Our office is at 255 Upper Richmond Road West, a couple of miles from Richmond Green, so this is about as local as carpet cleaning gets for us. We have been cleaning carpets across TW9, TW10 and the rest of the borough since 2014, and the grey channel worn from a Richmond front door to the sofa is a sight we know cold. That grey is grit, walked in off the high street, off your shoes after a loop round Richmond Park, ground down to the backing where a hoover cannot touch it. A vacuum lifts the loose dust on top. The hard, gritty stuff that actually saws through the fibres sits well below that, and hauling it out is the entire job.
Last updated April 2026. Written by the owners of Monster Cleaning Ltd, based in the borough at 255 Upper Richmond Road West.
We are a domestic and commercial cleaning firm, Monster Cleaning Ltd, registered at Companies House under number 9919639 and trading since 2014. Carpet cleaning in Richmond starts from £36 a bedroom by hot-water extraction, 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.
How we actually clean a carpet
The method is hot-water extraction. Most people call it steam cleaning, though there is barely any steam to see. Here is how a job runs, in the order we do it.
We vacuum first, slowly and right down into the pile, because dry grit lifts out far more easily before it gets wet. Skip that and you only smear mud about, which is one reason a rushed cheap clean can leave a carpet looking worse than when you started. Then the pre-spray goes on, chosen to suit the fibre and how grubby the carpet really is, and we leave it a few minutes. That short wait is when the soil lets go of the fibre. Rush it and you are simply wetting the floor.
Then the machine. Hot water is driven into the pile under pressure and drawn straight back out, carrying the loosened dirt with it, while a strong vacuum hauls most of the moisture away so the carpet is left damp rather than swimming. On the worn lanes, the grey tracks that a thousand trips to the kitchen grind into a hall, we go over them twice and groom the pile afterwards so it dries standing up rather than flat and shiny.
We will not flood your floor.
We carry full insurance for the work as well, which counts for something when a stranger is running water through the floors of your home.
A vacuum lifts the loose dust on top. The hard, gritty stuff that actually saws through the fibres sits well below that, and hauling it out is the entire job.
The carpets we meet around Richmond
Richmond grew up as a riverside town long before the railway, then filled out in Victorian and Edwardian brick once the trains arrived, and the housing tells that story in layers. A good slice of it is rented or recently changed hands, which shapes the carpet work here more than anything else. Three jobs come round again and again, each wanting a slightly different touch.
First is the Victorian or Edwardian terrace, carved years ago into upper and lower flats. The long streets running off the town centre and back toward North Sheen are full of them, and they tend to share a narrow hall with a staircase carpeted in something that has carried decades of feet. Stairs are the hardest thing to clean well, because the dirt heaps up on the front lip of every tread, so we do them by hand with a stair tool rather than waving a big wand over the lot.
Second is the period flat up on the hill and along the river, the grand sort with high ceilings, a long hall and wool carpet that someone paid real money for. Richmond sits inside one of the most heavily protected patches of London, with conservation areas covering a huge part of the borough, so a lot of these homes are listed or sit in a protected street and the original features have been kept. Wool wants careful handling. We mix gentler, we never overwet it, and we groom it out so it dries soft instead of crisp.
Third is the let flat on a quick turnaround, and there are plenty near the green and the station. Landlords and agents getting a place ready between tenants are a steady part of our week. Those carpets are less about rescuing a wreck and more about a clean, fast handover that holds up at the inventory check.
One genuinely local thing is worth a word. Parking round the centre, the green and the hill is tight and largely permit-controlled, and some of the riverside terraces have nowhere to leave a van at all. We run our machines off the van, so tell us your street and your parking when you book and we plan the morning around it, hoses and all. On the older listed places we are extra careful at the threshold, because original tiles and timber by a front door do not take kindly to a heavy machine being dragged across them.
