low-moisture hot water extraction at 85°C, applied with a 15cm wand to avoid saturating the underlay. Three passes: alkaline pre-spray to break the tannin, extraction, then a pH-neutral rinse to prevent wicking. Total moisture introduced: less than would be tracked in from a wet pavement.
Dry by 23:40. The boardroom opened on schedule. The facilities manager sent us the key to the service entrance the following week.


Drag to compare. Fenchurch Street EC3 — 80/20 wool loop pile.

After
Herringbone wool runner — 1890s

Wool fibre detail — nap direction restored, dye colour lifted.
A 12-metre Victorian herringbone wool runner in a Grade I listed Inner Temple building. Decades of foot traffic had compressed the nap and drawn in iron gall ink from spilled archive work. No chamber closure was possible — hearings continued in the adjoining rooms.
Dry compound cleaning to protect the wool's natural lanolin and avoid any risk of shrinkage in the listed floor substrate. Encapsulation chemistry applied by hand using soft-bristle grooming tools to follow the herringbone weave direction. Zero moisture introduced. Vacuumed out after a 45-minute dwell time.
Nap restored. Dye depth recovered by an estimated two shades. The runner was walkable within the hour. The facilities director noted that the conservator's report — due the following quarter — would now be considerably less alarming.
Listed Building Constraint
No wet chemistry. No machinery louder than 45dB. No disruption to proceedings. We work under these conditions regularly across the Inns of Court.
A Qum silk rug, hand-knotted, 1,200 knots per square inch. An estate agent staging a Mayfair penthouse for a £6.2m listing. The previous tenant had kept a large dog for six years. The odour was structural. The pile had been flattened in traffic lanes. A replacement was not an option at the asking price.
Silk cannot tolerate alkaline chemistry or heat above 40°C without dye bleed. We used cold-water immersion cleaning with a neutral pH enzyme treatment to break the odour compounds at source. The rug was rolled off-site to our Bermondsey facility, cleaned on a raised frame to allow underside drainage, dried flat at ambient temperature over 36 hours, then groomed with a natural bristle rake in the pile direction.
The odour was gone. The pile stood. The viewing went ahead. The property sold in eleven days. The estate agent now sends us every instruction where a rug is present at the staging address.

Qum Silk
1,200 knots/in²
Hand-knotted, Persian
Off-site cleaning facility
Rugs requiring immersion cleaning are transported in our sealed vehicles to our Bermondsey facility. Collection and return within 48 hours for standard jobs.
We name the chemistry we use. We state the drying time before we start. If the result isn't what we described, we return at no charge.
Low-moisture HWE at 80–95°C using a 15cm wand. Pre-spray alkaline emulsifier, extraction pass, pH-neutral rinse. Moisture introduced: approximately 50ml/m². Average dry time: 3–5 hours. Suitable for all commercial synthetic and wool-blend carpets that can tolerate moisture.
Encapsulation compound applied by hand, worked into the pile with soft-bristle tools following fibre direction. 45-minute dwell. Vacuum extraction. Zero moisture. Walkable immediately. Preserves lanolin in wool, safe for hand-knotted rugs, compliant with conservation requirements in Grade I and II listed buildings.
Neutral-pH enzyme concentrate applied at source. Breaks odour compounds at molecular level rather than masking. Safe on silk, wool, and natural dyes. Typically combined with either HWE or dry compound depending on fibre type. Results are permanent: the odour does not return.
Off-site at our Bermondsey facility. Rugs cleaned on raised frames using cold or warm water (fibre-dependent), neutral chemistry, and thorough underside drainage. Dried flat at ambient temperature. Groomed in pile direction. Collection and return within 48 hours for most London postcodes.
Not listed? Call us — we cover most of Greater London. Same-day service available within M25 for emergency bookings.