Going to get our investment condo carpets cleaned. Former owner was a smoker. I have always done my home carpets myself with my Hoover spinvac. We don’t have much dirt or mess, so it’s done well. This job however, probably needs a pro,for best results, and less back ache for me.
Stanley steemr uses the “wand” method while others use rotary brush heads. I tend to believe that the stanley steemr method might be dependent on the operator and how much muscle he puts into it. The rotary one seems to have its own weight and seems better in theory. Is stanley steemer another example of biggest is not always best?
We do realize the carpets may need replacing, but this is worth a try, because they don’t look bad or worn.
Any experience out there? 2companies that I am considering g are Integrity carpet care, and Miracle men. One uses the Hoss 700 the other says Rotary Jet Extraction.
I’ve heard from friends that a new company called zerorez (http://www.zerorez.com/) is better than Stanley steemer, they use non toxic cleaner and the carpets dry faster because they don’t soak them with water. I haven’t had time to try them yet, but was going to next time we needed the carpets done.
The carpet is decent, this is going to be a rental. We will see how it comes out with a cleaning, before we invest $ if we don’t have to. This carpet (when cleaned) will probably be as good as the low grade we would replace it with. We are first time landlords, so hopefully we don’t get a trashy tenant. This is generally not the kind of area where we’d get the trash tenant (not that $ makes you clean). While not upscale or high end, there are cheaper places to be found.
The place doesn’t reek, there’s just an odor that I detected and the yellowing of the walls confirmed. The prior owner may have quit several years ago. We haven’t closed yet, so I guess we’ll have a better idea after we get in there. At our first showing the realtor and my hubby didn’t really notice it. Hubby thought it smelled more of “old person” (which is who lived there!)
Chuckle Doodle, I feel as though this place could use a nice wet soaking! I have a hi-eff top loader, and I still don’t know how my clothes get clean. Sometimes there is nothing like a good wet soak! But, I will consider all the options with an open mind…
rug doctor is great and easy to do. Much better than the home vac. Even when using my home shampooer I still buy the Rug Doctor shampoo–it’s the best I’ve found.
I’ve been a landlord for over 30 years and have always used either Stanley Steemer or a local independent company that uses the same equipment. I use them for my own home, as well. They can’t work miracles with carpet that’s too worn or deeply stained, but they do a great job otherwise. I find that the carpets dry out within about 4 hours, as long as the humidity isn’t too high. I’ve never had problems with residual dampness or anything like that.
If you still notice an odor after the carpets have been cleaned (and you can request that they use a deodorizer as part of the process), you might want to have the place painted. The smoke smell can be embedded in the old paint.
We are going to paint. The trim is discolored, or else she painted it off white…I plan to actually wash down the walls in the family room where you can see the outlines of where she had pictures hung (its lighter under the pictures…) and also wash down the kitchen cabinets which need some help also. Probably use Kilz or some primer as I’ve read that helps with nicotine color and odor from bleeding through. I’m HOPING they have smoke residue on them because then they will look better after I clean them. Once again, nothing is horrible, but with some good cleaning and paint it could be much better. Also, hoping this wasn’t a big mistake. I think we misjudged how badly the smoke affected the walls etc, mainly because it wasn’t an in your face odor when we went in. Deciding between vinegar, tsp or SimpleGreen
My husband is buying this rental condo, and at this same time, my son is buying his first home. I’ve noticed that when you really like something that you think everybody else loves it too, so you want to jump on it before you lose the chance. I just hope there are no regrets. Son actually paid over list (short sale) because there was another buyer about to go to contract. They let son put in his offer. Now we’re hoping he gets through this before another offer comes along. If he gets his inspections within 14 days they will only take backup offers. Son went over again last night, before signing today and we found out 2 things, one bedroom window is cracked but is a fairly small single window so it won’t be bad, AND we discovered hardwood floors in the upstairs under the carpet! He plans to just rip out the carpet and live with the floors in whatever condition they are, until he can get them refinished. I assume they are the original wood from 1950. Hope he and his girl can live with no dishwasher! I couldn’t.
Notice to son–make sure the inspections are complete–if a very old house look for asbestos, buried oil tanks, wiring, plumbing problems, additions done with no inspections etc. Too many covered land mines in some homes.
MY D took her contractor with her–she went through 4 houses that she loved at first sight that didn’t look so rosy after close inspection. He was able to give her cost to fix certain major things which was really valuable. If this one doesn’t look as rosy as first look–another one will come along.
He is getting all the inspections. There is an oil tank in the basement that looks OK and empty. Converted to gas in 2008.
The kitchen and baths look pretty current so the only thing he should have to do is refinish the wood floors and maybe replace a few windows. The wiring is NOT knob and tube but that’s all I know for now. My brother will tag along as he is fairly knowledgeable, he does a LOT of volunteer work with Habitat, has worked on many homes, even though he is not in construction (PhD in Chem) He is one of those people who just knows a lot of things.
Use Stanley Steamer…they can do miracles cleaning carpet. Most modern carpet you get tired of looking at it before you can wear it out. Staley Steamer should be able to get your carpet looking ‘new and fresh’. They probably can clean your ac/heating ducts too to reduce cigarette smoke odor in condo.
We have a cleaning service her called Service Master. They would come and steam clean the whole place…walls, cabinets, wood trim…and the carpets. I would go with something like that. This is the type of company that often does the clean up after fires, or pipes bursting…or the like.
I will call service master, it might be worth it.,they can probably do it quickly with the pro equipment. I am also going to call a rental place and see if I can rent a pro steamer. I might even buy one from kohls, the steamfast canister. I have a shark handlheld, but this it too big a project.
Do you think steam will work as well or better then vinegar on a mop? I want whichever is easiest of course, (for the walls, will have carpets done by the pros)
I called ServiceMaster and she was clueless about doing the walls. They can “wipe them down” for $60/hr per man. No thanks, I can do that. I called several rental places and nobody has a steamer, though one place had a wallpaper steamer. These places apparently never heard of a steam cleaner…
I might buy one from Kohls, that I can return if it doesn’t work well. It shouldn’t be so powerful that I"ll damage the walls, they need painting anyway even with steaming. It might be nice to have for my own kitchen and bath floors, and S1 is buying a new (old) house this spring as well.
I will try it on the inside of a cabinet door first to see what it does. The cabinets are something I can do with a rag if I have to. I just liked the idea of the steam wand…in my imagination it is so much easier than using a damp mop on the walls.