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If you've steam cleaned your own carpets yourself, what method did you use? We're thinking about renting the steam cleaners you can get at the supermarket--but wondered if anyone has done this and how it went, or if there is another option. We don't want to use a commercial company b/c we just had the whole house painted and don't want them to ruin the paint job accidentally.
I've rented steam cleaners from hardware stores and eventually purchased a Bissel for home use. Unless you are dealing with very difficult stains I see no reason not to clean one's own carpets (wall to wall). It takes time, you might "feel it" afterwards if you are not accustom to upper body work. But it is well worth the effort and the savings.
Warning: You might be surprised how much dirt you get out of your carpets!
1. use the minimum amount of the carpet cleaning solution. The hot water spray (it isn't really steam) does most of the cleaning and extracting. Often a carpet that has previously been cleaned with a rotating brush type of machine will have TONS of soap left in the carpet attracting dirt.
2. use the wand without the spray after you have gone over a section. A major error is leaving the carpet too wet. Using just the suction will help dry it faster and prevent shrinkage and split seams.
Steam cleaning is easy to do on your own, but I wouldnt' recommend doing it in the summer, especially if you live in the South or anywhere humidity is a problem. Carpets don't dry fast enough in humid climates. You'll end up with mold and mildew growing in your carpet. The way around this is to clean with a dry steam cleaner. They're harder to find available for rent though. If you can't find a dry steam cleaner, wait until Fall to clean your carpets with a wet steam cleaner.
I've used one of those rug doctors from the hardware store a couple times. They work alright, if you've got a little more traffic then what the scrub in cleaners and vacuum won't get up, they do a decent job. If you have some heavy traffic areas that haven't had professionally cleaning for years (if ever) then you need to call in the big boy truck mounted units work great. Also i wouldn't worry about having the pros scratching anything. I've had it done a few times and they are very professional. Laying down covers on the floors, the corners of walls, etc,.. Even worst case scenario if there is a little paint scuff, it only takes a few seconds to re-paint
My husband does our carpets all the time. His family had a carpet cleaning business when he was growing up though. Skip ANY soap and your carpets will stay cleaner longer. There will be plenty of residue from any previous cleaners.
We cheated - we just tore up all the carpet and pad and cleaned up the hard wood floors underneath instead, when we decided the carpets were too gross to do much with.
Good choice. Carpeting is unhealthy disgusting stuff. Who decided that it woudl be a good idea to stick a piece of cloth permantently onto the floor and then walk all over it (spill food on it, let dogs piddle, sweat on it, drip mud, etc etc.)
Good choice. Carpeting is unhealthy disgusting stuff. Who decided that it woudl be a good idea to stick a piece of cloth permantently onto the floor and then walk all over it (spill food on it, let dogs piddle, sweat on it, drip mud, etc etc.)
Probably the folks in the middle east who had to place something over the dirt floors in their tents. They wouldn't have had dogs though. Dog sweat??? Ummm, I could make an insensitive sexual allusion, but canines don't sweat.
Carpet is not all that unhealthy in most cases. If you have mold, heck yes. Otherwise, dirt that would otherwise be floating around the room going "Doo-de-doo, where am I going to go, where am I going to go, which way did they go George?" gets captured and stuck in a nap until the next carpet cleaning.
In one of my past homes I had white carpet and a toddler (ya I know stupid) so I have cleaned carpets myself many times. Personally, I found hiring a professional to be well worth it. I found a great guy that cleaned my living room and hallway for 30 bucks. The hassle of renting the machine, getting it in the car, hauling it home, doing the work myself...well...30 bucks and its done in a hour was well worth it. I called him every spring and fall. He did a much better job. Look for the independent carpet guys, they are much cheaper. Just make sure they have good references.
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