Hard water, and why it matters here
Richmond is on Thames Water, and the supply across this whole stretch of the river is drawn from a catchment that sits on chalk and limestone. It is hard, chalky water running somewhere around 290 to 300 parts per million. You already know it from the scale crusting the kettle and the cloudy film on the shower screen.
It matters for carpets more than you might expect. If a cleaner mixes a strong solution into hard water and then fails to rinse it out of the pile, the minerals and the leftover detergent dry into a stiff, chalky film down near the backing. That film stays faintly sticky, so the carpet grabs fresh dirt and looks grubby again within weeks. A clean that goes off fast is nearly always a rinsing fault, not a dirt problem.
So we mix to suit the water and we rinse hard. The final passes are clear water under pressure, pulling the solution back out instead of letting it set in the fibre. It is the dull part of the job. It is also the part that keeps a Richmond carpet clean for longer.
What it costs
Here are the actual numbers, no quote form needed for the usual rooms. We work in whole rooms, because part-cleaning a carpet leaves a tide line straight across the middle.
- A single bedroom is £36.
- A living room is £43. A through-lounge, the knocked-through front-and-back reception you find in so many of the terraces here, is £61, because it really is two rooms.
- A flight of stairs is £41, cleaned by hand, one tread at a time.
- A rug up to 2m2 is £35; a larger rug over 2m2 is £51.
- A whole carpeted two-bed flat, the booking we take most around Richmond, is £115.
That is the full price. We do not post a fake high number and then knock money off it.
Carpet cleaning sits alongside the other work we do round here. If you are moving out and the whole place needs turning around for the inventory check, our end of tenancy cleaning in Richmond folds the carpets in with everything else. People often add an oven deep clean in Richmond onto a carpet booking, and for regular upkeep there is our domestic cleaning in Richmond service. There is more on the method and the machines on our main carpet cleaning service page.
Stains, and what we will not promise
This is where most carpet cleaners oversell, and we try hard not to. A stain and general dirt are two different problems. Overall soiling, worn traffic lanes, the tired grey look across a whole floor, that lifts well nearly every time. A single set-in stain is a coin toss that turns entirely on what it is and how long it has had to settle.
Plenty of the everyday stuff comes up without much fuss. Tea, food, mud off the park, washable drinks, the general grime of a busy hall. Some things fight back: red wine left to dry over a weekend, old pet accidents soaked down into the underlay, dye bled from a cheap rug, anything with bleach that has already pulled the colour out. Bleach is not really a stain by that point. It is missing carpet, and no machine puts the colour back.
So you get a straight answer rather than a sales pitch. When we arrive we walk the rooms and tell you which marks should clear and which will only fade. We get it wrong in both directions often enough that we will not promise you a miracle. If a mark is going to be trouble, you hear it from us before the machine comes out, not after.
If a mark is going to be trouble, you hear it from us before the machine comes out, not after.
Behind all of it is a plain promise. Look at a room we have finished, and if it is not right, say so and we are back to redo it. That is our satisfaction and re-clean guarantee, and we mean it, because we live and work in this borough and word gets round fast.
Drying times and what to do after
A carpet we have extracted properly comes up damp, not wet. You can walk on most rooms within a couple of hours, and they are fully dry inside half a day or so. Wool and thick pile, common in the older Richmond flats, hold more water and take longer. A cold flat with the windows shut in February takes longer than the same flat in June with one cracked open.
Open a window if the weather lets you. A fan aimed low across the carpet hurries it along. Keep shoes off until it is dry, and if you must cross a damp carpet, do it in clean socks rather than bare feet, because bare feet leave oils that turn into fresh marks. We slip foam blocks under furniture legs so a drying carpet does not pick up a rust ring or a wood stain off them.
Done right, the floor is back in use the same day. In a one-bed flat near the station, where the sofa has nowhere else to go, that is rather the point.
Booking us in
Ring us. The number is 0333 555 2076, or email [email protected] with your postcode, the rooms you want done, 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 a try.
