ILiveInFlipFlops Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 We have 6-year-old, champagne-colored carpeting on our main floor. It's pretty gross now, IMO, and the regular at-home carpet cleaner really made no difference in the appearance. So today I had guys come and do a "deep cleaning" and shampoo with natural products. Honestly, I really don't see much improvement. They got the old pet stains out of the hallway, and the little food stains around the dining room table seem to be mostly gone. But the high traffic areas still look pretty much the same to me :( And there are stain spots on the stairs that I can rub with my finger and get grime up :cursing: I mean, in general, the whole floor looks somewhat better, but I wouldn't say I see $275 worth of improvement here. I'm wondering if my expectations were too high, especially for natural products (which I tend to think don't work quite as well as the hard-core stuff anyway). I mean, is there ANYTHING that could clean those high-traffic areas? What do you think? Is there usually a huge improvement after a professional carpet cleaning? Or is this pretty much what you get? (And yes, I know we really need to rip this stuff up. DH is not on board with that yet, because then he'll want to either lay down laminate or deal with the hardwood underneath, and he's just not up for it right now. Also, the hardwood, while nice, is a bright golden oak that doesn't go with any of our decor *sigh*) TIA! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 I expect carpet to be clean. what fiber the carpet is made from makes a difference. iow: some fibers clean easily, and some don't want to let go of their dirt. what is your carpet made from? eta: I only have carpet in my family room, hall, and kids bedrooms. I don't use a "name" carpet cleaner, but have a guy with one or two employees we've had very good luck with. he got some horrendous stains out of my mother's wool berber than most cleaners - even the big names - would have left us with needing to just rip it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TranquilMind Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 We have 6-year-old, champagne-colored carpeting on our main floor. It's pretty gross now, IMO, and the regular at-home carpet cleaner really made no difference in the appearance. So today I had guys come and do a "deep cleaning" and shampoo with natural products. Honestly, I really don't see much improvement. They got the old pet stains out of the hallway, and the little food stains around the dining room table seem to be mostly gone. But the high traffic areas still look pretty much the same to me :( And there are stain spots on the stairs that I can rub with my finger and get grime up :cursing: I mean, in general, the whole floor looks somewhat better, but I wouldn't say I see $275 worth of improvement here. I'm wondering if my expectations were too high, especially for natural products (which I tend to think don't work quite as well as the hard-core stuff anyway). I mean, is there ANYTHING that could clean those high-traffic areas? What do you think? Is there usually a huge improvement after a professional carpet cleaning? Or is this pretty much what you get? (And yes, I know we really need to rip this stuff up. DH is not on board with that yet, because then he'll want to either lay down laminate or deal with the hardwood underneath, and he's just not up for it right now. Also, the hardwood, while nice, is a bright golden oak that doesn't go with any of our decor *sigh*) TIA! As a long time landlord, I will say that the truck-mounted steam cleaners, like Stanley Steemer, are the only ones that can get out stains and make the carpet look almost new. If it isn't truck-mounted, it isn't going to do a good job, in my experience. I don't know what you used, but try Stanley Steemer, and ask them to go over it twice. No. What you got is not acceptable, assuming your carpet was in reasonable condition to begin with, and the traffic pattern is not too worn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 Back in the day when I paid to have it done I found that Stanley Steamer always did an excellent job. I tried Chem Dry once and was hugely disappointed. I couldn't tell the carpet had been touched. It didn't look cleaner, there was no clean smell, nothing. For the past six or seven years I've been doing it myself with either a Hoover or Bissell steam cleaner using store-bought name brand cleaning solution. The results are almost as good as Stanley Steamer, IMO. All that to say that you should be able to tell that it's clean, even in the high traffic areas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I.Dup. Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 We use a local truck mounted company and they always get it very clean. I don't want to shell out the money for Stanley Steamer ($275!!!! :cursing: ) we pay between $50-$75 for our one or two main rooms to get clean, and they always do a great job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellesmere Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 My parents (who owned a dog at the time) had beige carpeting that looked really good after they had it professionally cleaned. I do not know what they paid, but it was so good they did not end up replacing it as soon as they had planned. From what you described, I would not be thrilled. Sorry to hear it didn't make the difference you had hoped it would. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 I see a noticeable difference with my steam cleaner and cheap ammonia. I'd expect the pros to do an even better job than I can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justLisa Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 We have the big green clean thing from Bissel. I think it was $600. Not cheap, but my parents and I bought it together. When I priced cleaning, it was going to be about $200 for everything I wanted. They felt the same. So, 1.5 times that each and we own the best carpet cleaner I've ever used. It is amazing. The tank is large, you can use hot hot water, and the product is excellent. It took me 4 hours to do our main level but I REALLY went slow and did two passes because it was so bad. Our house is 3600 square feet and mostly carpet so that gives you a size idea. We have hard floor in the foyer and kitchen but that's it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechWife Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 If you can touch your carpet and get grime up, then I would call and have them come and do it over. We get ours cleaned about every two years so that it doesn't get out of control and when they finish, it looks like new. They work very hard to get any stains up. I agree with the others, a truck mounted machine is the best way to go. I know know if this will help or not, but when we had new carpet put in our house years ago, we used a local company and asked them if they had anyone they would recommend to clean our carpet and they did - we've used the company they recommended ever since and have always been very pleased with their work. You might want to call a local carpet company to see who they would recommend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flowing Brook Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 I clean houses and use only organic cleaner. I use a product called whip it that I get at sams's when their distributors are there. I use it for the carpet and it works better than the commercial rug cleaner. I have gotten all kinds of pet stains out of it. Not to mention blood, dirt and all kinds of grime. Imo, using organic cleaner should not be a reason to have a less than good cleaning done. I'd probably complain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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