Carpet cleaning - buy, hire or use a service?

**Stuart Wright** · 29-08-2009, 2:49 PM

Our carpets are in bad need of a deep clean. Mud, oil, marmalade and toffees.
Are there any experts who can recommend what is the most cost effective method?
TIA

Adrenochrome · 30-08-2009, 1:52 PM

Rip them up and replace them with hardwood flooring or Karndean, Amtico or Marmoleum Stuart, once you need to clean a carpet it's as good as ruined.

Initial outlay will obviously be more costly but the long term cost will be much much less as these (especially a hardwood) will last a lifetime.

abdus · 30-08-2009, 6:32 PM

You can hire Rug Doctor equipments from B&Q, homebase etc. They do a very good job with the proper chemical. But if not done properly, carpets might be left a bit too wet and smell for a wekk. And a wet carpet will obviously get stains more quickly

Service depends on how much it will costs compared to hiring the equipement/chemicals etc..

I would say hire a carpet cleaning machine and see how it comes up. It doesn't cost a lot to hire one for a day. If it doens't come up as expected, then get a professional service. At least they will quote less since you would already have done part of the job...lol

Or as stated above, just replace everything...

richardc1983 · 31-08-2009, 6:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stuart Wright

Our carpets are in bad need of a deep clean. Mud, oil, marmalade and toffees.
Are there any experts who can recommend what is the most cost effective method?
TIA

Dont bother hiring the rug doctors its more hassle than its worth by the time u have spent money on the hire, the solutions not to mention the poor cleaning quality and carpets wet for days on end you might as well just get proffesionals in.

Profesionals will charge the same rate whether carpets are dirty or really dirty makes no difference if you have attempted with a rug doctor. Usually they give you a few free stain removals, this could be 4 or 5 spots where you have stains so they will spray chemical onto these and then leave to soak and work on them more.

The problem with the machines you can hire to do it yourself is the chemicals and poor extraction rates of machines.

The cleaning fluids stick to the carpet and are not effectivly rinsed out meaning that the fluids attract dirt more quickly and look dirtier needing doing again sooner.

The proffesionals use an alkaline chemical that is sprayed onto the carpets, agitated with brushes left to soak and then they rinse this with an acid rinse solution which neutralises it. There is no soap involved which is what most of the domestic products you can buy contain.

We get ours cleaned yearly by a bloke who has a truck mounted unit.

The vacuum and cleaning unit is in the back of his van and powered by diesal engine so it is very powerful.

Carpets are spotless after and dry in a few hours.

Plus you dont have to mess around doing it yourself.

Expect to pay about £80 for a 2 bed house. Costs a little more than doing it yourself but its a great result.

I work in the cleaning industry and know a lot into this trade etc.

No need to replace the carpets if they are not worn, you will be amazed at how good they will come up with a proper deep clean.

Another tip... dont use carpet freshening powders like shake and vac as its such a fine powder it gets left behind in the pile and attracts dirt!

Hope this helps.
Richard.

scottsweapon · 02-09-2009, 3:12 PM

We got our previous staircase and landing carpet professionally cleaned and it looked superb- for a few weeks. My advice would be to steer clear of cleaning and get them replaced!

markricco · 19-10-2009, 2:22 PM

Hi Stuart

My parents have their carpets professionally cleaned and absoluted raved about it.

They recommend that you use a professional carpet cleaner who is able to clean and dry carpets in about 1-2 hours, so it causes minimum disruption to you.

As per Richard's post I steer away from cleaners who use a high alkaline process, perhaps someone who seems to use a balanced cleaning approach.

I'm sure my parents said they used their local Chem-Dry

Hope this helps.

Ricco

**Stuart Wright** · 19-10-2009, 2:37 PM

Thanks, everyone. Replacing the carpets with equivalent quality ones would cost several grand, so it's not an option.
I'll look into a company who can clean and dry for us.

Ian J · 20-10-2009, 5:46 AM

Anyone with young kids should buy mud coloured carpets as they won't show the dirt

t72bogie · 20-10-2009, 9:34 AM

we had a local firm around recently to do ours - its a 2 year old place (to us) and when it was re-fitted just before we moved in, someone had the great idea of cream carpet throughout, including stairs, landing, gallery etc ....great ...(not!)

anyway, its was £120, and they were here for the best part of an afternoon, to do office/stairs/landing/gallery/hall ...basically everywhere this "cream come grey" ( in places) carpet was

well worth the cash for sure - its like new again...definately get the pros in

markfj · 30-10-2009, 2:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by abdus

You can hire Rug Doctor equipments from B&Q, homebase etc. They do a very good job with the proper chemical. But if not done properly, carpets might be left a bit too wet and smell for a wekk. And a wet carpet will obviously get stains more quickly

Service depends on how much it will costs compared to hiring the equipement/chemicals etc..

