Pro or no pro?

So you notice all kinds of spots on your carpet, or it just looks dirty.  You figure you need to get it cleaned, but you have to make a decision – do it yourself or hire a professional carpet cleaning company.

Professional companies are going to charge you between $30 and  $50 a room on average.  Some go by square footage and some go by number of rooms.  So even getting just two rooms cleaned is going to set you back about $100.

Do it yourself cleaning with a rental machine may seem like a better option.  But is it really?

Let’s take a look at DIY carpet cleaning.  First, if your carpet was purchased after January 1, 2008 using a DIY method and certain other over the counter spotting products will immediately void your carpet warranty.  Carpet purchased before that date also has warranty restrictions as far as cleaning method, so you’ll need to check your warranty information.

Ok, so back to DIY and renting a machine.  The average cost to rent the machine is $29.00 a day.  Then you’ll need to buy the shampoo and defoamer, about $19 each, total $67, so you’re saving money!

But here’s the catch, you just spent about an hour picking up the machine, and you’ll spend another hour returning it after you are done. Now it’s time to start cleaning!  You mix up the chemicals in the machine with hot water and start cleaning.  A full machine will clean up to 80   square feet.  That’s one small bedroom.  Now you have to empty the machine and refill it.  Oh, and wait!  You have to rinse the freshly cleaned carpet with clean water or you are going to have a big mess!

You just spent an hour cleaning one room. But you’re saving money, right?

So you go ahead and clean the 2nd room, that’s another hour.  Mission accomplished, now it’s time to clean out the machine and return it.

But what did you really accomplish?  You rented a machine, spent 4 plus hours cleaning two rooms of carpet to save $30.    Your carpet is going to be wet for hours or even days.  You only managed to clean the top 1/8 ” of the carpet fiber.  You put soapy chemicals in your carpet that are going to attract dirt and cause recurring spots and the carpet is going to get dirty again a lot faster.  And if you have pets, or if the carpet was heavily soiled, it is going to smell – for days.  And the other 7/8″? You just washed all the dirt to the bottom of the fibers.

An IICRC certified  professional using a truck mounted system can clean those same two rooms in under 30 minutes.  They also will move most of the furniture back and forth.  The powerful truck mount vacuum will remove up to 96% of the soil in your carpet, and won’t void your carpet warranty.  Your carpet is going to stay cleaner longer, and will be dry in 4- 6 hours.  If you are hiring a pro, make sure they are certified at http:/www.iicrc.org

So, pro or no.  The choice is yours to make, but is doing it yourself really worth it?