Renting Carpet Cleaner Machine

[jania]

I have one room with carpet that could use a cleaning. Has anyone rented one of those carpet shampooing/steam cleaning machines from the grocery store, like Rug Doctor? If so, any suggestions or comments on your experience?

Thanks!

[Stella]

I have had pretty good luck with those. I rent one about once a year to clean my carpets.

[iris lily]

It's DH's job to clean the carpets here since it is he who insists of keeping carpet.

We've got a carpet cleaner that he picked up in the alley and fixed.

I'll ask him for his tip--he's gotten so good in the past year at it that I'm no longer ranting about taking up the carpet. We have multiple cat vomits per week that stain the carpet and he manages to get those up.

[Greg44]

...my only recommendation is use very little of the soap. My experience has been if you use the amount they recommend, it is hard to get out and residue in the carpet seems to attract dirt.

[Aqua Blue]

I use "Capture" on my carpets and really like it. It doesn't involve a machine. First you spray, then shake this powder over it and then brush it in with a broom like thing. You let it set and then vacuum it up. I have some very light carpet and it really does remove the dirt/stains. I buy it at Sears.

The plus I see is you don't have to lug that big machine. You can do it anytime-I end up doing it pretty regularly in the high traffic areas. The carpet always looks nice, not just for a few days after you rent the machine and clean it.

[CathyA]

Before I bought a Hoover SteamVac, I rented Rug Doctors. They worked very well, but many of them were disgustingly dirty when I would get them, and I'd have to spend an hour cleaning them. But they work very well.

[puglogic]

I've found that the ones you can get at a good equipment rental shop are usually -- around here at least -- much better machines than the ones you can get at the grocery store. We get one about once a year, and then have a guy come in at least once a year (pale-colored carpet and two dogs!)

[janharker]

I own a Bissel ProHeat steam cleaner because I need to clean my beige carpets fairly often. I've used the Rug Doctor; Bissel does a better job, but the Rug Doctor would not be a bad choice if all you have is one room that doesn't need to be cleaned very often. I have used the Rug Doctor for years in industrial settings as well as at home. I agree with Greg; use less cleaner than recommended. Go slowly to make sure you suck up as much water as possible.

If you have a bad back, plan on Advil as part of the project, because you'll be bending over and lifting the tub of water lots.

The Capture thing intrigues me. I think I'll look into that.

[jania]

Thanks to everyone who replied so quickly! It looks like renting the machine will do the trick, but I'll be sure to inspect before I rent so I won't end up with one too dirty (thanks for that hint Cathy A). I might just stroll over to Sears and check out the "Capture" as well. I'm in the planning stages (I'm big into plans) and want to do the task once the rains are over and I'm back living in extra low humidity so the carpet will dry quickly. I'll post my results when I do the cleaning, but expect that to be in a few months.

Thanks again for the feedback.