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Question:

Do Rug Dr's Really Work? What do most Stores charge to Rent them, & How long?

Our Carpet is just a MESS, and the sad thing is when we moved in we just had it put in.I am thinking about Renting a Rug Dr and wondering about their effectiveness of actually cleaning Carpet?I'm not so much worried about Stains as I am SMELL! We have a 2yr old that has pee accidents all the time as we are going through Potty Training right now and yanks his diaper off before I even know it. Then we have a Golden Retriever and A Great Dane they had a bout of Coccidia so that didn't help quot;a lot of diarrea for those who are wonderingquot;...Help! I got a quick Quote from Stanley Steamers and it's going to be around $100+ to do my living room, I'm thinking about just using a rug Dr. What do you think? What can you tell me about it? Thanks! :)

Answer:

get the rug Dr, get their shampoo, (sudsless, I believe) and get the pet odor remover. When you do it yourself, you can go over it as many times as you want till you see the water is coming up clean. There should be a clear plastic covering in the front, so you can tell that the water being suctioned is still dirty or not. If you do it multiple times, your carpet is going to be wetter, and will take longer to dry out, so plan it for a day of low humidity, and a warm day if possible so you can open windows and doors. You'll need to park the pets and kids somewhere until the carpet dries out.
My experience has been pretty good as far as cleaning ability, but the down fall to that machine is that it is designed for short people, being tall as I am 5'7 I was bend over trying to clean, left my back and neck hurting. Cost effective and the fact that you have animals and a child, and maybe more in the future, you may want to purchase your steam cleaner. The other thing to think about also, unless you get all the dirt out of your carpet and padding, once you get the top surface clean and it dries, in a week you will start seeing the spot reappearing, this is because you got all that dirt and such under the carpet and padding wet and made mud, so as you walk on it it will come back up through. Unfortantly unless you have a Kirby, your not going to get all the dirt from under the surface of the carpet. So you could be fighting this for now on. Now when cleaning your carpet, add some vinegar to the solution and spray your carpet with a product called OUT it is found in the pet isle at Walmart, this has an enzime in it that will get the urine and pet mess out of the carpet. Another possibility to limit the spots from resurfacing is go with a carpet dry cleaner, those work wonderfully as well. Most stains that you find after that will be surface stains.
Carpet, a baby , and sick dogs, you have a serious problem. Better to have a pro do it are you will be paying a doctor for your child. If it smells bacteria is growing in there. Do something serious, it is. I had a problem with a child pulling the nipple off his bottle . Wasn't long before the bottle had to go and the carpet had to be taken care of. I did the unbelievable and my neighbors thought I was crazy.It was Texas and it was hot. Pulled that carpet out and washed it on the drive way. Dried in two days. Ok , it needed to be relayed by carpet people, but cost me less than cleaning.It came out as good as new. Just used liquid kitchen soap on it and a big broom.You may not be able to do this at this time of year. So hire a pro, and make sure they use a disinfectant in the cleaning water. Carpet sellers don't want you to know you can do this, they hate it, but it is cheaper than replacing it and even cleaning it some times. Some of the pad may have to be replaced if it is really bad. Sorry, but its going to cost.
Stanley Steemer is higher than the company I use. There are other carpet cleaning companies, but find a reputable one and let them clean it, if it is as dirty as you say it is. Once you get it cleaned, you can purchase stain and odor remover for pets at Walmart. It works great. I have my carpets cleaned professionally. I'm always leery of rented cleansers breaking down, leaks etc. Professionals will come in, and usually are out of here in 45 mins. to do our carpets. It is worth having them to do it and do a good job. They have cleaners for pets and also can put a scotch guard spray on after wards. Just look around for some better carpet cleaning companies. Stanley Steemer is good, but they do charge more than some. Good luck on finding what you want.
I have rented a rug dr. before. I think it cost me around $65 (2002) after purchasing the soap and so forth i needed to use with it. I kept it for 24 hours. It did a great job. I got my full deposit back on my apartment.

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