Renting a Carpet Cleaner versus hiring a Professional Carpet Cleaning Service

Don’t you love just the way that carpet feels beneath your feet? Well, I do. I even like laying on it, it feels cozy. But the worst is when it is dirty. I get mine cleaned whenever spring clean-up comes around. It isn’t a fun chore to do, but it one that needs to get done. Most people get their carpets cleaned once every few years, and sometimes not even that. Carpet cleaning is not just when you have to remove a stain or two. Floor Cleaner Fred, a San Diego Carpet Cleaning Service recommends, having your carpet cleaned will greatly improve and prolong your carpet’s performance. 

How Often Should You Clean Your Carpet?

The best way to keep your carpet looking and performing as well as possible for as long as possible is to clean it. According to HomeAdvisor, manufacturers recommend to their customers that they should get their carpets cleaned a minimum of every 12-18 months, depending on the amount of traffic in your home. You should take a look at the warranty information, because frequent cleanings may be a condition for the warranty. 

Professional Carpet Steam Cleaning

Professional carpet cleaners may use either a truck-mounted unit or a portable machine.

A portable machine has benefits such as being able to be used in apartments and condos, in units that would otherwise be beyond the reach of a truck’s hose. However, truck-mounted units are more powerful than portable units and should be used whenever possible for maximum efficiency. The benefit of hiring a professional is that they usually have better and faster equipment.  

DIY Carpet Steam Cleaning

There are a ton of doing it yourself (DIY) steam cleaning machines available for people to either rent or purchase. Since there are so many different cleaning machines on the market, it can make you feel a little overwhelmed and wonder if you should just go ahead and call up the professionals. In my opinion, it isn’t worth it. If you go to a compliance store like Home Depot or Lowes, they have models available for rent for 50 dollars. It is an easy job to tackle by yourself. 

If you live with kids or have a house that is prone to spills or accidents that are unusually difficult to clean, a small cleaner may be a worthwhile investment, just in case, it does happen. However, for more general cleaning of your entire carpet surface, I highly recommend pulling up your bootstraps and do it yourself. According to USA Today, people usually do it themselves and hire a professional every five years. 

Risks of DIY

In some cases, DIY machines aren’t able to heat the water to the same high temperatures a professional machine does. In which case, could result in less effective cleaning. Also, these machines are not as powerful as the ones that professionals use. This, in turn, means that it will not be able to extract as much of the water and therefore dirt from the carpet. 

When proper cleaning is done, the carpet should only be slightly damp after it has been thoroughly cleaned. A wet carpet could indicate that the machine was not powerful enough to get the job done effectively. If this does happen to your carpet and it is still very wet after cleaning, using fans to speed up the drying process is very common, as well as staying off to it until it is completely dry. Also do not replace the furniture before the carpet is completely dry. 

Other Variables

There are some other things to think about such as the amount of cleaner added to the machine and the technique when using the machine. When I say technique, I mean how fast/slow to move across the carpet. These could present opportunities for things to go wrong with DIY machines. 

According to MOMS, the general rule of thumb is to do two runs with the first going a decent speed to get the carpet wetter and then going over it again slower to give time for the machine to catch up and pick up as much as possible. 

Cost-Saving Concerns

If you are concerned about the cost of having a professional come to clean your carpets, consider having only the “traffic areas” cleaned. This means that your big pieces of furniture, like the sofa, bed, etc., are left in place and the cleaner simply goes around them. Not only do you not see the carpet under these large pieces of furniture, but it is not exposed to the air, light, and foot traffic the way that the rest of your carpet is, so it makes sense that it does not require cleaning as often.

Of course, if you frequently move your furniture around, it would probably be best to have the entire surface cleaned. Having only the traffic areas done should save you some money versus cleaning the entire area.