No matter how much you vacuum, your rug will someday look less than new. Grease from cooking, food and drink accidents, as well as body oil is just impossible to remove from your carpet with a vacuum. It needs to be washed with a detergent, or dried out with chemical absorption.
The majority of consumers wait until it has gotten really bad to clean their carpet because they think that it will be a seriously heavy job. The only thing that they think could be more problematic would be painting the ceiling! However when you have rented a carpet washing device that is for a half day rent, you will feel pretty motivated to not only clean the carpets, but you just might get a bit of drive to do all the random little house cleaning projects that you can just never quite manage.
Light projects that you can do while taking breaks from the heavier work you are doing is a good way to schedule things.
To have your carpet washed properly, you have a few choices; you can bring in a professional who will most likely use a wet high-pressure steam-and-water extraction, which will average about a room; or you can rent a machine from your local hardware store for about to a day which will include the cleaning solution. Also as a third option you may want to purchase your own carpet cleaner.
A deep cleaner is worth buying. It fires a high-pressure spray of hot water and cleansing serum at the bottom fibers of your rug, and then the mechanism will extract the water so your carpet will air out and be dry to the touch very soon.
You can even use a stain protector that you add to the cleaning chemicals so it will add stain protection as it cleans.
You can try out the combination wet/dry cleaners but they are not recommended. Although you can get a cylinder vac with a carpet shampoo feature, they tend to be too large and difficult to use efficiently. The vacuum feature normally works ok, and the shampoo function could be alright for light cleaning, but it won't get the dirt out for heavy jobs.
For wonderful results from a carpet cleaner try these tips:-
Test a spot before you start with a bit of cleansing serum to ensure color consistency and to ensure that there is no shrinkage. Let the solution dry out completely then compare the test area to your normal rug area. Check for color differences and for fiber length that is smaller or distorted in some manner. Dilute the serum like the instructions say, if you leave the serum at its undiluted strength, you will only have a residue issue. Always make sure that you use mild temperature water with wool so it doesn't shrink. Treat the bad stains before you wash the rest of the carpet, so that they have longer to soak and will get two cleans instead of one. Begin on the far side of the area to be cleaned so you will not have to go over parts of the floor that you have already done. Move slow. The moisture extractor will need time to work. Have someone help you, or have a break system for yourself. Emptying several tubs of icky water can be exhausting. Have the window and door open to make the dry out time quicker, also be sure to have the central heat on when you are done, this will also help the dry out phase. You should have at least 2 types of ID with you when you rent out a carpet cleaning machine, many places will want to see where you live like on a bill or your Drivers license.