We give you a price on the call, not a vague band, because we have listed the prices above and we hold to them. We cover the whole borough: the TW9 streets around the town centre and Kew, TW10 up Richmond Hill and out toward Petersham and Ham, and across to East Sheen and Mortlake where our own office sits. Richmond is the far western end of both the District line and the Mildmay line, with South Western Railway trains in from Waterloo, so wherever you are off that map we can usually reach you within a few days, and sooner when a letting agent springs a late inventory check.
Monster Cleaning Ltd is based at 255 Upper Richmond Road West, SW14 8QS, and we have been at this since 2014. The vans come to you.
Frequently asked questions
How much is carpet cleaning in Richmond?
A single bedroom is £36 and a living room is £43. A whole carpeted two-bed flat is £115. A flight of stairs is £41 and a through-lounge is £61. Those are full prices, and we add nothing at the door for coming out to TW9 or TW10.
Is this steam cleaning or hot-water extraction?
It is hot-water extraction, which is what most people mean when they say steam cleaning, even though you barely see any steam. Hot water and a pre-spray go into the pile under pressure, then a strong vacuum drags the dirt and most of the water straight back out, so the carpet is left damp rather than soaked.
Does Richmond have hard water, and does it change how you clean?
Yes to both. Richmond is on Thames Water, drawn from a chalk and limestone catchment, and it runs hard at roughly 290 to 300 parts per million. Mixed too strong and rinsed badly, a clean dries to a chalky film down in the pile, so we mix to suit the water and rinse hard on the final passes.
How long will the carpet take to dry?
Most rooms are walkable in a couple of hours and properly dry within about half a day. Wool and thick pile, common in the older flats up Richmond Hill, hold more water and take longer. A north-facing flat in February with the windows shut dries slower than the same room in June with one cracked open.
Will you get every stain out?
No, and anyone who promises that is guessing. General grime and the worn grey paths through a hall lift well nearly every time. A single set-in stain is a gamble that turns on what it is and how long it has sat there. We walk the rooms first and tell you straight which marks should clear and which will only fade.
Can you clean carpets in a rented flat for the end of the tenancy?
Yes, and it is a big part of our week around Richmond because so much of the area is let. Fresh carpets help the inventory check go smoothly. If the whole place needs turning around, our end of tenancy service folds the carpets in with the rest of the clean rather than you booking two firms.
Are you careful with wool and carpets in older or listed homes?
We are, and Richmond has a lot of them. Wool and delicate pile need a gentler mix and far less water, so we never overwet them and we groom them out to dry soft. In listed or period homes we take extra care at thresholds and around original tiles and timber by the door.
Do I need to move the furniture before you arrive?
Clear the small and breakable bits and lift what you can off the floor. We slide sofas and chairs aside to do underneath, and we slip foam blocks under the legs while the carpet dries. We will not shift beds, full wardrobes or anything heavy, so empty those first if you want the carpet under them done.
Do you clean rugs as well as fitted carpets?
We do. A rug up to 2m2 is £35 and a larger rug over 2m2 is £51. Most we clean where they lie. A few older or delicate rugs are safer cleaned off-site, and we will tell you on the spot if yours is one of them.
Which parts of Richmond do you cover?
All of it. The TW9 streets around the town centre and Kew, TW10 up Richmond Hill and out to Petersham and Ham, and across to East Sheen and Mortlake where our office is. Parking is tight near the green and the river, so tell us your street when you book and we plan the van around it.
Can you reach a flat above the high street or up on the hill?
Yes, those are steady work for us. We carry the machine up, run the hoses from the landing and keep water off the communal carpet. Tell us the floor and whether there is a lift when you book, because hauling kit up several flights changes the morning.
What happens if I am not happy with the result?
Tell us and we come back to put it right, no argument. That is our satisfaction and re-clean guarantee, and we mean it. We would far sooner redo a room than fall out over it, because we are a local firm and word gets round fast.