carpet cleaning service

[bea]

has anyone ever used one? I keep coming across companies who use Chem Dry? anyone heard of it? and how much would i be expected to pay to get the carpets cleaned on a 4 bedroom, 2 living room and 2 hallway house?

thanks

I have used ChemDry for years, the process that they use means that there is no sticky residue left that you get with 'foam' or shampoo type cleaning.. It is this residue that attracts the dirt back really quickly. I always have it scotch guarded as well, it is also oly a couple of hours before you can walk on it again and it doesn't get too wet.

I had my conservatory, (13x13) breakfast room (12x100 and hall (10x8) done recently after the builders and it was about £80.

They will also come back free of charge if a stain does not come out first time round. They will give an estimate on the phone or come round free.

thanks all! i got a quote from chem dry... £300!!! whcih is a little bit pricey for me!!! I might be going for the 'sticky residue' alibubbles!!!

since we're going to replace the carpet in a couple of months/years... we might just go for a wash... and leave the posh chem dry until we've got carpets to stay!

thanks all!

though would like to hear of more experiences!

What an exciting life i lead!!! Carpet Cleaning queries!!

We had a living-room carpet cleaned by a small local one-man firm the other month as we have no hallway so you came in off the street straight into the living room. Afetr living there for almost two years and walking dirt in and pushchairs coming through (not to mention food stains from DD) it really needed a good clean and the steam cleaner I borrowed from my mum made little difference. I don't know exactly what he used to clean it but I know that it was a petrol machine which he said was a lot more powerful than his electric one. The results were amazing and there was no sort of residue but it was £40 for the one small room (about 11'x11'. Unfortunately the carpet is beige and a few weeks later it's looking a bit grey again. Also the "no eating or drinking in the living room" rule lasted about 5 minutes. I'd definitely do it again but at £40 a go it will be annually at the most.

My mom has her own carpet cleaner at home which works really well. I let my dad clean our carpet when needed. An idea might be to purchase your own carpet cleaner. That way you can clean then or do a touch up anytime you want. The quality of one depends on how much you want to spend. I need to get one myself because my carpet is continuously. Sorry guys I have to go the neighbor boy just let a bird in our house.

Help needed please!
I have an ordinary vacuum cleaner, and have tried various foam things that you sprinkle/spray on the carpet to clean it, wait 30 minutes and hoover off. Can't say any of them have been wildly successful against the sort of muck spread by my children.
Buying/hiring a specialist cleaner is definitely out - so can anyone recommend a good product/alternative way for cleaning fitted carpets?

You can hire carpet cleaners from your local dry cleaners they work along the same lines as the "Vax" type i.e . it squirts on cleaning fluid and then sucks it back up again, leaving the carpet very slightly damp, but a lot cleaner, if the liquid you then throw away is anything to go by! Last time we hired one, it was about £10 for 24 hours, and we managed to do the whole house in that time!

If anyone knows how to clean jute flooring, please see the thread I'm about to start on that!

If you ever get a phone call offering you a free carpet/suite cleaning, tell them NO! A few years ago we had the same offer and accepted and were subjected to a 4 hour Kirby vacuum sales talk. They (2 young men) did clean the carpet but also wouldn't leave the house until we got really stroppy. The cleaner is very expensive and we really didn't have the money at the time. I don't think we would even buy one now. I know that I should have been prepared and known that you don't get anything for free, but I was promised on the phone that there were no catches, no hidden clauses, no obligation etc. I even asked how long it would take and was told "about 2 hours". I know other people who had them round in the evening and had to throw them out in the early hours of the morning. Be warned!

Hi Tissy
I don't want to hire a carpet cleaner! I need something quick and easy which can be applied every week or so to certain areas of carpet which get particularly dirty, in spite of being under rugs. There must be some magic product out there - isn't there??

Sorry, didn't read the last para. of your posting properly!

QVC quite often have a miracle carpet cleaner on their shopping channel. It is a liquid that foams up and you apply it to carpets/suites with a special applicator. When it dries you can just vac it up. It looks miraculous when they demonstrate it but it does seem expensive (about £20 per kit if I remember rightly). Have a look on www.qvc.co.uk from time to time to see if they have it on.

