Tuesday, February 1, 2011

A Question for You

Our carpet is, despite my best efforts, awful.

Does anyone have any experience with do-it-yourself steamers?

6 comments:

Alisa said...

A few years ago we bought a Hoover SteamVac. It's kind of a beast--but they've been around for a long time, so I knew, from other owners, that it should last. Despite the name, it doesn't use steam, just hot tap water. As a result, you don't get close to the results of a professional steam cleaning job. BUT it's way, way better than going months only running a vacuum over your carpet. It scrubs out a lot of dirt and grime a vacuum can't get. I think it's been a worthwhile investment.

Katydid said...

At Food Lion, you can rent a steam cleaner for 50 bucks, but it is TOTALLY worth it. Brayden and I have done it a handful of times, and it's wonderful :) It always makes our carpet look all new and happy shiny.

ashley said...

we used a steam cleaner when we lived in our townhouse. use one or find one that needs with HOT water as those are the ones that clean so much better! you'll be amazed at the dirt, that looks like chocolate milk, coming from your carpet.

Liz said...

We rented the Home Depot brand of steam cleaner when we moved here. We weren't using it for a particular spot, just overall. It got TONS of crap off our floor (the chocolate milk comment was accurate), and it looked way better. However, there is a school of thought that once you do it once you have to do it fairly regularly afterward.

Carrie said...

Liz is correct. Once you use them you have to continue using them. The reason for that, I believe (and you are probably already aware of this), is because the soap they use leaves a residue that attracts dirt, making your carpet look dirty faster.

So, I would recommend one that uses no soap or I would drastically reduce the amount of soap they recommend and do a double rinse.

Or wait for Stanley Steamer to have their 3 room $99 special.

Katrina said...

I have a red Bissell that we call "The Harlot" for obvious reasons. Well, TWO obvious reasons. If you have boys, it just makes sense. We use it about once a week on SOMETHING. This week it was egg yolk in Benjamin's room. Yah. Like that....