Carpet cleaner?

[mamabelle]

Okay so this may not be directly child related but my kids (and dog) are making a mess of my rugs. Anyone have a home model carpet steam cleaner that they love? Sick of paying the pros a fortune and always having to wait so long between visits. Are they a pain? Thanks!

[momma_boo]

I have a basic, low end Bissell. I'll attach a link below. I've been using one for almost 4 years now. I'm pretty impressed by it. I just primarily use it for the living room carpet b/c it gets grungy every few months between the kids and the dog.

One thing that I do, which makes a big difference is that I make up a solution with oxi-clean powder in a spray bottle, then I spray it all over the stains/marks on the carpet; then I'll just spray whatever is left all over the carpet. I let it all sit while I get the machine/solution ready.

With that extra work, I do just as good a job as the steam cleaner that we had once (before I got the machine).

I did have an incident where (perhaps due to my misuse), the part of the machine that heats the solution got overheated and started to smoke. I called bissell and they actually sent me a replacement (and had me send them back my busted one for evaluation). So I was pretty impressed by their customer service.

If you have a higher budget, I'm sure the more $$ machines work a little better.

http://tinyurl.com/5acjzx

[kellyd]

We share a Hoover Steam Vac w/ my MIL. We've been using it for about 6 years and LOVE it. We have a big hairy dog and my MIL has two cats. It's easy to use and not very heavy.
http://www.hoover.com/product.aspx?model=F5899100&ds=false

[ritacheetah]

I have a Bissell Proheat I think I got at Big Lots. It works fine. I like that I can use it any time I want, do one room at a time if I want or just clean spots. It does as good a job as professional. In fact I wasn't that impressed with professional cleaning.

[ThreeofUs]

We rent a Rug Doctor from Home Depot. I can't stand to have one more machine in my house! :)

[mamabelle]

This is my issue. I live in an apartment and have limited space so another machine is a pain but without a car and living in the city, renting is really not an option.