Rug/Carpet cleaners

We've used Bloomingdale's Carpet Cleaners for about 10 years....they always do a good job. The number is 718 389-3500. I think they charge us about $100 for our off=white rug, it's about 18 X 20. They do it in the apartment, they don't roll it up and take it with them.

I'm not sure about the scotchgarding procedure, though.....from what I've heard, it doesn't really work that well, and that it wears off very quickly. Hard to prevent stains, but when we do get stains, there's something called Nature's Miracle that you can get in a pet store, it's quite good.

Can anybody recommend a good company to clean rugs/carpets?"

Manhattan Carpet Cleaners. I was amazed at how clean and fresh-smelling the rugs were when they brought them back. And the guys were unbelievably fast in moving the furniture and rolling up the rugs ... and then moving the furniture again and re-laying them.

*****

"What are "appropriate" prices for cleaning a 13x13 rug?"

Depends on the fiber of the rug (synthetic, wool, silk, etc.) color (white is always more expensive) and amount of soil and stains. Could be as low as $250 or as high as $700.

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"It's OK for the cleaning to happen at the apartment or for me to roll up the rug and send it somewhere else for cleaning."

Very rarely will the cleaners do area rugs on site; too many liability issues with the cleaner potentially damaging wood or tile floors. Many services will do free pick-up and delivery.

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"Also looking for advice on preventing stains on carpets from juice spills, etc."

Only drink juice in the kitchen.

Robert at SteamPro Cleaners is great! I originally called Bloomingdale's Carpet Cleaners but they continually put me on hold and kept on forgetting my name and quoted me some ridiculous prices for one small sofa and one area rug. Robert was super professional and gave me reasonable prices and an actual appointment time rather than a five hour long window. He also calls ahead if he is late. You can check out the company at www.steampronyc.com. My husband and I were really happy with his work.

Oh! And he will clean the rug in your apartment. All places charge extra if you send it out. We paid under $200 (I think about $175?) for a full sofa and area rug (9 feet by 5 feet) cleaning but most of that was probably the sofa. The price will range depending on the carpet material and color.

That's good to know about SteamPro. I'll continue with B'dales because I've had good luck with them, but it's nice to have a backup.
Ephraim, there's also Long Island Carpet Cleaners, and Rug Renovators.

Costikiyan for professional cleaning...

Based on my experience with both wall-to-wall and Orientals, Costikiyan is a good example of a fancy reputation that doesn't justify the price. Their wall-to-wall cleaning was really mediocre, the workers spent more time trying to up-sell me than they did cleaning my carpeting, and the price was awful. Unless you've got an antique rug with some provenance, I'd second what Michael427 said and recommend Long Island Carpet. Their prices are excellent, they do both in-home and pick-up cleaning, although I don't think they do area rugs in-home.

I've had LI Carpet do wall-to-wall cleaning, repair an area needlepoint rug, and clean valuable-to-me (but not precious) Oriental area rugs. All excellent work and good prices based on a comparison with Costikiyan. After I moved and I had a long runner that was too big for my new apartment, they cut it into 2 pieces, finishing the edges with fabric tape by hand. Gorgeous work and not a price shock. Nice people, too.