Professional Carpet Cleaning vs DIY Rental

[CroFlames]

I basically want to know the quality difference. I'm not afraid to roll up my sleeves and so some work myself, but I want the best value.

Is professional carpet cleaning way better in terms of cleanliness vs renting a rug doctor from Home Depot?

I'm moving in a week and the new living room carpet is quite soiled from the previous occupants wearing shoes indoors.

Anyone have experience with this?

[DownhillGoat]

I've always done my own. Rug Doctors can be hit or miss (if you get one that's been serviced properly), but it's amazing what they take out.

For ~$200 you can get a decent Bissel from Costco, but they won't get quite as hot.

I'm sure the professional jobs are better, but between a Dyson and a half-decent rental/purchase, I've been content with doing my own. Worse comes to worse, rent one and try a room. See how much you get out. If you're happy with it, great. If not you're only out a few bucks.

[CroFlames]

Interesting. My old man always rented and I thought the rental did an excellent job.

It's not easy lugging that damn thing around, but if there is a serious and clear difference in the quality of pro vs diy, then I would consider paying someone. I've just never had experience with paying people to clean the carpets.

[peter12]

I have always just rented the Rug Doctor from Safeway. It is an extremely satisfying job.

[CroFlames]

Maybe professional cleaning is just for sissy-boys who can't lug the rug doctor around?

Yikes, I think I just cornered myself into renting ha.

[RW99]

I used Sears carpet cleaning once, didn't see any real advantage in the cleaning. They also tried to charge me for two rooms (living room & dining room) because my very small condo had a living room with a breakfast bar

[Ace]

I had a referral for a carpet expert from Danberg when we built our last house and used him several times (this guy would also do professional carpet repairs and assessments and such). This particular guy used some sort of cleaning agent that dries into powder and the advantage they claim is that no residue ends up on your carpet as you can just vacuum up any residue. When you use soap your carpet is likely to keep a residue which actually causes more dirt and stuff to stick as time goes on.

So one time I called this guy to do a move out clean on an apartment we had and they couldn't do it due to the distance from our unit to the truck, so I started asking what they recommend, should I just use a rug doctor, and the lady said those machines are great, just don't use the soap. I asked what should I use and she said just hot water.

Since then I bought a newer hoover, and just use hot water to clean and with spot treating any stains beforehand, that way any soap or cleaning residue is limited. I've found the results excellent and this is all I plan to do from now on. Even with that cleaner that claims to dry to a powder, I wasn't convinced that vacuuming would actually remove all the powder and wondered if there isn't is actually a chemical left at the base of the carpet.

[Frequitude]

Timely thread. I've had a couple carpet cleaner experiences from the past couple months.

The first was when my dog was sick on the carpet a few months back. I just rented the Rug Doctor from Safeway to clean it up and go over the rest of the carpet while I was at it. I encountered 2 major issues. First, my dog had a terrible reaction to the chemicals and completely blew up in hives. It happened a couple times with long trips to the vet over 48 hours until we realized it was from the carpet cleaner. Second, it didn't get the stain out. The rest of the carpet looked cleaner but it still has the stain.

The second was when my basement flooded during the hail storm. We ended up getting a professional carpet cleaner in. He did a fantastic job and my dog has been fine going down there. He took a look at the upstairs stain and told us that we were probably screwed because those Safeway cleaners suck and they probably set the stain. Biased I'm sure, but thought I'd share.

So moral of the story, if you want to spruce up the carpet sure go rent from Safeway. But if you need to clean up a stain or have dogs/children, pay a professional.

[Ace]

^ We had a poweraid stain on our carpet once and the carpet guy said those are almost impossible to clean out of nylon carpet. So I had him cut it out and repair with some spare carpet we have laying around and you can't even tell the repair is so good. Definitely an option to get rid of that if you have matching carpet.

[Jiggy]

I've used the Rug doctor many times and it's been great. My dog didn't have any reactions to the chemicals.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by kunkstyle

For ~$200 you can get a decent Bissel from Costco, but they won't get quite as hot.

I'm in the same boat as this gent.

They don't get quite as hot but they still pull a ton of crap out of your carpet. First time we used the Bissel we bought, I was blown away by how dirty the water was. Carpets indeed looked cleaner and had a nice scent to them. Buying your own means they are available 24x7 (handy for pet owners and peeps with young kids) and they do a surprisingly good job of car interiors. I do my car each year after winter.

Would the professional ones do a better job? Possibly. Would you be able to notice the difference? Probably not.

In a nutshell, the cost to hire a company for one job would pay for a cleaner you could use time and time again.

[Wormius]

Any recommendations for where to take area rugs for cleaning?

[stampsx2]

I cleaned my carpet myself and pretty much ruined the carpet. Amateur job using too much soap, because more soap must be better. The carpet never was the same. Even running over the same spot over and over couldn't get all the soap out.

My advice? You can't do as good a job as a professional carpet cleaner, but if you decide to rent and clean your carpets yourself, just use hot water.

[stampsx2]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Any recommendations for where to take area rugs for cleaning?

Some sort of car wash type place for area rugs in the city would be nice for a quick rinse every now and then.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by stampsx2

Some sort of car wash type place for area rugs in the city would be nice for a quick rinse every now and then.

I tried using the local coin op for kicks and giggles. Afterwards the rug smelled kind of like mildewy water while it was wet, and took well about over a week to fully dry.

It did brighten it up, but I don't think I would try that again. Soaking wet rugs are a beast to move around. Can't imagine what people thought as I took the rug out of my car and washed it in the car bay, then rolled it up, strapped it down on the roof of my car and drove off.

[jwslam]

I have a bissell little green for small spills and it works amazing on car upholstry. Water was black as soil from the used car I bought.

[FLAME ENVY]

The truck mounted equipment that a professional uses is far more powerful than any machine you can purchase or rent. If you want to effectively clean carpet the high pressure, hot water extraction method that a professional truck mount utilizes is the way to go. An upright portable cleaner (Hoover, Bissell, etc) is great for quick clean ups of pet, child or adult accidents. Not great for an entire home. They generally leave far too much moisture and residue at the fibre base as they simply do not have enough suction to get it out.


Stay away from any company who uses the "Chem-Dry" cleaning method, it's a farce and does not clean well and will also leave splatter all over your walls from the rotating bonnet.

[Northendzone]

i have heard that rug doctor is steaming mad at dirt......i would tend to think that a good professional carpet cleaner is better than a rental machine which is better than a bissell

[Ace]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Any recommendations for where to take area rugs for cleaning?

Ram

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by FLAME ENVY

The truck mounted equipment that a professional uses is far more powerful than any machine you can purchase or rent. If you want to effectively clean carpet the high pressure, hot water extraction method that a professional truck mount utilizes is the way to go. An upright portable cleaner (Hoover, Bissell, etc) is great for quick clean ups of pet, child or adult accidents. Not great for an entire home. They generally leave far too much moisture and residue at the fibre base as they simply do not have enough suction to get it out.


Stay away from any company who uses the "Chem-Dry" cleaning method, it's a farce and does not clean well and will also leave splatter all over your walls from the rotating bonnet.

So you are saying that professional cleaning leaves the carpets cleaner than the Rug Doctor rental?

I have no plan to buy a machine, my intention was to rent the rug doctor.

The living room carpet is quite soiled due to the previous family wearing shoes indoors. Which is odd because they were generally very clean people elsewhere in the home.