Professional Carpet Cleaning vs. Do It Yourself Rentals

Fact: You'll waste less time and money in the long run if you hire professional carpet cleaners. If you rent a carpet cleaning machine, you may spend more time and money and get only marginal results.
Professional carpet cleaning is more expensive than renting, but you'll get the best results without investing your time.

While your carpeting may not require the regular cleaning that other types of flooring demand, your carpet should be professionally cleaned every year to 18 months, even if you vacuum regularly. Professional carpet cleaning extends the life of the carpeting and contributes to better air quality, reducing allergies and illness.

Do-It-Yourself Carpet-Cleaning Mistakes
Ideally, your carpet should be professionally cleaned. However, to save money, many people alternate between do-it-yourself cleaning and professional cleaning. While the do-it-yourself approaches are far less expensive, they are seldom as effective as professional cleaning and involve considerable time and hard work. Depending on the method used, it is easy for the novice to damage the carpet.
Beware of the three most common ways do-it-yourselfers (and inexperienced pros) damage carpets:

• Over-shampooing

• Over-wetting

• Failing to protect the wet carpet from furniture

Over shampooing occurs when too much shampoo is used, or the carpet is not adequately rinsed. Both are practically inevitable with some wet do-it-yourself approaches, and this is the biggest reason why even hard-core do-it-yourselfers should occasionally use a professional. If they don't, the build-up of soapy residue can be impossible to clean out, leaving a carpet that is a virtual dirt magnet.
Over-wetting occurs when too much water soaks into the bottom of the carpet. Some backing materials cause the carpet to discolor if they get too wet. Some carpets will shrink, literally tearing themselves up from the floor. If the backing and pad get wet, it is challenging to dry them, and you run the additional risk of mold and mildew problems.
The final carpet-cleaning hazard is stains caused by furniture coming into contact with wet carpeting. Many kinds of wood furniture will release some of the dyes in their stain if left in contact with a wet surface. Many pieces of furniture have feet that are at least partially metal, and the metal can rust, leaving a stain on the carpet.
 
Professional Carpet Cleaning vs. Do It Yourself
There are a variety of professional systems for cleaning carpets, and each has advantages and disadvantages. Hiring a professional service is one way to ensure that the job is done well using the best equipment and cleaning solutions.