Professional carpet cleaning worth it or not?

First of all I'm a professional carpet cleaner so I'm a little biased on this issue.

The answer is - it depends. If all you do is look in the phone book and call the cheapest carpet cleaner listed its not really worth it.

To get the best carpet cleaner, you want someone who has a truckmount unit, these are a minimum of 5 times as powerfull as ANY portable machine on the market.

- You want someone who uses a rotary machine, this improves the cleaning capabilities by about 25-30%.

-You want someone who is IICRC certified. This is a person who isn't just doing it on the side for a few bucks, its someone who is dedicated to doing a good job, and has taken the training to learn how to do this better. (by the way if he is certified he has to be able to show you his certification card, and he can lose his certification for failing to do so)

- you should also look for someone with experience. Like in all things experience counts for a lot. The more experience generally the better.

When all these things are taken into consideration you will find you did not hire the cheapest person in the book, but you will pretty much always get a good job done. Essentially quality costs.

Wool carpets can normally be cleaned, however they do have to be tested for colorfast, (The cleaner can do when they show up takes a couple seconds). Cream or white(ish)color carpets are normally not a problem simply because there is no color to damage

Yes you can scotch guard a carpet again, in fact you can buy it at walmart for about $10, and do it yourself. I ussually recomend this (even though my boss gets mad at me for it), simply because its usually a great deal cheaper to do it yourself, and its not difficult to do at all. Instructions are on the can.

A quality carpet cleaning company is definitely worth it. When calling around for prices, a few questions to ask are: 1. Are your technicians IICRC certified in carpet cleaning? 2. For Room Pricing, how many Square Feet are in a Room? 3. Do you use a Truck-Mounted System? 4. If the spots come out, how much extra is ScotchGard? Calling to have a professional look at it before anything is tried on it is the best way, as any work done on it incorrectly could set the spot, turning it into a stain. As for anything I've not answered sufficiently, just take a look at Rob's answer and you've got what you need to know.

I myself would just go out and rent the rug doctor. I would clean the carpet with Liquid Tide with bleach that is safe for all colors. Liquid Tide will do like a deep clean in the carpet where as the bleach will kill all of the germs and bacteria that are in the carpet. Use cold water though when cleaning the carpet. When the carpet is dry you can purchase Scotchgaurd at Wal-mart and put it on the carpet yourself.

This will save you a bundle. Unless you don't want to mess with it yourself.

Not sure about Wool carpet, you may need to ask the company if they are familiar with working with it properly. I used Stanley Steamers when we first moved into base housing. Thae carpet looked ok, but I wanted to make sure. And I swear when they left it looked one shade lighter! And the smell in the house was much more pleasant.

It can be or it can be a headache.. Check the company out and get only a certified cleaner. These people have passed tests, and are generally better at what they do.

You will also pay a bit more too..

As far as your protection you asked about, it can be applied but this is only a topical protection and offer just a bit of help... GL

Yes and yes, find a reputable firm though. If you find one that will apply a scotchguard or similar,product that will prevent and lessen staining they should be OK