I would say hire a carpet cleaning machine and see how it comes up. It doesn't cost a lot to hire one for a day. If it doens't come up as expected, then get a professional service. At least they will quote less since you would already have done part of the job...lol

Or as stated above, just replace everything...

I would recommend using the rug doctor too, I used it at home and the results were VERY good

and its not too pricey to use.

richardc1983 · 30-10-2009, 3:01 AM

We hired a rug doctor once... never again!

Hire cost £25 ish for 24hrs, and we had to buy shampoo etc which took it to nearlly £45 took us nearlly a day to do which was rediculous and then the carpets were wet for nearlly 3 days.

Wernt impressed with the results despite the water being filthy that was removed and 4 months later they needed doing again.

When we researched why they were dirty so quickly again despite less foot traffic in the house we found out that the soap based carpet cleaning detergents that you get such as vanish or 1001 or any other you can buy in the supermarkets the soap is left behind in the carpet pile and not rinsed out as its in the cleaning solution.

The soap is what attracts dirt easily and doesnt get hoovered out due to the dirt sticking to the soap and carpet pile.

For the sake of £40 more its worth having them done professionaly and much less hard work.

Carpets look great.

markfj · 30-10-2009, 3:24 AM

strange how you had different results to me then, maybe it depends on the carpets, because my carpets were clean and relatively dry

FZR400RRSP · 04-11-2009, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by richardc1983

Wernt impressed with the results despite the water being filthy that was removed and 4 months later they needed doing again.

This is what we find with our VAX machine.
The carpets are filthy again after no time at all.
Maybe we should consider selling the thing and getting professionals in, if your 'residual soap' suggestion is correct.

richardc1983 · 04-11-2009, 1:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FZR400RRSP

This is what we find with our VAX machine.
The carpets are filthy again after no time at all.
Maybe we should consider selling the thing and getting professionals in, if your 'residual soap' suggestion is correct.

It is correct here watch this video from someone when the had the proffesionals go back next time after using rug doctor, look at all the foam! This is what happened first time with me.

YouTube - Too Much Chemical Left in Carpets from the Rug Doctor

and the results you can expect....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-OjC0E4lx8

FZR400RRSP · 04-11-2009, 1:44 PM

Thanks for that.
I have been getting infuriated with how quickly our carpet gets dirty, since getting the vax.
Definitely try a professional clean this time.

richardc1983 · 04-11-2009, 2:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FZR400RRSP

Thanks for that.
I have been getting infuriated with how quickly our carpet gets dirty, since getting the vax.
Definitely try a professional clean this time.

Make sure they are truck mounted though as the other proffesional cleaners use the same products as the truck mounted ones do but their machines are not as powerful as they are mains electrically powered.

FZR400RRSP · 04-11-2009, 2:22 PM

So ask if they use mains machines?
And if they do, say bye bye?

richardc1983 · 04-11-2009, 2:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FZR400RRSP

So ask if they use mains machines?
And if they do, say bye bye?

Pretty much they wont get your carpets as clean as the truck mounts with their high pressure hoses etc, they certainly wont get them as dry!

What area are you in?

FZR400RRSP · 04-11-2009, 2:37 PM

Aberdeen.

richardc1983 · 04-11-2009, 2:52 PM

Heres a couple that use truck mounts.

Aberdeen Carpet and Upholstery Cleaning You Get The Most Thourough Cleaning Eve

http://aberdeencarpetcleaning.ca/ques.html

Hope this helps you.

skinnymalinky · 27-11-2009, 9:51 PM

I also need my carpets cleaned, was thing of using Chemdry?

Any good? Carpet Cleaning. Chem-Dry's Local Carpet & Upholstery Cleaners

richardc1983 · 27-11-2009, 10:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skinnymalinky

I also need my carpets cleaned, was thing of using Chemdry?

Any good? Carpet Cleaning. Chem-Dry's Local Carpet & Upholstery Cleaners

Nope wouldnt bother.

Google search

Truck mount carpet cleaning ... then your town

FZR400RRSP · 30-11-2009, 11:37 AM

We had our carpet cleaned by a company using a truck-mounted cleaner on Thursday.
Great results, infinitely better than if I'd done it myself with the Vax.
Carpet looks and feels new, and was totally dry very quickly.

The Vax is getting sold now, I'll never use it again, the piece of c....