First, when choosing a service, call to ask a few questions before hiring anyone. You want to ask them about their process. What kind of chemicals do they use? Is it safe if you have pets and children? What kind of equipment do they use? Do you need to move the furniture out of the way or is that included in their services? How long will you have to stay off the carpet when they are done? In addition, you want to make sure that they ask you questions as well. Never trust someone who gives you a price without getting any information from you. They should ask how many rooms and what the size is. They should also be interested in whether your carpeted rooms are on the first floor or not.

Once you have chosen your carpet service, make sure that you get an agreement in writing and have it signed by both parties. You do not want any surprise charges to come up later. It is better to get something in writing that says what your expectations are and what you have agreed to pay.

Depending on the service, you may have to have the room clear before they get there. Make sure that you take the time to move furniture on the day before or the morning before they arrive. You do not want to be paying for the carpet cleaning professionals to be standing around while you struggle to move furniture.

If it is not included in the service, consider pre-treating some areas of your carpet with stain remover. A lot of stain removing agents need some time to work so you could apply them an hour before the service arrives and then they will be cleaned up when the carpet shampooing commences.

Also, make sure that you have arrangements in case you will need to stay off the carpeted areas for twenty four hours. You should either make arrangements to stay with a friend or stay in non carpeted areas of your house.

If you are getting your carpets cleaned for a special occasion, make sure you do it at least a week in advance. Sometimes if the carpets are not properly rinsed, a phenomenon called wicking will make your carpets look worse the day after cleaning than they looked before you got them cleaned. You want to make sure that you work in a buffer of time in case the professional carpet cleaners need to come back and fix a mistake.

One of the things that Dirt Devil uses to set this carpet shampooer apart from other carpet shampooers is the fact that there are two suction nozzles on this machine. That means there is more force sucking out the dirty water out of your carpet and it never has a chance to settle or soak your carpets like it might have with other carpet cleaning machines. This machine has two revolving brushes that rotate in opposite directions to add to its cleaning power. Multi-directional scrubbing is a proven way to get your carpets cleaner.

Some other ways that this machine is different from other carpet cleaners is that there are three tanks instead of just two. There is a clean water tank that you fill with plain water, a dirty water tank for the wash water you suck up after scrubbing, and a soap dispenser. This third tank is for holding the carpet shampoo. The Platinum Force will automatically measure how much soap to use and mix the soap with the clean water when the soap dispenser button is pressed on the handle. Keeping the soap separate from the water allows you to rinse with clean water whenever you need to and means you do not have to empty the reservoir to rinse.

Not having to premix the soap and water also saves time. When I clean my own carpets, the part of the job that takes the most amount of time is refilling the cleaning solution reservoir. You need to measure out shampoo and mix it with water and then pour it into the machine. With the Dirt Devil machine you only have to fill the reservoir with water. This is a big time saver and one of the reasons this machine is great for small and quick jobs.

Grocery Store Shampooer Rental

My personal preference is for the machines you rent at the grocery store. The most popular brand you will find at your local food mart is Rug Doctor. There are three reasons that I like renting these carpet cleaners.

• First, it is extremely convenient. I go to the grocery store almost every day anyway, so picking up a carpet shampooer on one of those trips is not a problem.
• Second, the price is right. Generally you can rent one of these machines for less than forty dollars for twenty four hours. That is long enough for me to clean all the carpets in my house twice.
• Third, these carpet cleaning machines are generally good to use on almost any kind of common household carpet. Some of the more powerful industrial strength machines will tear up or otherwise damage more delicate carpet fibers. However, they are still robust enough to give your carpets a good cleaning.

There are two negatives that come with renting a carpet shampooer from the grocery store. First, these machines are generally not strong enough to fight tough stains. They do a really good job at overall cleaning, but stain fighting is not high on the list. You usually have to pre-treat and scrub stains with other cleaners after you shampoo your carpets. The second problem that I have with these machines is that you never know who rented it before you and what might be lurking inside or under the machine. If the previous renter did not clean out the machine thoroughly and they were using it is a greasy garage, you could track in more dirt and stains than what you started with. However, this negative will be true with any rented machine, no matter where you get it.

Rent a Shampooer at a Home Improvement Warehouse

Your second option is to rent from a large home improvement warehouse like Home Depot or Lowes. There is one main advantage to renting from this type of retailer and one major disadvantage. The two actually are the same feature. Carpet shampooers from home improvement stores are usually of industrial strength. This can be good if you have a high traffic carpet with many stains and lots of ground in dirt. However, that industrial strength could be too much for your delicate home carpets. While it might work well on a high traffic carpet like what you would find in an office, it might damage or tear up fibers in your living room carpets. Make sure that you test the machine in an inconspicuous area before using it on your entire carpeted surface.

Borrow a Rug Shampooer

The third option is to borrow a carpet cleaning machine from a friend or family member. While this is not technically renting, you often will be indebted a favor so there is some kind of currency exchanged. If you borrow a carpet shampoo machine, then make sure that you return it in as good a condition or better condition than you got it. Make sure you ask what kind of carpet cleaner they use and try to use something similar. If they give you a bottle of carpet shampoo, make sure to return the machine with a full bottle of the same. Most importantly, always return the cleaner in a timely manner. It is not good manners to borrow a tool like that and keep it for weeks or months.