[kevinz]

Hi everyone!

I am about to clean my carpets and hire a cleaner out and I thought that this time I should try using a Dry Steam Cleaning machine to really get the dirt out of the pile instead of using a standard Carpet Cleaners from HSS etc.

I want your opinion on if it’s worth hiring the dry steam cleaner instead? Would I get more dirt out of the carpet? as I did a search of the forum people seem very negative against it on carpet use anyway.

My carpets are short pile quite old and have got "waves" in them, if you what I mean? I think its because I put too much water on them when cleaning them with the standard carpet cleaner? Is shrinkage a big problem with the steam cleaners on carpets? as I won’t be using it on upholstery.

So can someone please recommend me a strong cleaning machine that I can use? I have seen this website which has a good range- http://www.machinesthatclean.com/serv01.htm#Carpet%20cleaners

or how about the- Hot Water Carpet Cleaner - heavy duty from these guys-
http://www.hire-itnortholt.co.uk/prices.html#CLEANING

Thanks in advance.

Kev

[Steve Weatherley]

My advice is to hire somebody to do it for you. There are lots of factors to take into account when cleaning your carpets - these things a good professional would know about.

[John_Flynn]

Totally agree with Steve get in a Professional or it is going to cost you much more than the hire of a machine from HSS.

Which ever way you go I would advise that you hire the services of a Professional Carper Fitter to sort out the problem that you think you cause the last time you atempted to do the carpet cleaning yourself.

Surley you have learnt by your previous mistake!!

[Derek]

Using steam to clean carpets is very hygienic and easy to use, however...

it is only light surface cleaning

Excessive heat can affect the twist in carpet fibres causing the pile to 'felt'
The ripples you mention that are already there may well be delamination of a secondary backing. This may have been caused by previous DIY cleaning i.e. overwetting

Derek

[kevinz]

Hi Derek,

So in your opinion there isn't much difference between the two? So should I stick to regular Carpet Cleaners? or try doing both? Is deep cleaning possible with the standard Karcher 1.2KW cleaners? Ive tried the one in the bottom left hand side of the picture on the HSS site which was supposed to be a their strongest one but I didnt really see much of an improvement and the machine looked about 10 yrs old to me.

I am realistic in my expectations as the carpet is really old so it wont look as good as new, but Im hoping to deep clean them.

http://www.hss.com/Fae.asp?sysPage=WSCLASS&Class=58302&wsDivision=HIRE&sysClearSQL=YES

Cheers
Kev

[Dave_Lee]

What you have to bear in mind, a good machine in a Pro's hands, will result in an excellent job. A good machine in the laymans hands wont produce anywhere near the same results. Theres also much, much, more to cleaning a carpet and getting the desired result than just the machine. However a pure steam generator in the wrong hands can do a lot of damage to the carpet, and personaly I dont rate them as a useful tool in carpet cleaning. They are good at degreasing kitchens etc.
Dave.

[Derek]

Dave has put it so well... I do use steam a fair bit but not for cleaning carpets.
In fact I have only ever used it once on a carpet and I really had no alternative in spite of having several other systems available to me.

It can work very well with some stain removal applications but I stress you do need to play around with it before letting yourself loose on a customers carpet/furniture.

I also use it on some curtains

Derek