Carpet cleaning
Hot water extraction, encapsulation or low-moisture, chosen for the fibre and the traffic. Pre-vacuum, pre-treat, rinse neutral, groom, dry.
WoolSafe Approved Service Provider
Forty years of getting it right the first time.
Carpets, rugs, upholstery and leather, cleaned by technicians who identify the fibre before they choose a method. Residential homes and commercial floors across Gauteng, since 1985.
Before
After
Certified safe on wool
Independently approved chemistry and technicians
WoolSafe ApprovedService Provider
Fibre Care SpecialistWoolSafe-qualified technician on staff
Since 1985Four decades, one owner
BBBEE Level 2Verified contributor
Residential & commercialTwo divisions, one standard
Two divisions
Residential and commercial cleaning across Gauteng
The same certified chemistry, the same technicians, scaled to the job in front of us.
Residential
Your home, treated like the investment it is. Wool broadloom, hand-knotted rugs, sofas, headboards and mattresses.
Explore residential
Commercial
Offices, hotels, conference venues and retail. Planned maintenance, out-of-hours crews, and floors that stay open for business.
Explore commercial
Our approach
Four decades of judgement on every job
Knowing a rug is viscose and not silk before it gets wet. Telling a facilities manager that replacing the carpet is cheaper than cleaning it again. That judgement is why clients stay with us for twenty years, and why we put ourselves through WoolSafe's independent testing rather than simply claiming to be careful with wool.
Why
Fine fibres deserve the correct treatment
A wool carpet lasts fifty years when it is treated correctly and is destroyed in ten minutes when it is not. We exist so that the difference is not left to chance.
How
Identify the fibre first, then choose the method
Fibre test, dye-bleed test, pH-matched chemistry, controlled moisture, measured drying. WoolSafe-approved products, WoolSafe-qualified technicians, and an honest answer about what is permanent.
What
Carpets, rugs, upholstery, leather and ceilings
In homes across Gauteng and in offices, hotels and venues that cannot afford to close. Collection and delivery for fine rugs, on-site cleaning for everything fitted.
Certification
What this means for you
We are a WoolSafe Approved Service Provider
WoolSafe independently tests cleaning products for pH safety, residue and colour-fastness on wool, and separately trains and examines the technicians who use them. There are very few approved providers in South Africa. We are one of them.
What we clean
Eight services, one standard of care
Every job starts the same way: work out what the fibre is, then decide how to clean it.
Oriental & fine rugs
Collected, dusted, dye-tested, hand-washed and dried flat at our Chloorkop plant. Persian, Afghan, kilim, silk and viscose handled individually.
Upholstery
Sofas, dining chairs, headboards and office seating. Fabric identified and tested before any water touches it.
Leather care
Cleaned, fed and re-protected. Aniline, semi-aniline and pigmented leathers each need a different hand.
Mattress cleaning
Dust-mite and allergen treatment for the surface you spend a third of your life on. Dries in hours, not days.
MasterGuard protection
Fluorochemical protector applied after cleaning, so spills sit on top long enough for you to blot them up.
Ceiling cleaning
Commercial ceilings washed and re-coated in place, a fraction of the cost and disruption of replacement.
Flood & water damage
Burst geysers and storm ingress. Extraction, lifting, drying and moisture readings, the first 24 hours decide the outcome.
How we work
Our six-step process
Skipping any one of them is where most cleaning damage originates.
Identify the fibre
Wool, nylon, polypropylene, viscose or silk. Everything after this depends on getting it right.
Test before you wet
Dye-bleed and colour-fastness tests in an unseen corner. If the dyes are unstable, the method changes.
Dry soil removal
Up to 80% of what is in a carpet is dry grit. Vacuuming and dusting it out first is what makes the wet stage work.
Pre-treat and dwell
pH-matched pre-spray, given time to break the bond between soil and fibre. Chemistry does the work, not scrubbing.
Extract and rinse neutral
Controlled moisture, then an acidic rinse that leaves wool at the pH it wants and no sticky residue behind.
