Get A Carpet Steam Cleaner - Your Rugs Will Love You

As anyone who has ever had a room sized rug or wall to wall carpeting will attest, cleaning rugs can be a real problem. Commercial cleaners you can rent at a grocery store typically do more harm than good simply because of the soap suds that never get picked back up again. And professional companies that promise amazing results all too often just fail to deliver.

Steam cleaners of all sorts have been around for decades. Anything that can withstand the overheated temperature of the boiling water can be steam cleaned - furniture, clothes, even the exterior of homes. However, the best results can be seen when it comes to clean carpet using steam cleaners.

Steam will dislodge dirt, even hard to reach dirt. It can also get out already set stains such as blood, grease, ink and sometimes even hair color. Although some models use a mixture of a mild soaping agent as well to enhance the steam, it's really the steam that breaks up the particles of dirt and makes them easy to remove.

The major drawback with the rental machines is they don't work on the steam principle. Actually, they don't work well at all and in most instances they can ruin your rugs even after only a few shampoos. Why? Because they have no way of removing the dirt and soap they leave behind. When this sludge starts to build up, your rugs begin to break down.

Steam cleaners are a worthy investment for anyone who has a carpet or even a room size covered by rug. A good one will be about $300. Make sure it has the ability to remove the dirty water - don't buy a low end machine that only produces steam but doesn't have the ability to remove it. There's no sense steaming the dirt, loosening it, and then leaving it where it was. Styles vary but the top quality models come with large reservoirs to hold enough water to clean an average 10' x 12' room. They also have smaller reservoirs to hold a mild acidic soap solution to help loosen the dirt. Once the machine is turned on, the water is quickly heated to a steamy vapor and mixed appropriately with the soap solution as it is released onto the fibers.

The first time you use it you will be amazed at the amount of dirt that is removed. For particularly dirty areas, the improvement will be almost instantaneous. Occasionally you may need to clean a rug twice but rest assured that the rug won't be damaged. All the liquid will be removed quickly so as not to cause any mildew or damage.

They clean up easily. The reservoirs can be removed quickly, rinsed, and replaced. Brushes are simple to detach and many are even dishwasher safe.

Just a word of warning though - these steam machines can be pretty bulky and they are definitely very noisy. For apartment dwellers you may want to figure out when your neighbors aren't home before indulging in a long shampooing session.