I posted this question last night, hoping I'd get a general idea of pricing for area rug cleaning before I made any phone calls, but so far, no responses. In the meantime, tho, after I got home from work today, I did make one call and was quoted $4.10 sq. ft. That's the only quote I have so far, so have no idea if this is average or not. I did mention to the gentleman I talked to that the rug has some stains on it, but it's second hand so I have no idea what they're from or how long they've been there. He said in that case, they may not come out. Now I'm wondering if I should not purchase the rug I'm considering from the consignment shop. The location of the stains on the rug would probably NOT be hidden by furniture in my living room.

$4.10 sounds high, but is it? Not knowing what the stains are from or how long they've been there, should I walk away from this rug (even tho the size and colors are right for my room)?

If my math is correct, 9x12=108 sq ft x 4.10 per square foot means you would pay $443 to have this company clean your rug. I took an oriental rug about that size into a rug cleaning plant and had it done for about $100. That's with my own delivery and pickup.

I forgot to mention that I can save 20% by bringing in the rug myself and picking it up after it's cleaned. However, that still makes the cost in the neighbor hood of $350.

Same price in my area, i.e. around 300-400 for that size rug.

Now, I've read that you can actually wash your wool rugs yourself, but you'd obviously want to do it when you can dry it outside. I haven't dared doing that.

It takes forever for a wool rug to dry. I washed a 2 x 3' rug this summer and rolled the water out with a rolling pin (had to get creative). I set it on a mesh table in 90 degree weather in the shade and it took three days to dry. You also can't move them because they are so heavy when wet.

I pay $4 per square foot.

Our 9 x 12 costs $600 to clean. The company we use cleans with rainwater.

Thank you everyone for your responses. Now I realize that $4 sq ft is not high. So with that in mind, I have to decide whether or not I want to purchase the rug and then hope (after spending at least $350) the stains come out . I'm wondering if anyone has ever than that chance with a second hand rug.

Yes, I can't imagine dragging a wet 9x12 rug around.

You could try spot cleaning it, or what about those steam cleaners? Of course, it would also depend on how much you spend on the rug.

The one question I keep asking myself whenever i think about having our oriental rugs here cleaned professionally again is: these rugs, at least the ones that I own, come from the Middle East where they've been weaving them and walking on them for thousands of years. How did they clean theirs? How do they clean them today? I'm thinking that they use water and just dry them outside in the shade or in the sun. I don't know , but it seems very reasonable to me. The last time I had one of mine professionally cleaned, they used some chemical, and we had to haul it out to the garage where it aired out for a week before I could stand the smell enough to bring it back in the house. Never again! This past Summer, I actually took a small rug of mine out to our back portal (covered porch) , used the hose to clean it, blotted out the water as best I could, and let it dry in the shade out there on top of our mesh patio table. It worked fine and looks great. I plan to wash all of mine this way from now on, although all rug washings need to been done during our warm weather months. As Mayweather mentioned, they're very heavy when they're wet. My large ones will need to be washed and left to dry on our large covered front portal, one at a time, next Summer.

If it has several stains then I'd be wary of buying it. One of my light-colored wool rugs has a permanent stain from my large dog lying on it and I've been told by cleaners not to expect it to come it. The stain is just from her body oils and has a yellow tint to it (on cream colored wool) but even my attempts with carpet cleaners has had no affect.

Did your local carpet cleaners give you that bid or was it a 'Area Rug cleaning service'? You might try your regular carpet cleaners since they always offer to clean my area rugs when they're here.

Like Lynn, when I decide to clean my rugs I plan to just take out my Bissell carpet cleaner and do it myself .

In my area, rug cleaning is $3 to $3.50 per sq ft and an additional $2 per sq ft for microseal treatment. The service includes pick up and delivery, and they test the fibers before choosing a cleaning method. They used a different method / cleaning agents for our wool/silk blend rug than they did for the all wool rugs. (All are hung and cleaned vertically, though.) We were very happy with the results. The only downside was having the rugs out of the house for 10 days to two weeks. A Portugese needlepoint rug with moth damage was gone longer because it was also repaired.