Cleaning Carpet

[whiskyb]

Its time to do our carpet. Its not high dollar stuff but only a few years old and between me and my bare feet living in a beach town and a few of the cats hairballs it is due. Its a low pile berber style beige in color.

Whats the best approach. Rent at the store, hire a professional or any other ideas?

Thanks,

[Hugh R]

Rent at the store, its a lot cheaper and you'll probably do a better job. The "professionals" don't usually move furniture, or charge extra to do so.

[pwd72s]

+1

[whiskyb]

Quality wise you feel that the store rentals do a better job. Thats much easier on the pocketbook, so I can do extra areas that I would not pay to have done

[stomachmonkey]

Rent at the store.

With a Mastiff and a bunch of cats I used to do mine once a year.

Prepare to be shocked at how much stuff comes up. Don't care how regularly you vacuum.

And if at all possible clear the room of all furniture. Clearing the room is work but trying to clean around/under stuff is just as much work if not more sometimes.

[Zeke]

The secret to carpet cleaning is to use the cleaner only on the dirty areas. Spotting or using a separate scrubber being careful to not get the carpet any wetter than it takes to make a light foam with the cleaner (which is just detergent, IMO).

Then use the heated unit with clear water. I have a friend that does carpets with one of those remote trucks. He has hot rodded his vac unit so that it will suck chrome off a bumper. He says the typical house has so much soap residue that just reactivating it and sucking the carpet clean is the way to go.

His work always stays cleaner longer and feels softer when it's dry.

[dipso]

Turn up your water heater all the way before you start. That way you get the hottest water possible.

[whiskyb]

Room will be empty for painting so I figure its a great time.

[Evans, Marv]

When I had rental property, I bought one of those Bissel (Sp. ?) carpet cleaners from Costco, and felt I could do as good or better job as a commercial outfit. It took my time and sometimes I would have it done commercially. When a place was empty, it was pretty easy for me to get in there & do it if I had time. I used Folex (Sp. ? again) as my cleaning agent, and it seemed to do a better job than dedicated cleaners. +1 on not over wetting the carpet, and I would always rinsed the carpet two times. I discovered if you rinsed it out well, it stayed cleaner longer because you got more of the cleaning residue out.

[whiskyb]

My local outfit has one that is much like an upright vacumn and another with a hose that has a fairly large tank dragged around like the other style of vacumn (not sure what its called) I am guessing the larger unit with hose and power head is best. As for chemicals what about the pre-treats and such

[UconnTim97]

Rent one, or buy one if you intend to use it regularly. I prefer my method of borrowing the MILs cleaner.

[imcarthur]

Go to a local rent all. They usually have heavy duty machines that work well. Get the long hose if there are stairs involved. The Depot has rental cleaners as well. When I have time, I'll hit it once with the cleaner, then again an hour later with hot water to get any residual.

Ian

[Zeke]

You can use Folex (one of the best) as a pre stain treatment and as the general cleaner in diluted form.

[Scott R]

Timely thread, I'm weighing this "do it yourself" idea today. For the guys that rent the machine and do it, how long does it take per room? I have a 6.5k sq/ft home and most of the "living areas" are carpeted, as are all of the stair cases. I normally pay about $500 to have this done once a year and of course I want to save money, but how much time?

[A930Rocket]

What does a rental machine cost for future reference? We just had our 2000 SF home cleaned for $180.

[imcarthur]

Your typical rental will look something like the above picture. There are 2 reservoirs. One for water + cleaning solution. One for waste. The wand is dual purpose. It has a nozzle to spray cleaner & the head that sucks. You just trigger the fluid & pull the head toward you, overlapping each pass slightly. It is not difficult. I don't know, 10 minutes for a bedroom size room? But you have to keep emptying & refilling & lugging the beast up & down stairs.

I don't remember the cost but under $50 for a day iirc.

Ian

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Scott R

Timely thread, I'm weighing this "do it yourself" idea today. For the guys that rent the machine and do it, how long does it take per room? I have a 6.5k sq/ft home and most of the "living areas" are carpeted, as are all of the stair cases. I normally pay about $500 to have this done once a year and of course I want to save money, but how much time?

10 minutes to do an empty room. No idea how much furniture you have.

10 dollar carpet cleaning jobs are not worth letting the guy in the door. For 500, he better do the best job ever and shampoo the dog as well.

Then there's everything in between.

[Evans, Marv]

Sorry but I think 10 minutes for a bedroom sized room (say 12x12) is pretty optimistic. I imagine it would take maybe 15 minutes to hit it the first time with the cleaning solution. Then there is the rinsing and time counted in for emptying and filling/refilling the machine as you go through the job (including the other rooms). For me, I would think close to half an hour if you do the job right with a rented machine or your own. To get decent results, you need to not hurry through it.

[peppy]

I guess living in a rural area has its perks. We have a guy that comes in with the van and does the main rooms and the hall for $100 plus a tip and a drink.

The floor is dry when he leaves, and he moves the furniture.

[85eurocarrera]

Zerorez......