Carpet cleaning - hire or buy equipment?

pineapple

I'm weighing up the cost of hiring a Rug Doctor. Seems to be around £30 for two days. Pros: cheaper in the short term - it seems that a reasonable machine would cost upwards of £150? Plus no storage issues.

Pros for buying - dogs and ongoing work on the house mean that ideally my carpets/rugs need more than a once a year clean. Plus you have the flexibility to use as and when and no collection and return hassle (though you can have a Rug Doctor delivered for an extra charge).

Has anyone else bought a carpet cleaner and have any recommendations?

Ant555

Possible con to consider -
My neighbour bought a carpet cleaner and pretty much everyone in the street has asked to borrow it at some point (we do all know eachother though) - maybe it hasnt been a big financial saving for them but it has for us - just buy the solutions and no hire cost.

If you have a circle of friends and family local then be prepared for them to ask to borrow it.

PS they are good though!

grayfox

A family member of mine has bought one, I can't remember the make. But it definitely has made a difference for them as they are a big family and have kids. So they probably use it at least once a month.



So, if you have pets or kids in the long run it's better to buy one and also keep your carpets kept in good condition for the foreseeable future.



I just bought my own place and also considering to get one, I found a VAX cleaner for around £100 mark.

jk0

I had one of the original cylindrical Vax's and have replaced it as needed. They work well enough if used regularly.


More recently I bought a 'Hoover Brush & Wash', though I believe the machine is now branded a Vax. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xcu-llcDfIA


This was £150, and has served me well over 13 years.

Chrishazle

If you do buy one, make sure it has an extendable hose for use on stairs rather than just being like an upright vacuum cleaner. We made that mistake when we bought a Vax machine, it's good for carpets and rugs but can't do the stairs carpet!


Vax have fairly frequent sales and offers, worth keeping an eye on their site or getting onto their mailing list.

pineapple

Thanks. Hopefully I can get one for below £200. I was cleaning a spill on the carpet and it was horrific seeing how much dirt came up. :eek:
I definitely need one with an attachment or something for stairs.

Ganga

pineapple wrote: »

I'm weighing up the cost of hiring a Rug Doctor. Seems to be around £30 for two days. Pros: cheaper in the short term - it seems that a reasonable machine would cost upwards of £150? Plus no storage issues.

Pros for buying - dogs and ongoing work on the house mean that ideally my carpets/rugs need more than a once a year clean. Plus you have the flexibility to use as and when and no collection and return hassle (though you can have a Rug Doctor delivered for an extra charge).

Has anyone else bought a carpet cleaner and have any recommendations?

If you do buy a £150 machine you only have to use it 6 times to be in profit as against hire £30 x 5,the cost of the chemicals is not included but you would have to buy them anyway if you hired.

jk0

I just had a glance at Ebay, Pineapple to see if there is one like mine.


How about this, if you are anywhere near Bristol?


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vax-VCW-04-carpet-cleaner/292702408212?hash=item44266c4e14:g:-lwAAOSwKqlbgZ9v


Just noticed you are in Cumbria. Maybe you can get the lady to post it?

frogglet

When we had a house full of carpets and they were still building on our estate we had a Hoover Aquamaster. It was great as I could wash the carpets after the kids went to bed and they were dry in the morning. Get it out and do a big or small job as needed. Now we have hard flooring and machine washable rugs.

Savvy_Sue

interesting thread which I shall follow as a colleague asked me about whether to hire one for work or get a contractor in.

It hadn't occurred to either of us to consider buying one, but storage is an issue, plus we'd need to factor in the time it takes to use it. My suggestion was that if the budget would run to getting a contractor, that would be a better option than hiring one, from a logistical point of view.

We do have someone whose duties include cleaning, but they are usually flat out doing all their regular 'stuff', so adding on extras like this isn't easy!

going back to the domestic side of things, my 'thing' would be to buy one and then rarely get round to using it ...

pineapple

Cheers
Probably in my circumstances, a contractor would not be cost effective though I'll admit I hadn't thought of that or costed it. I live in the middle of a farming area with a dog and work on the house is an ongoing affair - so probably twice a year use is an absolute minimum.
Plus if I have my own machine (I think I'm talking myself into it here ), I could be flexible with the timing (ie dry weather or E7 periods) and could stagger the cleaning - rather than committing myself to a hire day and having all the carpets damp at once).