Any DIY Carpet Cleaning Experiences?

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LoneRanger

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Just need to clean up a small high traffic area in master bedroom and lift one oil based stain in another bedroom. Professional carpet cleaners won't come out for less than $85 (minimum fee).
So I'm going to DIY it with one of those spray can things that foams up and dries and you vacuum it later.

Anyone have any experience with those DIY carpet products, which can works best? Not much to do, maybe 25 sq ft give or take a few.

Carpet is medium density pile, Stainmaster Pet Protect approximately 5 yrs old.
 
Do you have any supermarket or other local stores that rent the carpet cleaning vacuums? If so I would highly recommend that instead of buying your own, costs about $50 each of the several times I have done it and that's including buying a cleaning product to use in it. Takes a good day to do a few rooms worth and then have it really dry, the machine is going to spray the hot cleaner water into your carpet which you let work for a bit then suck up, really gross how brown the water will be even after several passes... Oh and pro tip here use flip flops while you work.... I try to do this as spring hits so you can leave windows open
 
High heat and steam is easiest for a small or stubborn spot. If you have access to a clothes steamer it is the easiest to use on a carpet. Next best would be a steam iron. You do not iron the carpet but use the boiling steam to lift the spot, rubbing it lightly with a microfiber cloth.
 
Nothing does a better job that a pro with a van mounted hot water machine. That being said the next way is to rent a carpet cleaning machine.
 
OP,
If you rent the machine,
do 2 dry passes to extract most of the water. (less aftermath smell)
add a bit of cheap vodka or vinegar which through evaporation will leave a better smell.

the oil stain, pre-treat with 1to11 dish liquid/water and lift with older towels. No elbow grease please, only tap tap tap with the dry part of the towels.

No bleach please! (It gives crazy dreams at night)
Careful with anything containing "oxy"/peroxide. they may a have a potential to change color. so please first try into a corner/closet. you can make your own/cheaper (than fancy name solutions, good graphics sprays) by buying the generic oxy powder from your closest target/walmart/local store

P.S. since you complained about former owners using the fireplaces and candles, did you vacuum all the carpet twice? a dry-wet shop vacuum will do this cheaper than most fancy retail vacuums.
 
Originally Posted by CT8
Nothing does a better job that a pro with a van mounted hot water machine. That being said the next way is to rent a carpet cleaning machine.

I think our resident cleaning expert, SteveSRT8, related the vacuum is capable of holding a bowling ball....
 
I worked previously for a chemical company and we frequently sold carpet cleaners to nursing homes and restaurants with tough stains and traffic gime.

The best method is to mix the carpet cleaner with water and apply generously to the area and let it sit for 15 minutes, some agitation during this time with a stiff bristle brush like a deck brush will also help. By increasing the contact time you give the cleaner more time to loosen and soils versus the short time it would have otherwise with a machine putting the chemical down and immediately extracting it back up within a few seconds.

Then extract with straight water in your machine or by rinsing the area and using a wet-vac to suck up the fluid. We always advised room temperature water in our demos as hot water can set certain stains.

Test the carpet cleaner on an inconspicuous area first for compatibility as some commercially available cleaners can burn carpets if left too long, and a stronger concentration is not always better when it comes to carpet cleaning it can work against it so follow the dilution instructions. The commercially available carpet cleaning fluids are much better than the stuff off the shelf at Walmart.

Good luck.
 
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Rent a Green Machine. I was so impressed I purchased a used one on CL.
 
I was a semi pro carpet cleaner as a youngster. Skip the spray down vacuum up stuff. For a small spot get yourself some blue windex and a white cotton rag, spray a little on the spot and scrub. Other store bought carpet cleaner sprays may work well also but I rarely used them because they tended to be more foamy than windex, and seemed to take several passes with the machine to remove the residue.

You can do this on a larger area also but some sort of hot water or steam extraction machine is best.
 
The main issue is how deep will you get the carpet clean. The professional machines have a much more powerful vacuum and it pulls more of the dirty water from the carpet than the home machines. And often as its drying it wicks up dirt deep in the carpet. So you are done and it can look clean. But 8 hours latter it looks dirty.

Most professionals hand spray the cleaning chemicals in the traffic areas and spots and in the machine is only hot water.
 
Originally Posted by LoneRanger
Just need to clean up a small high traffic area in master bedroom and lift one oil based stain in another bedroom. Professional carpet cleaners won't come out for less than $85 (minimum fee).
So I'm going to DIY it with one of those spray can things that foams up and dries and you vacuum it later.

Anyone have any experience with those DIY carpet products, which can works best? Not much to do, maybe 25 sq ft give or take a few.

Carpet is medium density pile, Stainmaster Pet Protect approximately 5 yrs old.



A garage-stored pump garden sprayer with your own homemade cleaners and a garage wet-vac are good for small areas. Store spray cans like the one at Walmart (Great Value brand) work fine with a soft brush and towel.

My garden sprayer only sees Vinegar for driveway crack weeds during the summer. So no harsh chemicals have ever been in it.
 
We've had relatively good success with the Rugdoctor rental type units.
They do rake you over the coals on the cleaning concentrate that's needed though. Like $20 for a 2 quart jug...

You might find the same stuff available online for significantly less....
 
Originally Posted by pandus13
Originally Posted by CT8
Nothing does a better job that a pro with a van mounted hot water machine. That being said the next way is to rent a carpet cleaning machine.

I think our resident cleaning expert, SteveSRT8, related the vacuum is capable of holding a bowling ball....
I have had my carpet cleaned with the van mounted hot water machines and the cleaning job is superior to any other cleaning method
 
Our machines are not van mounted but van powered. This is quite a distinction among cleaning machines. A huge reserve of power is there to do whatever a trained tech demands of it. See them at Butlersystem.com.

Notice I said Trained? The man at the end of that hose has complete control over everything, so he can do a great job even with lesser machinery. A great machine alone is no guarantee of quality work. And of note is our machines can easily lift a bowling ball. They also will empty a 5 gallon bucket in a second! The whole truck rocks and bucks when we do a water damage call.


Find a small owner operated business near you buy looking in the yellow pages under Carpet cleaning supplies. They know who is the best among their clientele...
 
I rented a Rug Doctor from Home Depot the last 2 times we spot cleaned our carpets. But I'm not that thrilled with it to do it a third time. What is the best rental machine? Or are they all the same?
 
My 30 year old Kirby G4 vacuum with the shampoo attachment has worked great all these years. Not a commercial grade carpet shampoo machine but none the less carpet is nice and clean after using it. I found 10 Kirby vacuum/shampooers on my local CL in a few minutes for as little as $100.
 
Thanks for the correction. That is what I was trying to explain those machines really are superior . The results are top quality.
 
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