The first metre of carpet inside an IG1 front door takes more of a beating than the rest of the room put together. Every trip back from Ilford High Road, every walk home from Valentines Park with muddy boots, every dash from the car in the rain lands on that same strip, and the grit gets ground in until the colour goes flat and grey. A hoover skims the top of it. The dirt doing the damage sits deeper, and pulling that out is the whole job.
Last updated April 2026. Written by the owners of Monster Cleaning Ltd, who have been cleaning carpets across Ilford and the wider Redbridge postcodes since 2014.
We are a domestic and commercial cleaning firm, Monster Cleaning Ltd, registered at Companies House under number 9919639 and trading since 2014. We clean carpets across Redbridge from £36 a bedroom by hot-water extraction, with a re-clean if you are not happy. A living room is £43 and a whole carpeted two-bed flat is £115. That is the short answer. The rest of this page is the detail, the honest part about stains, and a fair bit about the carpets we actually meet around this borough.
The carpets we meet around Redbridge
Redbridge is a borough of big family houses, and that shapes the carpets we get called to. Three jobs come up over and over, and each wants handling a little differently.
The first is the Edwardian or 1930s family home. Cranbrook, the streets off The Drive, Wanstead, the long avenues up towards Woodford Green like Monkhams Lane: solid bay-fronted houses, a lot of them with the original wide staircases and big through-rooms. Many are still single family homes with a houseful of people coming and going, so the stairs and the landing take a hammering. Stairs are the hardest thing to clean well, because the dirt collects on the front edge of every tread where feet land, and we do them by hand with a stair tool rather than dragging a wand across and hoping.
The second is the converted flat. A huge number of those same big houses around Ilford, Cranbrook Road and Ilford Lane have been split into flats and shared houses over the years. The carpet that matters here is usually the communal stairs and hallway, shared by several households and walked on from morning to night. These take a strong hot rinse and two passes on the worst lanes, and the before-and-after is often the most dramatic of any job we do.
The third is the new build. Plenty has gone up around Ilford station and through the Ilford regeneration area near the Town Hall, and the blocks behind Gants Hill: newer carpet, lighter colours, owners who want it kept that way. A pale wool-mix carpet shows every coffee ring, so these jobs are usually about staying ahead of the wear rather than rescuing a wreck.
One local thing worth a word. If you back onto Valentines Park or you are near the Roding, you will know how much mud comes in off the grass in winter, especially with a dog or with kids who play football. It walks straight into the hall carpet and the first room off it. That is honest soiling, not a chemical stain, and it is exactly the kind of thing a proper hot extraction lifts cleanly.
A hoover skims the top of it. The dirt doing the damage sits deeper, and pulling that out is the whole job.
How we actually clean a carpet
The method is hot-water extraction. Loads of people call it steam cleaning, though there is barely any steam in it, which always disappoints anyone picturing a kettle. Here is what actually happens on the day.
We vacuum first. A slow, proper vacuum, because dry grit lifts out far more easily before it gets wet, and skipping this step is one of the main reasons a cheap clean leaves you with mud. Then we lay down a pre-spray matched to the fibre and to how dirty the carpet is, and we leave it a few minutes to do its work. That short wait is where the soil actually loosens off the fibre. Rush it and all you have done is wet the floor.
Then the machine goes on. Hot water is pushed into the pile under pressure and drawn straight back out, carrying the loosened soil with it, while a powerful vacuum lifts most of the moisture so the carpet is left damp rather than soaked. On the worn grey channels that build up on a staircase or down a hallway from a hundred trips to the door, we go over twice and groom the pile so it dries standing up instead of matted flat.
We will not flood your floor.
We carry £5 million of public liability cover and £10 million of employer’s liability cover, so if anything goes wrong while we are moving furniture and running water through your home, you are not the one left paying for it. It very rarely happens. But you should never let anyone work in your house without it.
What it costs
Here are the real numbers, no quote form needed for the everyday rooms. Prices are per room or per area, and we work on whole rooms, because part-cleaning a carpet leaves a visible tide line halfway across the floor.
- A single bedroom is £36.
- A living room is £43. A through-lounge, the knocked-through front-and-back reception so common in Redbridge terraces, is £61, because it is effectively two rooms.
- A flight of stairs is £41, cleaned by hand, tread by tread.
- A rug up to 2m2 is £35; a larger rug over 2m2 is £51.
- A whole carpeted two-bed flat, one of the most common bookings we get in the IG postcodes, is £115.
If your job is an awkward shape, a landing here, a box room there, one set of stairs, we can work by the hour instead at £30 per cleaner, which sometimes comes out cheaper than totting up small rooms. Tell us what you have got on the phone and we will say which way works out better for you.
That is the full price. We do not quote a fake high figure and slap a discount on it, and there is no extra charge for being out in Redbridge rather than central London. What we say on the phone is what you pay at the door.
Carpet cleaning sits alongside the other work we do across the borough. If you are moving out and the whole place has to pass an inventory check, our end of tenancy cleaning in Redbridge bundles the carpets in with everything else. People often add an oven deep clean in Redbridge onto a carpet booking, and for keeping a home on top of things there is our regular domestic cleaning in Redbridge service. You can also read more about the machines and the method on our main carpet cleaning service page.
Stains, and what we will not promise
This is where a lot of carpet cleaners oversell, and we try hard not to. A stain and general dirt are two different problems. Overall soiling, worn walkways, a grubby cast across the whole floor: that comes up well almost every time. A single set-in stain is a coin toss that depends entirely on what it is and how long it has been sat there.
