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Carpet Nightmares
ceres
When the last moon is cast over the last star of morningAnd the future has past without even a last desperate warningRegistered User, Moderator Mod Emeritus
When the last moon is cast over the last star of morningAnd the future has past without even a last desperate warningRegistered User, Moderator Mod Emeritus
We are in the process of moving out of our house, and the thing is going up for sale and needs to be nearly show-ready by Saturday afternoon. One of the big things we need to do is clean the carpets.
We have two cats, but they really are not carpet pee-ers, thank God. So aside from the occasional hairball behind the couch we've missed and enough cat hair under the furniture to build several more cats their impact on the cleanliness of the carpets in the house has probably been relatively minimal. We have a pretty good vacuum cleaner, so the hair is coming up without too much issue.
The thing is, there are some of the usual stains you get on carpets.. tracked dirt, one or two clumsy spills... and in one room, apparently one of us spilled coffee somehow and didn't notice? Maybe it was a cat. I don't even know, I don't remember and I'm not sure I saw it happen, but one way or another we moved a couple things that were next to our desk and there is this big dark stain. I'm pretty sure it must have been coffee or similar, from the look of it.
My question is, with these things in mind, which is better to use: a steam cleaner or carpet shampooer? Is it worth it to hedge our bets and do one then the other? We are going to rent things probably on Friday, but one way or another we really can't afford to replace all the carpeting so we just have to make it look much, much better really quickly... especially in that one room. The rest of the house would probably do fine with whatever is cheaper, but that one spot needs the nuclear option and I'm just not sure what that is.
Thoughts? I really, really want to sell this damn thing so I can stop paying utilities.
edit: Also, any tips on furniture indentations? Will whatever we get to deal with the cleaning be enough to take care of those? I know you're not supposed to do the ice thing.
We have two cats, but they really are not carpet pee-ers, thank God. So aside from the occasional hairball behind the couch we've missed and enough cat hair under the furniture to build several more cats their impact on the cleanliness of the carpets in the house has probably been relatively minimal. We have a pretty good vacuum cleaner, so the hair is coming up without too much issue.
The thing is, there are some of the usual stains you get on carpets.. tracked dirt, one or two clumsy spills... and in one room, apparently one of us spilled coffee somehow and didn't notice? Maybe it was a cat. I don't even know, I don't remember and I'm not sure I saw it happen, but one way or another we moved a couple things that were next to our desk and there is this big dark stain. I'm pretty sure it must have been coffee or similar, from the look of it.
My question is, with these things in mind, which is better to use: a steam cleaner or carpet shampooer? Is it worth it to hedge our bets and do one then the other? We are going to rent things probably on Friday, but one way or another we really can't afford to replace all the carpeting so we just have to make it look much, much better really quickly... especially in that one room. The rest of the house would probably do fine with whatever is cheaper, but that one spot needs the nuclear option and I'm just not sure what that is.
Thoughts? I really, really want to sell this damn thing so I can stop paying utilities.
edit: Also, any tips on furniture indentations? Will whatever we get to deal with the cleaning be enough to take care of those? I know you're not supposed to do the ice thing.
And it seems like all is dying, and would leave the world to mourn
ceres on
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Steam cleaning is much better for deep cleaning, and will basically get everything out of the carpet.
If you do both, shampoo first. The steam cleaning will get up residue from the shampoo.
Right now I'm thinking about renting a shampooer, doing that Friday, and then Saturday going for steam. I think they'll need the shampoo, but I don't think that sticky carpets will feel very nice to potential buyers.
Yup, generally local grocery stores will rent these for like $15 per day. Think the cheapest I've found someone would be willing to do it for me was $200 for a whole house.
Oxyclean is washing soda (soda ash) so you might be able to score some cheap versions at pool supply stores. Not that you'll need a gallon drum for the same price, but it's a handy product to have! It's basically cooked baking soda.
Sodium Bicarb->(cooked) -> Sodium Carb
It also has a bit of Sodium percarbonate too.
But I am a frugal asshole so I do this shit and I thought someone here might be interested.
You really should be able to get away with spot / hand shampooing and then steam cleaning, although if you are trying to sell it probably won't hurt to do the whole house with a shampooer and then go back with a steam cleaner. Your carpets will look cleaner and fresher because you've gone over it more times.
Yeah seriously, Folex is amazing. I mean the whole shampooing business will probably work, maybe, but really, Folex kills every stain ever. It is glorious.
Go get some Nature's Miracle from your local pet shop. It is an enzyme based cleaner designed to deal with pet satins (hairballs to pee) but ALSO essentially destroys coffee, or any other organic stain quickly and with just a little blotting.
Then, after your stains are dealt with, rent a cheap steamer from a hardware store for general cleaning.
I have indeed heard good things about Nature's Miracle, too! I just don't have personal experience with it.
I'll second Talios's recommendation: hand-wash the coffee stained spot with Folex, and then run a steam cleaner over the whole thing. If hand-washing won't get it out, a shampooing machine wouldn't have done any better.
Pretty sure it's made from some sort of dark magic.
On the other hand, the money you'll spend on shampoo for the grocery store cleaners will put you close to the cost of a pro coming in, and you'll get better results with said pro.
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197970666737/
...Which is why it's a good thing that, in my opinion, shampooing is a waste of money. :P
Rent a steam cleaner, use one of the stain removers recommended here to hand-treat the stain, use rented steam cleaner to deep clean the carpet. Should be smooth sailing after that (just remember to stay off of the steam cleaned carpet, like bean said, for a day).
Oh, and any impressions made by your furniture should be worked-out with the steam cleaning.
Any ideas for those massive furniture indents? Especially where the couches were for years, and the bed... they're pretty deep. I'm hoping the steam will be enough to pull them up, but vacuuming really isn't.
Also you may want to check if your state has laws on rental carpets, where the homeowner needs to replace carpet between tenants and can't charge it against your deposit, you may want to check into that.
I think Lowe's is where we got ours, but according to Folex's site when you select Pennsylvania, it's available from both Home Depot AND Lowe's. So you're good on that!
Although both stores' websites are being difficult about telling me what kind of equipment they have available. I'll have to call in the morning.
Thanks guys.
If your carpet is old enough that an indent stays until you steam it... you might need to replace it. But the buyer can do that and they'll probably just take a few grand off their offer.