Do you own a carpet cleaner?

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi

Our living room and bedroom carpets are both nearly 2 years old and starting to look a bit grubby. I am wondering what's the best/most cost effective way of cleaning them.

Our neighbour has her own carpet cleaner and cleans her carpets fairly regularly. She swears that by doing this it is prolonging the life of the carpets but it means investing £100 or so in a machine in the first place.

Is it worth hiring a machine (no idea how much this costs)? What do you do?

craigywv

hands and knees bucket of hot water and some 1001,thats all I do ,don't have money for renting or buying machines. one carpet can use scrubbing brush on other one its a hard sponge hth. I leave windows open and walk on dry towels to absorb the excess liquid .

System

Ive got a carpet cleaner and use it periodically. As long as you dont soak the carpets (and risk shrinkage on a wool carpet) it gives them a new lease of life.

Only downfall is, it weighs a ton! We had a cheaper one but it was useless,

[Deleted User]

I have done both. Had one and hired one. It is only worth getting a good one and they are expensive, large and weigh a lot. Rugmaster in supermarkets is better, more efficient and you don`t need to find storage space. I use sebo duo-p powder these days as my carpet cannot be wet. That also gives a very good result but all in all I would just go and hire the rugmaster

Callie22

We bought a quite expensive Vax one when we moved house as the carpets were a state and a decent carpet cleaner was cheaper than replacing them, which we don't want to do for a few years as we're doing a lot of work/redecorating. The carpet cleaner worked in the sense that it got a lot of muck out of the carpets and once they had dried, they did look and smell better. However, I think if you're looking for something that will do a really, really deep clean then you're probably better off hiring something industrial or getting someone in - I really think that most of the ones you can buy for 'home' use are best for keeping cleanish carpets clean, rather than transforming mucky ones.

downshifted

We have one of the more expensive bissell carpet cleaners, it cost about £250 I think. Best thing we ever bought, cleans the carpets brilliantly and I wouldn't be without it.

suki1964

I got a bissell a few years back now on sale. It's invaluable as I have cream carpets in the bedrooms and a dog. It's not very much bigger then a vacuum although heavier. Does a good job as long as you move it slowly. Great for when the grand kids spill juice on the furniture or carpets and hubby uses it to valet the car. Paid for itself time and time again

splishsplash

I think they're great, but my carpets have taken lots of abuse over the years. If you don't have small kids, animals or high volumes of traffic over your carpets, it might be better value to rent one a couple of times a year rather than buying one. It is usually a bit bulkier than an upright vacuum and heavier, so storage can be a nuisance if not going to be used very often.

fuddle

DH has worked in tool hire. I have used a multitude of carpet cleaners from tool hire depots. All free to me but he tells me that the average price of the carpet cleaner would be around £25 a day for a generic one or anywhere from £40-£50 for a heavy duty one. Also look as to whether the carpet shampoo is extra. Most tool hire companies he has worked for through the years have meant we have had to buy the shampoo. Some companies have the shampoo as a required item.

The cleaners. If you've a lightly soiled carpet without too much in the way of staining then a cheaper generic carpet cleaner will suffice. In my opinion the smaller ones aren't very good for stain removal or heavy wear. The larger ones are much better but not needed if the carpet just needs a freshen up.

The job takes 30 minutes to a couple of hours depending on the size of where you want to clean. Please be aware of extra charges when you take it back as the company could charge if it isn't cleaned out.

I know I can get a carpet cleaner whenever I need one so I'm not the one to say this really but I would never buy one. They are bulky, come with kit that would be awkward to store and just not needed. The ones that I have used that worked better come in the £300 plus bracket. I personally don't think it's worth the outlay.

Hope to help a little.

Redleela

The problem I had with hired carpet cleaners is that they recirculate dirty water so they don't clean the carpet very well. We found buying a decent carpet cleaner cheaper in the long run and more effective. We got a Bissell and it cleaned very dirty carpets really well when we moved into our house; cleaned up pet stains, unknown stains that looked as though they had been there for years. I highly recommend it.

A_Frayed_Knot

Ask your neighbour if you could borrow for one day as you are thinking of buying but not sure what make/style to go for.

Personally don't like them - would rather use fairy/cloth/hot water to remove marks/stains. Works for me.