Some things lift most of the time. Mud off the park, tea, food, washable drinks, everyday grime. Some things fight back hard: red wine that has dried in, old pet accidents soaked into the underlay, dye that has bled from a cheap rug, anything with bleach in it that has already taken the colour out. Bleach is not really a stain by then, it is missing carpet, and no machine puts colour back.
So we give you a straight range and we stick to it. We will tell you on arrival what we expect to clear and what we think will only improve. We are wrong in both directions often enough to know better than to promise a miracle. If a stain is going to be a problem, you hear it from us before the machine comes out, not after.
If a stain is going to be a problem, you hear it from us before the machine comes out, not after.
Behind all of it sits one simple promise. If you look at a room we have done and you are not happy with it, tell us and we will come back and put it right. We would rather sort it than argue, because word travels fast on a Redbridge street and we would much rather be the firm people pass on to a neighbour.
Drying times and what to do after
A well-extracted carpet is damp, not wet. Most rooms are dry to walk on in a few hours and properly dry inside about half a day. Wool and thick pile hold more water and take longer. A cold flat with the windows shut in February dries slower than the same flat in June with a window open.
Open a window if you can. A fan pointed across the floor speeds things up a lot. Keep shoes off until it is dry, and if you have to cross a damp carpet, do it in clean socks rather than bare feet, because feet leave oils that turn into fresh marks within days. We slide little foam blocks under furniture legs so a damp carpet does not pick up rust or wood stain while it dries.
Done right, the floor is back in use the same day. That matters in a flat where there is nowhere else to put the sofa while you wait.
Booking us in
Ring us. The number is 0333 555 2076, or email [email protected] with your postcode, the rooms you want doing, and a line about any stains you are worried about. A photo of a bad patch helps, because we can usually tell you on the spot whether it is worth trying.
We give you a price on the call, not a vague band, because the prices are already on this page and we hold to them. We cover the whole borough, from IG1 in Ilford out across the IG postcodes to Gants Hill, Barkingside, Wanstead, Woodford and Hainault, and the streets in between. Most weeks we have a slot within a few days, and we can usually turn a moving-out carpet around at short notice when a letting agent has sprung an inventory check on you.
Monster Cleaning Ltd is based at 255 Upper Richmond Road West, SW14 8QS, and we have been doing this since 2014. The vans come to you.
Frequently asked questions
How much is carpet cleaning in Redbridge?
A single bedroom is £36, a living room is £43, and a whole carpeted two-bed flat is £115. A flight of stairs is £41 and a through-lounge is £61. Odd jobs can be done by the hour at £30 per cleaner. Those are full prices with nothing added on top.
Do you cover the whole of Redbridge or only Ilford?
The whole borough. We work right across the IG postcodes, from Ilford and Gants Hill out to Wanstead, Woodford Green, South Woodford, Barkingside and Hainault. If you are off the Central line or near Valentines Park, we cover you.
Is it hot-water extraction or steam cleaning?
It is hot-water extraction, which is what most people mean when they say steam cleaning, even though there is hardly any steam in it. Hot water and a pre-spray go into the carpet under pressure and a strong vacuum pulls the soil and most of the water straight back out.
How long will the carpet take to dry?
Most rooms are dry enough to walk on within a few hours and properly dry in about half a day. Thick or wool pile holds more water and takes longer. Open a window and aim a fan across the floor and it dries a good deal faster.
Can you clean the carpets in a converted flat or an HMO?
Yes, and we do a lot of them around Cranbrook Road and Ilford Lane. Stairs and shared landings in a converted house take the worst of the traffic, so we clean those by hand, tread by tread, rather than dragging a big wand over them.
Will you get every stain out?
No, and anyone who promises that is guessing. General soiling and worn walkways come up well almost every time. A specific stain is a coin toss that depends on what it is and how long it has been there. We tell you on arrival what we expect to clear and what we expect to only improve.
Can you deal with old pet stains and the smell?
Sometimes. If it sits in the pile we can usually clear the mark and treat the smell. If it has soaked through into the underlay and the floorboards, a surface clean will not reach it, and we will tell you that straight rather than take your money for nothing.
Do I need to move the furniture before you arrive?
Move the small and breakable things and lift what you can off the floor. We will shift sofas and chairs to clean under them and slide foam blocks under the legs while the carpet dries. We do not move beds, wardrobes, or anything heavy and full.
Do you clean rugs as well as fitted carpets?
Yes. A rug up to 2m2 is £35 and a larger rug over 2m2 is £51. We clean most rugs in place in your home. Tell us the type when you book, because a few delicate or antique rugs are safer cleaned off-site, and we will say so if yours is one of them.
Is the cleaning safe for children and pets?
Yes. The products are fine once the carpet has dried, which is the main reason we pull out as much water as we can rather than leaving the floor soaked. Keep little ones and pets off until it is dry, mainly so nobody walks marks across a damp carpet.
What does it cost if I only have an odd landing and a box room?
Small awkward jobs can work out cheaper by the hour at £30 per cleaner than adding up little rooms one by one. Tell us what you have got on the phone and we will say which way comes out cheaper for you. We would rather quote the cheaper option and keep you for next time.
What if I am not happy with the result?
Tell us and we come back and put it right. We would far rather sort a problem than argue about it. We also carry £5 million of public liability cover, so on the rare day something goes wrong in your home you are not left out of pocket.