<p>This year I would like to rent a cleaner and do the house carpets myself, but I have no experience with doing so. Any advice or experience with brands/types, either positive or negative? I would need something not too difficult to manhandle, due to back issues, and because I want to do carpets both upstairs and down.</p>
<p>One of the biggest problems with do-it-yourself machines is they are not powerful enough to extract the moisture from the carpet compared to professional, truck mounted, equipment. Excessive moisture will damage the backing and attract dirt in a very short period of time. If you don’t pre-spot properly, your spots will look like they were removed but then reappear within a short span after the cleaning is completed.</p>
<p>I ran into the problem that jshain points out–carpets got too wet and it was a disaster. I just suck it up and pay to have a professional come in and clean the carpets.</p>
<p>I’ve used the Rug Doctor machines with great success. They really pull the water back out and always left my carpets fairly dry. Very easy to use. Pre-treating spots and traffic areas before hand makes a big difference. The rug doctor cleaner is great–I’ve used it in a home cleaner machine as well with good results (my home machine doesn’t have the suction though of the Rug Doctor rental machines)</p>
<p>I’ve rented from the grocery store a few times - it was a Rug Doctor. I’ve made sure to do it only on nice days where I could open all the windows to help with the drying. There didn’t seem to be excess moisture and and the carpets mostly dried within 6-8 hours.</p>
<p>The machine itself isn’t too bad to manipulate except for carrying up and down stairs; I started upstairs then did the staircase on the way down. There is a lot of bending because you need to refill the water tank several times, so that may be a problem if you have back issues. My easiest time was when DS was able to help; are there any youths you can hire to give you a hand with the heavy lifting? Don’t forget you also may want to move furniture around.</p>
<p>If you do get a Rug Doctor, their web site is pretty informative; helps you find a place to rent and lets you know if there are any coupons.</p>
<p>Not sure of the brand, but our Lowe’s rents excellent machines. It’s embarrassing to see how much “ick” is extracted out of my carpets. Running the machine is easy but getting it upstairs is not.</p>
<p>I rented a machine from the grocery store once…never again. I had to change the water several times and I only have carpet on my stairs and loft. Way too much work , not that easy on the back and the results were disappointing
I have Stanley Steemer clean it for not much more than what it cost me to rent the machine and purchase the cleaning solution</p>
<p>I use coit every six months for the rooms that have carpet. (We have a dog.) They will give an estimate before they do the job. I’d tear out my carpet before I’d rent a machine and do it myself. Have you called around for estimates? You might be surprised, by the time you subtract the cost of renting a machine, the driving back and forth and the time involved, it may not be an economical choice to do it yourself.</p>
<p>Back issues? Forgetaboutit.</p>
<p>We own our own Bissell and it does a great job. Friends have rented the Rug Doctor with good success.</p>
<p>^ We do the same as Thumper. We own our own, use it regularly. Interestingly, moisture has never been a problem (and we do NOT live in a dry area!). In about 10 years, we’ve never had any sort of problem with our carpets. Swear by it. It helps to be able to clean as often as you need to and much more cost effective than renting.</p>
<p>Costco sells the little blue square machine (Rug Doctor) for $399. I would love to have one… These are the rental types. </p>
<p>I have had very good luck with the older style Hoover (Hoover - SteamVac All Terrain Steam Cleaner with SpinScrub) and not very good luck with a Bissel that died after 2 years… </p>
<p>Dr. Turbo’s metric of how much water you pull out for 1 gallon you put in is is by far the best measure in my view; for normal carpet if you do it the right way you can pull out 75%-80% or more, and with a blower fan and 2 days later you’re good. We are doing this as we speak. Do it in the winter when it is cold and low humidity and use a low-sudsing carpet shampoo.</p>
<p>We had Stanley Steemer come in my old house once (won as a prize), not impressed. They do not move furniture out of the way. In our house we pretty much empty one room at a time, not an easy task on a 6,000 sq ft house (4,000 sq ft carpet). We do it once a year, twice a year on staircases, and strict no-shoes rule in the house and the carpets are as good as the day we installed them 10 years ago.</p>
<p>I’ve rented the Rug Doctor machines on several occasions. I’ve generally been impressed. As others said it’s important not to get the carpet too wet (go over it 2x maximum) and to let it dry well before using. It gets a lot of dirt out based on how dirty the water is.</p>
<p>I’ve never hired Stanely Steamer or equivalent. I’d like to sometime to see if it is much of a difference.</p>
<p>We buy whichever carpet cleaner Costco sells, we’re on #2 now. It works well, I do put boiling water in the water chamber and that seems to do better than just hot from the tap.</p>
<p>The key is to work with one strip at a time, wash, rinse, and pick up water, not wash the whole room then rinse entire room then pick up the water.</p>
<p>Yes, I read the key is the water temperature. I used to boil water too but that was a chore so now whenever I rent the Rug Doctor, I turn my my water heater to the maximum setting a few hours before and turn it back down after I’m done.
I may have to hire some else to do it next time because my H and I both have back issues.</p>
<p>We also own a Bissell. I like the ability to clean my carpets on a regular basis. No problems as long as you don’t over wet the carpet and/or fail to go over the area several times to get the moisture out. The problem with the rentals is they are so darn heavy. We’ve also used a carpet cleaning service at times. Although it’s nice to have someone else do the work, they’ve never gotten our carpets any cleaner than we do with the Bissell. It’s really a matter of whether you want to do the work yourself or not.</p>
<p>A key ingredient is the cleaner used. The Rug Doctor carpet cleaner is great and so is the Bissell Professional Deep Cleaning solution.</p>