Thinking of Using a “DIY” Supermarket Carpet Cleaning Machine?
Obviously acquiring the services of a technician or tradesman these days is an expensive task even when you need the most basic job done at your home or office. You have a call out fee for starters followed by the associated cost of the actual job itself. Nine times out of ten you’re sitting down when they finally give you the price for the completed job and ten out of ten times you fall off your chair when you hear it or they give you a “foot in the door” price and then charge for unnecessary extras.
This is what prompts consumers to hire a supermarket “DIY” carpet cleaning machine and where things go from bad to worse in this scenario.
The first problem supermarket DIY carpet cleaners have is the machines have severely inferior vacuum extraction system which wouldn’t pull the skin off a rice pudding let alone extract the dirt and moisture out of carpet. This has a negative effect on the overall drying time of the carpet and leaves the carpet so badly saturated due to the lack of extraction, that it actually starts to have the “wet dog smell” when you finish. Not the most ideal scent to have in a place when you have the managing agent, or worse the landlord doing your final inspection for your bond release.
The second issue is the amount of detergent residue left behind in your carpet after cleaning with these types of machines. Having detergent left behind in carpet after cleaning due to a poor extraction system will increase the process of rapid re soiling quite significantly to actually make the carpets look worse rather than better after drying. The main areas where this will be quite evident are in your traffic areas and your landlord won’t be happy. Traffic areas that have been cleaned using a substandard cleaning system will be very difficult to rectify due to the residual detergent having a possible effect on the carpets colour dye and possibly even causing a dye change in the pile because of this residue left after carpet cleaning.
If a carpet has not been properly rinsed and washed of not only soiling but also associated detergents it will have a poor visual appearance on completion that may even become permanent.
There have also been many instances where we have gone out on carpet cleaning jobs just to “rescue” a carpet after an attempted “DIY” carpet clean gone wrong. If that’s the case then you’re paying for a professional and have completely wasted any savings you might have made with this “DIY” carpet cleaning option.
So why are we being called out? The biggest reason being FLOODED CARPET! The fact that the vacuum lift is so poor in these machines and that an inexperienced operator has spent too long a period on the carpet with this inferior machine can flood the carpet to the point where we have to dry it first, then re-clean to rectify the mess.
This can cost a small fortune to say the least. When you add up the cost of hire, chemicals and time to clean even a small apartment, why would you spend $80.00 if not more to hire a supermarket carpet cleaning machine and pretend to be an expert, when you can pay a bit more to call a professional and relax as they clean it for you?