Groom and dry
Pile set in one direction, air movers on, drying measured rather than guessed. You get the room back the same day.
Dusting
The dust comes out before the water goes in
Up to 80% of what a rug is carrying is dry grit, and water will not lift a gram of it.
The soil in the photograph came out of one rug, and it came out dry. A rug goes over our duster before it is washed: rotating brushes and beater bars work the pile from the back, and the sand that has settled down against the foundation drops through onto the tray.
This is the step most cleaners skip, because it is slow and it does not show. Skipping it is expensive twice over. Wet a rug that still has grit in its base and the dry soil turns to mud, moves deeper into the foundation and dries stiff. And grit left in a rug is what wears it out: sand sits at the base of the pile with cut edges, and every footstep grinds it against the wool.
A rug that has been properly dusted washes faster, rinses cleaner and dries brighter, which is why we will not quote a plant wash without it.
Before
After
Colour restoration
Getting the colour back is a different skill from getting the dirt out
Two separate things dull a rug. Soil sitting on the pile, which a proper wash removes. And dye that has travelled somewhere it does not belong, which a wash will not touch and can easily make worse.
Dye bleed is the one we see most. A red or navy wool field runs into a white cotton fringe, usually because the rug was cleaned by somebody who did not dye-test it first, or because it was left lying wet. Once the fringe has taken that colour, no amount of ordinary washing will shift it. It has to be drawn back out chemically, a section at a time, at a strength strong enough to lift the stray dye and mild enough to leave the dye that belongs in the wool where it is.
We dye-test every rug before it goes near water, and we tell you before we start which part of the discolouration is soil, which is migrated dye we can draw out, and which is sun-faded or bleach-damaged fibre that no one can bring back.
Our work
Before and after
No staging, no filters. These are photographs taken on our own plant floor.
Before
After
Geometric wool rug. The pattern was always that crisp — soil was flattening the contrast.
Before
After
Persian fringe, dye-bled pink by an earlier wash. Drawn back to white by hand.
Before
After
Open-plan carpet tiles, East Rand.
Testimonials
What our clients say
“I have used Rugmaster for the past 18 years. Most efficient, pleasant and overall awesome.”Residential clientGauteng
“Been using them for 20+ years, same owner run business. That says everything.”Long-standing clientJohannesburg
“What a difference, they look and smell so good.”Residential clientKempton Park
FAQs
Frequently asked questions
If yours is not here, please phone and ask.
What does WoolSafe Approved actually mean?
The WoolSafe Organisation independently tests cleaning products for pH safety, residue and colour-fastness on wool, and separately trains and examines technicians as Fibre Care Specialists. An Approved Service Provider has at least one qualified specialist on staff, carries insurance and has a trading history the organisation has vetted. There are very few approved providers in South Africa.
How long has RugMaster been cleaning carpets and rugs?
Four decades. RugMaster has been trading since 1985 under the same ownership, which is why a good number of our clients have been with us for fifteen, twenty and more years.
Do you clean rugs on site or take them away?
Fine, hand-knotted and wool rugs come back to our Chloorkop plant, where they are dusted, tested for dye bleed, washed and dried under controlled conditions. We collect and deliver. Fitted carpets and upholstery are cleaned in your home or office.
How long does carpet take to dry after cleaning?
Typically four to six hours with normal airflow, and longer in cold or humid weather. We control moisture deliberately rather than soaking the carpet, because over-wetting causes shrinkage, delamination and wicking.
Which areas do you serve?
Greater Gauteng, from our Chloorkop base in Kempton Park: Johannesburg, Sandton, Midrand, the East Rand, Pretoria and Centurion. Commercial contracts further afield are quoted individually.
Can you remove every stain?
No, and any cleaner who promises otherwise is overstating what is possible. Dye loss from bleach, fibre oxidation from sunlight and some old pet urine damage are permanent changes to the fibre rather than soil sitting on it. We tell you what will lift and what will not before we start.
No obligation
Tell us what needs cleaning
Send a photograph and a rough size and we will come back with a clear price, including what we expect will and will not come out.