Carpet cleaning

oceanclub

Carpets are looking manky, plus after a valve leaked, the hallway one pongs a bit.

There seems to be 3 main options:

1. Hire a Chem-Dry cleaner
2. Hire a steam-cleaning cleaner

There's lot of religious Linux vs. Windows-type wars between cleaners about this - just google "Steam Cleaning vs Chem-Dry" and enjoy the cat-fights. Has anyone experience of both and can compare the results?

3. Buy a Vax cleaner and use it myself; Argos ("The Laminated Book of Dreams(tm)") have a bunch - http://www.argos.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?storeId=30001&catalogId=1500001101&langId=-1&searchTerms=vax)

Have seen varying reviews on these, from good to bad. Was wondering if anyone has used them? On the plus side, it means I can get the cleaning done at my own pace and do it fairly regularly; on the minus, perhaps it's not as good as getting it professionally done.

Regards,

P.

ART6

oceanclub wrote: »

Carpets are looking manky, plus after a valve leaked, the hallway one pongs a bit.

There seems to be 3 main options:

1. Hire a Chem-Dry cleaner
2. Hire a steam-cleaning cleaner

There's lot of religious Linux vs. Windows-type wars between cleaners about this - just google "Steam Cleaning vs Chem-Dry" and enjoy the cat-fights. Has anyone experience of both and can compare the results?

3. Buy a Vax cleaner and use it myself; Argos ("The Laminated Book of Dreams(tm)") have a bunch - http://www.argos.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?storeId=30001&catalogId=1500001101&langId=-1&searchTerms=vax)

Have seen varying reviews on these, from good to bad. Was wondering if anyone has used them? On the plus side, it means I can get the cleaning done at my own pace and do it fairly regularly; on the minus, perhaps it's not as good as getting it professionally done.

Regards,

P.

Hire a wet carpet shampooer (all tool hire shops have them). Vacuum the carpets to get the loose dirt off, then go to work with the hire machine. Make sure you use the foamless shampoo they supply with it, and you'll be amazed at the dirt the thing can get out. I do our carpets once a year and have never had a problem. It's very easy to do.

oceanclub

ART6 wrote: »

Hire a wet carpet shampooer (all tool hire shops have them). Vacuum the carpets to get the loose dirt off, then go to work with the hire machine. Make sure you use the foamless shampoo they supply with it, and you'll be amazed at the dirt the thing can get out. I do our carpets once a year and have never had a problem. It's very easy to do.

Good idea... do you know roughly how much hiring one for a day is? By comparison, Chemdry cleaning for a 1 bed apartment costs €100 - 150, while buying a retail carpet washer is from 100 - 500, depending on the model.

Also, will tool hire shops deliver and collect?

P.

ART6

oceanclub wrote: »

Good idea... do you know roughly how much hiring one for a day is? By comparison, Chemdry cleaning for a 1 bed apartment costs €100 - 150, while buying a retail carpet washer is from 100 - 500, depending on the model.

Also, will tool hire shops deliver and collect?

P.

The last time I hired one the day's cost was (as far as I remember) about €30, but prices will vary of course. You can easily do a whole house in a couple of hours with one. I have never considered buying one since I wouldn't use it every week.

They are generally fairly large things -- about 2 ft x 1 ft and 18 inches high, but they go into the boot of a average car easily enough. Alternatively, most hire firms will deliver, but they charge for that (where I live I'd guess about €20 for a shampooer).

If you haven't used one before, they work by a high pressure sprayer that squirts the cleaning fluid mixed with water into the carpet. The sprayer is fixed to a vacuum head that sucks the liquid and dirt back out again. Generally the suction developed is much greater than your household vacuum cleaner would develop, so while you don't end up with completely dry carpets, they are not far off it and can be walked on immediately.

amerden

Both HomeBase and 4Homes hire out a carpet cleaner called "Rug Doctor", have used this machine over many years and found it to be great, as good as a professional job in my view, its also very very simple to use. You would need to contact them for price of hire and solution.

oceanclub

Thanks all - I got a quote from Hire Here - €58 including delivery - but not sure what type of machine it is - will ring back and ask. May also give those other places a ring too.

P.

RitaJMay

oceanclub wrote: »

2. Hire a steam-cleaning cleaner

i agree

finzaz

Just took the carpetcleaning.ie deal through Groupon. Seriously wouldn't bother. Spent the morning moving furniture only for them not to bother turning up with no answer on the contact numbers. Waste of money.

oceanclub

Blast from the past, this thread. Thank Odin I have have floorboards instead....

P.

oirishfruitie

Hello all,

GroupOn city deal today got me thinking again - is it better to go with this deal 37 for 2 rooms or hire a carpet cleaner for a day instead.
Where is it best to hire them and how much does it cost?
Any better deals out there - I have 2 rooms to clean only.

Cheers

Menas

Better to hire yourself in my opinion. You can take your time and ensure the job gets do e to your standard. I rented one from woodies in carrickmines last week. It was about 35 for 24 hours and another 12 for the shampoo. That covered my 3 rooms that have carpet and the stairs and the carpets in the car.

projectgtr

finzaz wrote: »

Just took the carpetcleaning.ie deal through Groupon. Seriously wouldn't bother. Spent the morning moving furniture only for them not to bother turning up with no answer on the contact numbers. Waste of money.

RitaJMay wrote: »

i agree

Bit suspicious, 4 year old thread revival by 1 posters to talk about an offer :rolleyes:

oirishfruitie wrote: »

Hello all,

GroupOn city deal today got me thinking again - is it better to go with this deal 37 for 2 rooms or hire a carpet cleaner for a day instead.
Where is it best to hire them and how much does it cost?
Any better deals out there - I have 2 rooms to clean only.

Cheers

Depends tbh if the carpets arent too bad id give it a go, but only if you can get the right equipment, personally i wouldnt bother if you cant get something up to the job, for me it has to have a dual vac. If your going to do it yourself give it a very good hoover with the machine before you touch it with chemical or its going to stink. If its bad spend a little bit extra and buy a prespray, remember to test all chemicals in an in-conspicuous areas before you use them on the whole lot good luck with it, id be interested to see some pics

Trigger Happy wrote: »

Better to hire yourself in my opinion. You can take your time and ensure the job gets do e to your standard. I rented one from woodies in carrickmines last week. It was about 35 for 24 hours and another 12 for the shampoo. That covered my 3 rooms that have carpet and the stairs and the carpets in the car.

If the carpets arent bad i agree with you but if they are heavily soiled i would leave it to the pros, the chemicals do alot of the the work and trust me when it comes to difficult stains the price racks up when start needing extra chemicals

One thing i meant to say was when your done use airflow to dry the carpets NOT your heating, just open some windows and let the air circulate

ted1

Check out www.nexttopdeal.com they always have deals on carpet cleaning, I know the guy who runs it and he also owns a cleaning buisness which uses the site.