N/A Best carpet cleaning machines (shampooers)?

bnt83

bnt83

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Brian
This is a typical 2 bedroom apartment and not a palace.

The flooring a friends apartment is disgusting. Rather than have a company do it, with the dog barking the whole time, I'd rather just do it myself. (she's permanently disabled and needs the help)
 
For what it cost to get an actual good one, you will be so much further ahead paying a professional. If you insist on doing it your self, go rent a unit from Lowes or Home Depot. The ones you see on the shelf at Walmart all kind of suck. They take up a huge amount of room for how little they get used and are a pain to clean.
 
Yup, Lowes/HD rental is the way to go if you want to save a few bucks. Most carpet cleaning companies will have it done for less than $100. Rental + carpet cleaning solution will probably run you $50. So is your time worth $50?
 
I would definitely hire a professional service. I’ve always thought the idea of using those Rug Doctor’s and rental cleaners in general is just nasty.
 
I bought one of those DIY Hoover cleaners a long time ago. It works OK, but not as good as a rental or a pro. It's good if you have small areas and just want to keep up with them every year or two.

The Rug Doctor rentals seem to work pretty well, but be careful. Sometimes they are not very clean when you get them and it's pretty nasty to think about what they just got finished sucking up in someone else's house or apartment.

I've had the best success with the pros. The do a pretty good job of spot cleaning first, getting the right amount of cleaning agent into the carpets, and the biggest thing is that they do a good job of extracting water back out of the carpets so they dry more quickly. They guys we've used in the past do a lot of commercial work and do residential as side jobs.

Make sure to put something under the furniture legs (like double-folded aluminum foil) if you move furniture around. Otherwise the damp carpet might stain in those spots.

For a 2 BR apartment, I'd just rent from HD or Lowe's. Vacuum as deeply as possible, first. Get a spray bottle of the spot cleaner to pretreat anything you think needs it, then hit it all with the Rug Doctor.
 
These are my favorite:
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But third choice would be as others have said: hire a pro.
 
I have had a few carpet shampoo machines. None really worked as well as the rental Rug Doctors. They will just need more shampoo than you think.
 
Shawn said:
I have had a few carpet shampoo machines. None really worked as well as the rental Rug Doctors. They will just need more shampoo than you think.
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That is a common mistake. Too much soap will leave residue and attract dirt. I have a consumer level Rug Doctor and it works well, but you have to vacuum first and go light on the soap.
 
I've got a Bissell ProHeat2X Revolution, and I'm thoroughly impressed with how much dirt it got out of the carpet. A little over $200.
 
We have a buncha cats and dogs. The full size Bissell and the smaller handy size ones are great! Clean fast and hold up to a lot of use.
 
I guess if the costs of the machine are not too high for you, you could buy it, but it would be perfect only for maintenance costs. You have mentioned that she has a dog, which means much more dirt and the need to make a more professional cleaning. I am saying this because we had an awful experience with carpet bugs and our small daughter. Looks like without a proper cleaning, rugs develop some small bugs. Well, our daughter is a bit allergic and we had so long treatments. Since then, once half a year we take the carpets to splendorflooddamagerestoration.com.au for a chemical cleaning and I suggest you to do the same with yours) i good cleaning never heart nobody.
 
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I've got a Hoover. About $150. Do the house in stages because moving all the furniture at once is a problem - thus making it cheaper than a rental. Results vary depending on the type of solution, but in my experience it works OK. Meets my needs.
 
Whichever way you go, after the washing, do the whole thing again just as a rinse cycle. They will stay clean longer.
 
I saw the "N/A" at the start of this thread and for some reason my brain immediately went to "wait... a normally aspirated carpet cleaner??"
 
If you really want clean, you have to get a guy with a truck mounted unit.

For average stuff, my little portable Bissell carpet machine does a reasonable job.
 
Be sure to use shampoo because real poo doesn't work very well at cleaning....
 
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