Most of the work in a rug pickup happens before anyone knocks. If the rug is measured, rolled and tied, and the building knows someone is coming, the pickup itself takes a few minutes. If it's still under a dining table with six chairs on it, or the doorman has never heard of you, it doesn't. This is what to do in the day or two between booking and pickup, and what to do when the rug comes home.
Measure first, then roll
Take the measurements while the rug is still flat on the floor. A rolled rug can't be measured properly, and the price is worked out from width and length in feet, without the fringe. If you haven't booked yet, the measuring guide covers crooked edges, runners and converting inches to decimal feet.
Rolled and ready, or the $50 furniture service?
At checkout there are two ways to hand the rug over. Rolled and ready means you clear the furniture off the rug and roll it yourself before pickup. Furniture Removal & Replacement is an optional flat $50: we move the furniture that's sitting on the rug, take the rug, and put it back in place under the furniture when it's returned.
The $50 doesn't count toward the $250 that makes pickup and return free, so it's a straight add-on. A 5 × 8 is $260 with both trips included, or $310 with furniture service. An 8 × 10 is $520, or $570.
Whether it's worth it depends on what's on the rug, not how big the rug is:
- Usually do it yourself: a hallway runner, a bedroom rug with only a nightstand edge on it, a living room rug under a coffee table and one armchair. Ten minutes and one other person.
- Usually worth the $50: a dining rug under a table and a full set of chairs, a rug under a sectional or a bed frame, anything with a loaded bookcase or a piano on it, or a rug you'd have to wrestle out alone. The bigger benefit comes on return day, when the rug goes back under the furniture instead of sitting rolled in a corner until you find help.
How to roll a rug for pickup
- Clear it completely. Lift furniture off rather than dragging it, especially on a handmade rug, because dragging pulls at the pile and the fringe.
- Take the pad out. The pad isn't measured or priced, and it's easier to roll the rug without it. If the pad has gone flat or crumbly, or it's stuck to the floor, this is a good week to replace it.
- Roll from a short end. The roll ends up as long as the rug is wide, so a 9 × 12 becomes a 9-foot tube and a 2.5 × 10 runner becomes a short, fat one. Keep the roll reasonably tight and the edges lined up so it doesn't telescope.
- Don't fold it. Folding a tufted rug can crack the latex backing along the crease, and folding a hand-knotted rug puts a hard bend in the foundation. If the rug won't fit through a doorway rolled, tell us in the notes instead of folding it.
- Tie it, don't tape it. Two or three loops of twine, cloth strips or old belts are enough. Packing tape stuck to the pile or fringe leaves adhesive behind and pulls fibers when it comes off.
- Leave it dry and unwrapped. If the rug is damp from a spill, a pet accident or a mopped floor, don't seal it in plastic. Let it dry first, and say what happened in the notes.
A large wool rug is heavy and floppy when rolled, so if you're carrying it to the front door, use two people and carry it level rather than folding it over your shoulder.
What to put in the order notes
The booking form has a notes box, and it's the easiest way to avoid surprises. Put in:
- Pet urine, a recent spill, or an old stain, and roughly when it happened. If you've already tried a spot cleaner, name it. The pet odor and stain removal pages explain why that matters.
- Anything already wrong with the rug: a loose fringe, a worn patch, a hole, a corner a dog has chewed. Better to flag it now than to wonder later whether it was always there.
- Which entrance to use, what floor the rug is on, and whether there's an elevator.
- Any building rule about service elevators, delivery hours or paperwork.
If the rug is silk, antique or noticeably fragile, contact us before booking; the silk and antique rug page explains why. If you aren't sure whether it's hand-knotted or tufted, this guide shows how to tell from the back.
Your building, before pickup day
Pickup happens within 48 hours of booking unless you choose a later date, and we email to confirm the window. That's not much time if your building wants notice, so check first.
Manhattan, and high-rises in Jersey City, Hoboken and Fort Lee: many buildings send anything large through a service elevator during set hours, and some want a certificate of insurance from any vendor. Ask the doorman or management office what they need before you pay, and tell us. The Manhattan and Bergen and Hudson pages cover this in more detail.
Brownstones and walk-ups in Brooklyn and Queens: the stairwell is usually the tight spot. A 9-foot roll on a narrow stair with a turn at the landing is awkward, so mention the floor and the stairs in the notes. See the Brooklyn and Queens pages.
Houses on Long Island, in Westchester and in Fairfield County: access is usually simpler. Make sure the driveway or the curb in front of the house is clear in the pickup window and say which door to use. Local notes are on the Nassau County, Westchester and Fairfield County pages.
Keep the rolled rug inside until pickup. A rug left out on a stoop or porch soaks up rain fast. If you're not sure you'll be home during the window, contact us before booking rather than leaving it outside.
The week it's gone
Rugs normally come back 7–10 business days from pickup, so a rug collected on a Monday will usually be back sometime in the following two weeks, not by the weekend. Plan around it if you're hosting.
While the floor is bare, sweep or vacuum it. Fine grit sifts through a rug and collects on the floor underneath. On hardwood you may also notice the outline of the rug: floor that's been covered for years is often a different shade from the boards around it that got sun. That's the floor, not damage from pickup, and it tends to even out slowly once the floor is uncovered or the rug is shifted.
When it comes back
- Put the pad down first, on a clean, dry floor, then unroll the rug with the pile side up.
- Consider turning it around. Rotating a rug 180 degrees from where it was evens out wear from foot traffic and sun on the side nearest the window.
- Curled corners or edges usually relax on their own within a day or two. To speed it up, roll the curled end back the opposite way for a few hours, or leave something flat and heavy, like a stack of books, on the corner overnight.
- Lift furniture back on rather than sliding it, and use furniture cups under heavy legs if you don't want deep dents in the pile.
If you chose furniture service, the rug goes back under the furniture when it's returned, so most of this list is taken care of.
What it costs
Pickup and return are free when the cleaning subtotal is $250 or more, and $50 total below that. A 4 × 6 is $156 for cleaning plus $50, so $206. A 5 × 8 is $260, an 8 × 10 is $520 and a 9 × 12 is $702, each with both trips included. Furniture service is $50 on top of any of those. The full table is on the rug cleaning cost page, and the service areas page lists where we pick up around New York City, nearby Long Island and Westchester, North Jersey and southwest Connecticut.