Rented carpet cleaners VS Hiring a professional?

As a contractor who has done both, I won't address your Q in a compromise, strictly.

What I will offer is this.

Stains, especially from fluids,,,IE: Coffee, Soda, etc. do not stay in the carpet fibers alone. They travel, seep, drain to, the padding underneath. That padding is essentially a sponge.

When you wet a carpet to clean it, you also wet it usually, deep enough to wet the padding underneath. Then as the drying process happens, that stain, or residue left behind, can, and often does, leach back up, into the carpet fibers, creating the stain again.

Steam cleaning, professionally is better, than rented equipment, which you basically pour water and cleaning solutions into.

Depending on the type of carpet, and the stain, professionals willl also often use what is called a Bonnet, which pretty much is a surface, fiber cleaning method, with a machine, that doesn't SOAK the carpet, but with the Bonnet pad, will draw out the stain onto the Bonnet. Certainly that can't work in all instances, but is widely used commercially.

Rev. Steven

Just for fun, why don't add up the approximate cost of all the products that you have bought for your carpets over the years. Include deodarizers, cleansers, vacuum cleaners, vacuum cleaner bags, rental costs of steam cleaners, special steam cleaner produts, the cost of electricity to run the vacuum, the cost of electricity to run the steam cleaner, the cost of gas to fetch those items to bring home and the cost of hiring professionals to clean your carpets. Depending on how old your carpeting is, the final number is staggeringly huge!

We have systematicallly removed our wall-to-wall carpeting and replaced it with wood laminate and have seen our allergy symptoms drop. We figure that we will recoup our outlay ($0.99 per square foot) in about 2 years. The laminate is cleaned with a washable dry mop and occasional wet rag--no cleansers and no waxing required.

My husband and I have laid 5 rooms in the past 6 years and are still married to each other. It's easier than hanging wallpaper!

I bought my own carpet cleaner and it did a pretty good job but it still leaves a residue. Same with rentals. I finally went back to hiring a professional cause it almost always looked better.