Hiring a carpet cleaner

[AWombWithoutARoof]

I need to do a whole house, as yet unfurnished. Is it relatively easy to do yourself, albeit tedious and backbreaking?

Any top tips?

[MrsExcited]

Yes, i booked a rug doctor for 24 hours, did a large 4 bed house, upstairs in the evening i got it downstairs in the morning.

Cost me about £45 including soap and stain remover.

[AWombWithoutARoof]

Ooh, that's better than HSS price I think. Will have a look.

Were you pleased with the results?

[wowfudge]

Hi there - I hired a Rug Doctor for a weekend to clean all the carpets in a house we were getting ready to sell. Easy to use and not back breaking as you stand to use it and are not bending down all the time. Also cleaned two fabric covered sofas with it, but you do need the anti-foam for upholstery cleaning.

I've also hired a Karcher machine from HSS fairly recently to deal with marked carpets in two rooms. Ended up doing more with it, but it was pretty hard work as the machine had attachments like a cylinder vacuum cleaner.

[AWombWithoutARoof]

Ah, looks like the Rug Doctor will be easier then.

Yes, the ones with the vacuum cleaner attachments look harder work! I will need to do stairs too, so won't escape that entirely, even with the Rug Doctor.

A couple of the carpets have stained areas, did you find the cleaning solution that came with the Rug Doctor were effective?

[wowfudge]

Hmm - can't actually remember the details as it was four years ago. There was one mark on a cream bedroom carpet that wouldn't budge, although it did lighten with cleaning. Luckily it was in the place you would put the bed (and the only place you would put the bed) so it wasn't visible anyway. You could try pre-treating before you get to work with the carpet cleaner.