PS. If it works can you tell me and I will get some

I think the only thing that really works is a scrubbing brush and one of those spray things (2001 I think it's called).

I've had a look on the QVC site but they don't have any at the moment. I can't remember if the pack is made by Astonish or someone else. I have tried Astonish carpet spray but wasn't too impressed (it did smell nice though). The QVC pack includes an applicator which helps it to foam and is quite expensive but it does appear absolutely brilliant when they do the demos.

I must be really sad to admit to watching QVC I've never actually bought anything because it all seems so expensive once you add the postage costs. Some of the cleaning products do look very good though and I have had really good reviews from friends on the 'Orange' cleaning products which they often sell.

thank you for the great response! keep it coming please! I will try 2001 first, and keep the other one in reserve for when I feel a bit richer. Have been impressed with other 2001 products.

I've got some Oxiclean (very good for baby stains), but the packaging says it shouldn't be used on wool, thought it doesn't say why! Its basically a non-chlorine bleach, and if you sprayed it on, you'd have to blot it out again, I think.

I've got some Oxiclean (very good for baby stains), but the packaging says it shouldn't be used on wool, thought it doesn't say why! Its basically a non-chlorine bleach, and if you sprayed it on, you'd have to blot it out again, I think.

how did that happen?

We have carpet in our bathroom - unfortunately. Blame the previous owners of our house. It seems like half the contents of our bathroom shelf ends up on it - shampoo, toothpaste, sudocreme (the worst). Hoovering and cleaning with foam spray only go so far. What really makes a difference is a child-made flood or a water fight. When the carpet is soaked in water, stains lift off. We pay for it by having a damp, smelly carpet for a few days, and (I'm sure) damage to the underfelt. But no sign of this yet

So if desperate sml, you could try sloshing some water around and waiting.

If really, really desperate, could you rip it up and scrub the floorbords instead?

Tissy
brilliant, I'd end up with cream coloured carpets! I sometimes think that nothing short of bleach will do the trick.

Tigermoth,
I'd LOVE to rip the beastly things out and revert to the floorboards, but dh says it would be too draughty. I think the solution is to lay one of those wooden floors on top of the not airtight floorboards. Annoyingly, I read in a newspaper that wooden floors are now out of fashion - before I've even been able to afford one!!
Our carpets are a vile pattern left by the previous owners of the house. It is especially irritating to think that this pattern will probably be one of my children's cherished early memories.

sml, i don't know what paper you read, but wooden floors will never be out of fashion.
Anyway, my husband (builder) has a secret formula for old floor boards, which i will share with you. Sand the boards down, clean thoroughly and put one layer varnish. Then resand more lightly and coat with second layer varnish. Then fill the gaps between the boards with clear silicone using tube gun dispenser (Keyline own brand silicone works the best). Rub off excess silicone (with old sock) from top of boards, re-sand even more lightly and coat with final coat of matte varnish. You will end up with beautiful golden boards with no draft. The matte varnish helps hide the defects that old floorboards have, but it scratches easily and is not great when you have small children (speaking from experience). But you can always do the last layer in glossy and then when the children are older, do a light sand and do a layer of matte. Either way, it is soooo much easier than carpets.

AND, much cheaper and more attractive (imo) than the overlay floors.

SofiaAmes, it was the Daily Mail wouldn't you have guessed. (Only get it on Saturdays for the TV pages if the Times is sold out - and don't worry I did not take it seriously) Thank you for the recipe for wooden floors, it sounds brilliant, just what we need. I'll start nagging him right away!

Chem dry are a franchise, and as such firstly expect to pay a premium as the franchise wants a slice of the pie to.
Chem dry has a system which uses very moisture. Yes they can clean the carpets for you , however you need to imagine your finger as a single carpet fibre. Their system will only clean the tip of your finger. They use a pad that rotates over the service of the carpet. The vast majority of carpet cleaners use the hot water extraction system. The benefit of using this system is the hot water is blasted under pressure , and vacuumed away. The drying time can vary from 2-5 hours pending the length and type of carpet, and the internal humidity.
Just to give you an idea of prices, we recently quoted and won to clean a doctors surgery, Our price £1300, Chem dry £2900. Yes more than double. So waiting around for your carpets to dry is worth it.