Carpet Cleaner (Huntsville, Madison: house, buyers, costs)

[proudmommy]

Hello,
Can anybody recommend a good carpet cleaner in the Huntsville area? Thanks!

[MadHaus]

I used Stanley Steemer just before we listed our house in Madison. Initially, I'd hoped to just get it looking good enough for RE photos and figured that we'd either have to replace the family room carpet or offer an allowance. Instead, SS got up the stains and the carpet looked so good that some people thought we had recarpeted. (BTW, the house went under contract in less than a month and the buyers were delighted that it was move-in ready.)

[Charles]

Originally Posted by MadHaus

I used Stanley Steemer just before we listed our house in Madison. Initially, I'd hoped to just get it looking good enough for RE photos and figured that we'd either have to replace the family room carpet or offer an allowance. Instead, SS got up the stains and the carpet looked so good that some people thought we had recarpeted. (BTW, the house went under contract in less than a month and the buyers were delighted that it was move-in ready.)

Did you get any particular service or was it just a basic cleaning? I don't know too much about the service or the process. Is there a preferred service/technique/chemical/tool/method that works the best (even if it costs more)? Or, are we just at the mercy of the guy cleaning the carpets?

[MadHaus]

Charles, it was their basic steam cleaning. I did point out some spots and asked if they needed pre-treating; not sure if anything extra was done but there was no extra charge. I was busy cleaning the hardwoods with Bona Kemi while they worked, and was surprised at how quickly they finished the job; even more surprised at how good the carpet looked. We had a coupon, probably from Val Pak or a similar mailer, but I don't remember the amount.

I've been told by several carpet store managers that steam cleaning is the preferred method. Usually I've found that it takes longer to dry than the cleaning companies claim, although that was not the case this time. We typically run the HVAC (colder or hotter, depending on the season) and all ceiling fans to speed drying. They say you don't have to remove furniture, but if you can move most or all to uncarpeted rooms for 24 hrs. I think that would be a good idea.

[quiltkat]

Just be careful if you have berber carpet or if you are not the original owners and are not aware of what may have happened on or to your carpet prior to you owning it! What a nightmare. Berber carpet is prone to browning if the cleaners don't use a "de-browner". And after we had the one room of carpet cleaned, our whole house smelled like a cat litter box!! We never had cats, so we were told that the cleaning brought out something that was is the pad--we ended up having to replace the carpet because it was just easier to do that than battle with the cleaners while we were in the process of moving down here. Good luck.