[Buzzard]

Originally Posted by Ice

Those type of retail carpet cleaners all leave cleaning residue on your carpet. It will clean the stains, but the residue left behind clings to dirt and dust and what you can end up with is larger, but lighter, carpet stains. So over time, and with regular use, the overall look of your carpet will begin to look worse. I made this mistake with my carpet and did a little research and found a solution that has produced much better results.

For small stains in my carpet, from a kids spilling something or dropping food, I boil water, pour it on the stain, use a towel (a thick enough towel to prevent burning my hand with the water), pat and rub the area until the stain is lifted and then use a shop vac to suck up the water, then cover the area with a dry towel until it is completely dry. Water leaves no residue behind so it won't cling to dust and create another stain from the cleaning.

When cleaning a larger area, I use the carpet cleaner, but while the carpet is still damp, I go over the area again with the carpet cleaner, but this time without cleaner in it, only hot water. if I still see cleaner residue that's visible, I'll go over again with hot water only. This way it limits the amount of cleaner left behind and new stains don't show up as quickly. I have a professional steam clean the carpet once a year and the guy I use makes sure to leave little to no residue behind when he cleans the carpets.

One thing to remember is it takes longer for your carpet to dry with these home cleaners because they are not as powerful as the professional truck mounted vacuums. They don't remove as much of the moisture so if you can avoid walking directly on the carpet until its completely dry, your result will be much better.

Yup. This.

The best professional job we have had done was by a owner/operator of his own business. He did not use any detergent. Only hot water and a few drops of some magic potion.

The cleaner that we bought does as good as a job as he did. We do not use any soap in it. Sometimes I'll throw a few drops of febreeze in the water for a little smell.