Renting a carpet cleaner Vs. hiring the pros?

[CFury]

Is it worth spending the money to hire a professional to come out and clean the carpets? Are the results that much better, or are you just paying for convenience?

[blackened]

Yes it is better to hire someone. You are paying for both the quality and convenience. These guys do this for a living and are usually fast, thorough, and do a helluvalot better job than you could likely do with a rented dirt devil. Ask around to find the best in your area. If customers are consistently unhappy with a certain company's service, then word will get around.

I usually shampoo my carpets myself once a month and pay someone to come ~every 3-4 months (also before holidays or special occassions) to do a professional job.

[CFury]

The only reason I ask is that where I'm living now we, or shall I say the room mates, have a lot of pets and stains are problematic. I've found a house and made a bid however I know the carpet will need to be cleaned thus my inquiry.

Judging from your response I think I'm going to go with the pros. as I have no idea how the carpets were cared for and that they all looked like shite, at least in the "high-traffic" areas.

Cheers

[KiwiNZ]

Take care with the amount of water and make sure you ventilate well in order to dry.

Also check colour fastness before starting .

[Giant Speck]

I'd say if it's a house you are moving into, go with a professional. They are sure to know exactly what to use to properly clean the carpet and could probably tell you what you need to do to maintain the carpet once it is clean.

[gn2]

If there's pets involved, rather than spend money on carpet cleaning repeatedly, get rid of the carpets and replace with wooden or laminate flooring.

[HappinessNow]

if there's pets involved, rather than spend money on carpet cleaning repeatedly, get rid of the carpets and replace with wooden or laminate flooring.

+1

[hessiess]

If there's pets involved, rather than spend money on carpet cleaning repeatedly, get rid of the carpets and replace with wooden or laminate flooring.

+2, though go for real wood flooring, i.e. real boards attached directly to the beams. Anything layed over the top of an underlying floor has a tendency to lift if it gets wet and wont last very long, with the exception of stone or ceramic tiles.

[Giant Speck]

+2, though go for real wood flooring, i.e. real boards attached directly to the beams. Anything layed over the top of an underlying floor has a tendency to lift if it gets wet and wont last very long, with the exception of stone or ceramic tiles.

Oooh... I would love to have stone floors.

[chucky chuckaluck]

If there's pets involved, rather than spend money on carpet cleaning repeatedly, get rid of the carpets and replace with wooden or laminate flooring.

for cats, i think carpeting is safer, especially on stairs.

[CFury]

Thanks for all the replies. The only carpeting is in the bed rooms to which it looks as if the prior owner/renter never cleaned them. You can tell where they had furniture as the high-traffic areas were slate-grey. Don't think there were any pets involved as there are no tell-tale stains. My intentions were to replace with hard-wood flooring in the common areas however the rest of the house is ceramic tile, which is nice and new.

I've got a friend that has one of those nice hoovers for pet stains however. She says it works great and may lend it to me.

[pookiebear]

I had pros come and do a whole house before selling. All the furniture was gone at the time. I watched them work the first room. It was a night and day difference between the before and after. 10 times better than the rug doctor did. I tried RD first on one room and got nowhere. I have 3 dogs that have a dog door. So lots of staining. Carpet looked like new when they were done. If you got the coin, get the pros.

[CFury]

I had pros come and do a whole house before selling. All the furniture was gone at the time. I watched them work the first room. It was a night and day difference between the before and after. 10 times better than the rug doctor did. I tried RD first on one room and got nowhere. I have 3 dogs that have a dog door. So lots of staining. Carpet looked like new when they were done. If you got the coin, get the pros.

Nice. I may price out some companies. Thanks for the input.

[thisllub]

+2, though go for real wood flooring, i.e. real boards attached directly to the beams. Anything layed over the top of an underlying floor has a tendency to lift if it gets wet and wont last very long, with the exception of stone or ceramic tiles.

I hate carpet.
Full of dust & mites it just collects rubbish and vacuuming doesn't help.

Imagine clothes you only washed a couple of times a year.

Timber or tiles, accept no substitutes.