How to Clean Your Own Carpets

Cleaning your own carpets can save you a lot of money. A truck-mounted professional carpet cleaning service costs a lot and comes at its convenience, not yours. By the time you've booked a service and the pro has arrived, you could have bought or rented your own carpet machine and finished the job. There's a large assortment of commercially available carpet shampoos you can use, but making your own carpet solution is easy, economical, and often yields better results.

Things You'll Need

• Carpet shampooer
• Carpet cleaning solution
• Vacuum cleaner

Instructions

1. Move all the furniture off the carpet you want to clean.

2. Vacuum the carpet thoroughly.

3. Add clean water to your carpet shampooer machine's clean water tank.

4. Mix a carpet solution (see Resources) or use a bottled one from the store, and pour it into the reservoir tank for soap solution on the carpet shampooing machine.

5. Read the directions for your machine's use. Typically there is a trigger for applying soap, which you will pull as you push the machine away from you to apply the soapy solution. On the return pass, as you pull the machine back toward yourself, the excess liquid in the carpet will be sucked up along with any dirt. Once you understand how the machine works, go on to the next step.

6. Begin in an area farthest away from the exit to the room and work your way out of the room to avoid having to walk across the damp carpet. Run the machine forward and back in slow strokes in areas of about 3 by 3 feet at a time. Do not rush.

7. Replace the soap solution as it runs out, and be certain to keep an eye on the dirty water and clean water reservoirs so you can replenish their levels as needed.

8. Allow the carpet to dry completely before allowing anyone to walk on it.

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• Carpet cleaning solutions