carpet cleaning

mistry_2

Hi,

Anyone experience of carpet cleaning? we just moved into a new house and the carpet smells. We borrowed a bissell carpet cleaner and washed one of the carpets, the water came out black as expected and the carpet looks cleaner. but the smell got worse rather then better.

Should I keep cleaning the carpet until the water comes clean? or do I get some proffesionals in, with thier big van mounted cleaning equipment. Are these a lot better?

any advice would be welcome

bigdic

In my experiance the pros do a brilliant job and leave the carpet almost dry. Well worth the extra cash.

pandapaws

Are the carpets really worth saving? I was going to Bissel my son's bedroom, but instead got a roll-end for £20, plus £30 fitting. The result is much better that we'd have got from months of cleaning, and it cost about the same!

If replacing isn't an option, then maybe some of the professional guys in your area offer a free quote? We've had carpets cleaned in the past, and it seems to vary greatly in cost depending on who you get - I think some charge up to £100 per rom, but others are as little as £20 so shop around!

The Bissell is fine for a bit of a clean now and again, but I've never found it much good for really mucky floors -sorry!

mistry_2

probably not worth saving, but they are about 12' x 13' rooms so fairly large pieces of carpet. not that cheap to replace.

peachespeaches

Have you thought of hiring a rug doctor machine if there are several rooms?

Otherwise, what are the bad smells? Is it dog or wee? Theres something on ebay that might help:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Urine-Off-professional-strength-incontinence-etc_W0QQitemZ250152352453QQihZ015QQcategoryZ36440QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

or

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/room-fogger-odour-remover_W0QQitemZ250123166150QQihZ015QQcategoryZ11702QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

I havent tried the above, but wish I had when our problem was bad! I had the same prob, moved into a house and found smelly carpets. Wetting them to clean them only seemed to make the house smell of either dog or wee depending on where you were! I found neutradol carpet freshener powder quite good and it didnt wet the carpets and bring the smell up to the top! Its effects only seemed to last a week. Steam cleaning was quite helpful too. (second hand steam cleaner bought cheap through my local forum) As was sprinkling with borax and salt and leaving overnight. Let us know what works for you!

Doozergirl

I'd go for the rug doctor over professional carpet cleaners, I can't really tell the difference between the results on the two, though perhaps the house is a bit wetter withthe rug doctor, but not unbearably so. The pros are obviously more expensive. The machines have one mighty suck on them and yes, I would certainly clean each room a couple of times over. I don't really have carpet now but when I did, I used the rug doctor every three or four months - what comes up is minging and really does put me off having carpet . Certainly for any length of time before changing it again.

The smell does come up in the wet but you must open the windows and eventually the smell of the shampoo will start to come through once it's getting cleaner.

pandapaws

mistry wrote: »

probably not worth saving, but they are about 12' x 13' rooms so fairly large pieces of carpet. not that cheap to replace.

You might be surprised - that'll be 3m x 3.5m in new money, which is about 11 square metres in total.

You do often get roll ends that size - the one I got for my son's bedroom was at least as big as that for £20, and it was really good quality (it was so cheap because it was bright green, but for kids room that's great!). They do have plenty of nice normal shades too.

Even if you bought straight off the roll you can get something for about £3.99 per square metre, which would be about £44-odds per room. Ignore all the samples that they've got in books and go straight to the take-away rolls and roll-ends. I swear by cheap carpet as I like cream/beige neutrals and I'd rather change it every year or two rather than worry about keeping it clean. Once it is down you really can't tell the difference in appearance, the only thing is that it won't last as long (although in some cases they last longer because they're man-made), but at least they'd be clean and new and much better than the manky old ones until you can afford expensive ones. Even my mother in-law has come round to my way of thinking - she's just replaced her lounge for £80, which is a fraction of the £1200 she paid last time. Definitely worth a quick look!

moonflower_2

Hi that carpet sounds good,my carpet is wrecked, but I have teenagers and its really not worth spending alot of money!!

Where have you seen carpet at that price?Please let me know,it would be realy appreciated.Thanks, Moonflower

Lord_Gardener

moonflower wrote: »

Hi that carpet sounds good,my carpet is wrecked, but I have teenagers and its really not worth spending alot of money!!

Where have you seen carpet at that price?Please let me know,it would be realy appreciated.Thanks, Moonflower

Worth checking out your local independent carpet shop/ fitter who will often have part/end of rolls.

frugalsar

when we moved into our new house it stunk of cat pee as the previous owner was an old cat lady, we borrowed a bissel and spent a fortune on shampoos and lots of time doing the three bedrooms. In the end the smell still didn't go so we pulled the old carpets up and took them to the tip our selves, then washed the floorboards and bought roll ends for the whole lot came to 100 and we fitted them our selves - ok there a bit 'wobbly' at the edges but their fine for now while we get the rest of the house done and we're not bothered when the kids, spill stuff,walk mud in, throw up, draw on them etc!!!!