About Linings

Curtains can have various types of linings that can affect the price.

• Thermal. Thermal linings can be either on the fabric as a coating or as a separate attached lining.
• Poly-cotton, mildew resistant and cotton and rubberized lining.
• Block-out.

You can tell the difference between blackout and thermal by holding the lining to the light. Thermal allows light to come through whereas blackout stops all the light. i.e. will make the room dark.

Identifying which category for pricing

Group 1

Ordinary thermal curtains.
Curtains with no separate lining but with a thermal coating.
Linings, that are a single fabric.
Curtains or linings, that are of a single fabric. (other than Silks or Taffeta.)
Linings, that may be attached to a normal curtain, with or without another lining. (Detachable lining.)

Group 2

Standard curtains with a single lining. Usually cotton or cotton poly mix. Can have either a poly-cotton lining, thermal lining or mildew resistant lining. Not block-out.
Voile’s over a poly-cotton or other lining.

Pleats Standard Poly Lined Curtain Ruffles

Group 3

Heavy fabric curtains with poly-cotton or thermal linings.
Brocade curtains.
Standard curtains with blackout lining.
Doe Skin Curtains.

Brocades Heavy Material drapes Doe Skin

Group 4

Taffeta curtains, Silks, Chinese silks.
These are generally shiny types of fabric often with embroidered or glued patterns on the fabric. Taffeta tends to be a harder feeling fabric and silk softer.

Velvet Curtains

English Construction.

English construction, i.e. where the linings are sewn to the curtain rather than tagged.
For cleaning these need to be un-stitched and resewn when dry.

Group 5 & 5A

Linen, canvas type and pure cotton curtains. Real Silk. These curtains all require starching and ironing and this is reflected in the price.

Naturals

Materials such as hemp with either poly-cotton, thermal or blackout lining.

Group 6

Interlined curtains. (Curtains with 2 linings, one inside of the other)
Not to be confused with standard lined curtains with a detachable outer lining.

Voile’s/Shears

These are fine see through mesh materials that are made up in a curtain style either with pleats or ruffles. Usually they are like curtains with a standard drop width but can be continuous. The same measuring rules apply as to curtains. Sometimes they may have attached linings. Voile’s with attached linings are priced in Category 2.

Often voile’s have been attacked by cats and have claw holes or small tears. Sometimes we can fix this.

Nets

Nets have many styles and are usually used on windows with curtains and are used to provide privacy to the occupants when the curtains are open. Often the net will be on a wire but may also be fitted to a track with a curtain tape head and hooks. They are usually sacrificial items in that they are there to stop the sun and will have a limited life, often around 5-6 years depending on the sun exposure and the quality. If the material is badly sun damaged it may be better to replace than spend the money cleaning. Its nearly impossible to repair torn nets.

To price the cleaning of nets, measure the length of the hem at the bottom of the curtain and the height and refer to price chart.

These are the main categories and there may be others that fall outside of this. Please contact us for verification on 0800 579 0501 or email.

Extra things to look for:
Having determined the category the curtains fall into there are other items particular to individual curtains. These have to be taken into account when pricing.

Are any of the Curtains four drops or wider?
Curtains longer than 2.00 meters and four (4) drops (panels) or wider incur an extra $3.00 per drop charge.

Cat/Dog Hair.
Curtains or linings covered with cat/dog hair. All the hair has to be removed before cleaning as it sticks to the fabrics when wet and this is done by hand using sticky rollers. Most of the hair is usually on the linings. Curtains with hair will be charged an additional charge depending on the amount of hair and time taken to clean the hair off the curtain.

Light amounts cost an extra $ 5.00 per panel and heavy costs $10.00 per panel.

Do the curtains have sewn side seams?
English style construction. Often on “Briscoes” type curtains.
Where the side seams are sewn rather than just tagged we have to unpick them to clean the curtain and of course sew them up again.
These curtains fall into category 4 above.

Do the curtains have Goblet Tunnels or Tulip Pleats?

Goblets and tulip pleats are filled with Dacron fill or cotton wool. This has to be removed to clean the curtains and needs to be cleaned as well. It is then stuffed back into the goblets. These curtains will have an additional charge of $3.00 per tulip or goblet.

Do the curtains have any unusual construction or feature panels on them.
Have the curtains got any other than ordinary construction that may require our attention. e.g. extra panels of different material, sewn on bits all the fancy stuff people do?
Until we see them you will not have a definite price. You can always call us and ask and we will do what we can to clarify some of these things.

Do the curtains/blinds have sewn on stripes?

Curtains with sewn on stripes may have to have the stripes removed to best clean them. This is because often the stripes are different material and can shrink differently or not as the case may be, causing distortion to the curtains. They can also be of a different colour and may bleed into the curtain.
We do not know until the fabric is tested. So for initial pricing purposes, use the stripe price per mtr shown further down.
If the curtains do not need the stripes removed, they will be charged as normal drapes in the category they belong.

Removal and resewing of stripes costs $20.00 per Mtr. of stripe.

Tie Backs
It pays to clean the curtain ties at the same time as the drapes otherwise they will leave a tide-mark around the nice clean drapes.
There are three types of tie backs.
Plain, Fancy and Extra Fancy.

Plain are flat sewn ties, small rope ties and the likes.

Fancy are the bigger frilly and tassel type ties.

Extra Fancy Tie Backs.

Extra Fancy ties can only be priced at Curtain Clean.

Valances

Valances come in many forms but generally are very short form of curtain that is attached to a curtain track around the front of a set of curtains. We measure these as a continuous length in Meters. Plain simple valances are on the price list but more complicated forms can attract a greater cost. (Time to clean)

Swags and Tails

Fancy Swags and Tails, Plain Swags and Tails

All forms of swags and tails can only be priced at the workshop. Many need to be dismantled, cleaned and then reassembled. Most are fitted to a pelmet. Detach the pelmet and send everything to Curtain Clean.

Roman Blinds/Austrian Blinds

When we clean Roman and Austrian blinds we pay particular attention to the strings as these are usually grubby from hands and hand creams etc. In most cases the strings are removed from the blind for cleaning. The strings will often shrink during the washing and we will re-plait them to fit the blind properly. (Clean strings are probably the most often commented on item when taking them back.)

During that process damaged strings can be replaced. We also replace all rusty eyes as they are the cause of strings wearing out.

We can also replace pulleys as often the small pulleys on the blinds have worn through. There is a charge for pulleys.

Austrian Blinds

Stage Curtains

We occasionally clean stage curtains. We can handle up to 5.5 high meters comfortably. Often they are single layer velvet’s but can be other materials.
Make a call on what material they are and estimate as usual or give us a call.