If you have a carpet cleaner/shampooer

NewFamily09

When you use it, do you move every bit of furniture out of the room?  When we use ours, we typically, move EVERYTHING and get under every piece of furniture.  I was talking to my dad and he has one and says he doesn't get under everything.  He moves little things like coffee tables and lighter weight things but just vacuums around couches and beds.  DH said you shouldn't do that because if you ever move the furniture, you'll be able to tell.  Because we always move the furniture to shampoo, it takes a lot more time and effort and we only do it 1-2 times a year (except the playroom I can handle doing more often because it's just toys and a futon).  I was wondering if you guys get under all furniture or do you vacuum around the big things?  Also, do you know if it's okay to shampoo an area rug that's on hard wood floors?  Would the water seep through and hurt the floors underneath?  We have a few spots on our area rug, but it's a huge area rug and would also be a pain to take outside to clean. 

dairygirl19

I take everything out. I don't do it very often at all, so if I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it right.

My grandma sold furniture/carpet (up until she died at 77, so she was definitely with the trends and technology) and told me it's really obvious pretty quick if you don't. She also said, it's not something you should really do more than once a year as it's super hard on carpet fibers. She also said if you're using a soap solution it builds up fast and just attracts more dirt, creating a never ending cycle. She also told me a good vaccuum was better than constantly shampooing the carpets.

I've done mine twice in 6 years...and they're still looking good.

panicked228

I have a small carpet cleaner that I use frequently. (I run a daycare, so my carpets get nasty!) I don't move all of the furniture, just the higher traffic areas. I have my carpets professionally cleaned twice a year and I do move all my furniture out during those cleanings.

NewFamily09

dairygirl19:

I take everything out. I don't do it very often at all, so if I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it right.

My grandma sold furniture/carpet (up until she died at 77, so she was definitely with the trends and technology) and told me it's really obvious pretty quick if you don't. She also said, it's not something you should really do more than once a year as it's super hard on carpet fibers. She also said if you're using a soap solution it builds up fast and just attracts more dirt, creating a never ending cycle. She also told me a good vaccuum was better than constantly shampooing the carpets.

I've done mine twice in 6 years...and they're still looking good.

Thanks!  I've heard a lot of this too.  My friend told me about how bad soap was for carpet, so I only use a tiny bit of what the manual says to use.  Sometimes, we don't put in any at all.  My friend also told me it's really bad to walk on your carpet bare foot, which I found interesting.  Apparently the oils from your feet can make your carpet very dirty too.  I guess come to think of it, most of the house we only get around to cleaning once, maybe 2x a year at the most.  But we have a playroom and I babysit during the week in there, so I do that one about 4 times a year, each time I have time off from the kids I watch.  But it's a small room and not that hard to move the furniture.    Plus, if I do destroy the carpet in there, I'd love to just put in hard woods anyway.  I was just hoping I could take a short cut upstairs.  The upstairs carpets really need to be cleaned, but there's no way I can move all the furniture myself.  I'll have to wait until DH can help, probably 5 years from now.

Anne Mommy

Twice a year I move all the furniture and deep clean with the carpet cleaner. We also clean out the air ducts and the dryer (so it's major cleaning). In between those times (about 3 months apart), I use the cleaner but with no soap- just hot water. I don't move all the furniture then. It's more of a high traffic area thing.

As far as the area rug goes, I would look at the rug. Does it have a solid back so the water wouldn't leak through? Or is it on a mat that wouldn't leak? If so, I'd go for it. You could always spot clean it.

BrendaLou1969

We use the steam cleaner with NO SOAP EVER.  I will spot clean stains before steam cleaning but soap attracts dirt/oil, (that is how your skin gets clean). So if you steam clean using soap, there WILL be residual soap in the carpet which will attract and hold onto the dirt.  How do you think these steam cleaning companies make so much money, they use tons of soap so you have to keep calling them out twice/three times a year. Also, I have heard you should never walk barefoot around on your carpet, adds oils to the floor making it easier to stain, I'm still up in the air on my opinion on that one.

I go over high traffic areas as needed (major stains and such) then we do a major cleaning where we move all the furniture once every 8-9 months or so.