vynhal fritzey imagination
Maya Malbon
I have four messy kids and a big dog. My carpets are downright gross much of the time. I am also one of the worlds biggest cheapskates and hate having to rent one of those Rug Doctor machines for shampooing AND pay $20 or more for carpet cleaning solution.
I like to pre-treat my stains by using a 50-50 mix of the concentrated solution and water. You can add it to a spray bottle or just use your fingers to dab a bit of it on the stain. Let it sit for 5 minutes then shampoo over it. Repeat if necessary.
Food is my love language. But so is saving money. So I like to combine the two a lot and make thrifty make ahead and freeze meals to save time. Because life is busy, and freezer meals can come to the rescue for all of us. And yes, they actually CAN taste good. Read more...
THANK YOU THANK YOU
WE HAVE 3 DOGS NOW (USED TO BE 5) SADLY LOST 2 WITHILLNESS AND SO THEY HAD ACCIDENTS INSIDE WE USED ALL SHOP BOUGHT CARPET CLEANERS BUT WERE NEVER 100% HAPPY WITH EITHER STAIN OR SMELL REMOVAL BUT OH MY ! THIS FORMULA IS A GAME CHANGER CARPETS LOOK AND SMELL LIKE NEW SO WE DEEP CLENED OUR 3 PIECE WITH SAME MIX AND THAT TOO LOOKS AND SMELLS LIKE NEW
THANK YOU SO SO MUCH FOR SHARING THIS WE WILL NEVER BUY COMMERCIAL COSTLY CLEANERS AGAIN
Imagine six mud-covered, diaperless toddlers and an adult in a white-carpeted room. Serve the kids sugary drinks, peanut-butter-and-Nutella sandwiches, and chocolate ice cream with caramel syrup. For good measure, give the tots some colorful slime to play with, hand the beleaguered parent a bottle of red wine, and then step away for a couple of hours.
In our tests, the Bissell ProHeat 2X Revolution Pet Carpet Cleaner performed almost as well as our top pick, getting rid of many common household stains, such as urine, soil, and peanut butter. When confronted with chocolate ice cream and caramel syrup, it lagged behind our pick, but this cleaner beat all contenders on red wine.
Also known as carpet shampooers, most carpet cleaners spray warm water mixed with cleaning solution on the carpet. When you pass the machine back and forth, a motorized brush massages and agitates the stain, suction extracts dirt and water, and airflow funnels it into the dirty-water tank. Many carpet cleaners also have heating elements that keep the cleaning solution warm and help dry the carpet.
A decent carpet cleaner removes soil and most common household stains without much effort, but only an excellent one conquers the toughest stains. All of the carpet cleaners we tested got rid of Coke, urine, and blue Gatorade stains. But their performances varied when they faced chocolate ice cream with caramel syrup and peanut butter and Nutella. (Also, bad news for thirsty parents of thirsty children: None of the machines were able to entirely remove red wine or bright-orange Fanta.)
We allowed the test area to dry for two hours and then felt how damp the carpet remained, rechecking periodically. After 20 hours, we checked the dryness and visually inspected the carpet, looking for fibers that were refreshed and even, rather than chewed up.
Design and operation: We paid attention to how convenient it was to fill and clean the tanks; how easy it was to find and press power buttons; and whether we had to hold and release a trigger to operate the machine (this can be uncomfortable during long cleaning sessions).
In Dry mode, which extracts water while blowing air, this cleaner dried the carpet faster than any other machine we tried. The Tineco Carpet One Smart also left the carpet smoother and more revitalized than its competitors.
The Tineco Carpet One Smart also has voice prompts to alert you when the machine is powering down or malfunctioning, or when the water tank needs to be emptied or a brush roll untangled. We found these prompts helpful if a bit too chatty; the voice feature can be disabled.
Two brands dominate the carpet-cleaner category: Bissell and Hoover. In our testing, most of these machines worked well on common household stains like soil, urine, and most sodas. But they struggled with tougher challenges like peanut butter, chocolate ice cream, and caramel syrup.
The Revolution Hydrosteam Pet was the only one that got rid of at least some of the dried-on slime (a common problem in US households, according to Bissell engineer Ryan Alt). This model came in second on chocolate ice cream and caramel, but it made wine stains bleed, exacerbating the problem.
Rinse the brush heads, nozzles, suction gate, and filter after each use: After removing fiber clumps and hair tangles from inside the cleaner head, run those parts, as well as the filter, under warm water. Let them dry completely before reassembling.
Avoid using certain substances in carpeted areas: If you share your home with small children or clumsy, irresponsible adults, ban Fanta, red wine, caramel syrup, slime, and red Gatorade from carpeted areas. In our tests, none of the cleaners were able to remove the slime, wine, and Fanta, and they all struggled with the syrup and red Gatorade.
Upright carpet cleaners are not to be confused with portable carpet and upholstery (or spot) cleaners, which work in a similar fashion (by dispensing and extracting solution) but are designed for contained spills. Portable spot cleaners are smaller and mostly lack motorized brushes.
Sabine Heinlein is a senior staff writer at Wirecutter. Her work has been published by The New York Times, The Guardian, Psychology Today, and other publications. She is the author of Among Murderers: Life After Prison. When she is not following her dream of an immaculate home and a flood-proof basement, she is taking care of her menagerie and creating magical animal quilts.
I have a love/hate relationship with carpeting. I love how it looks, how it feels under my feet and how it warms up a room. But I hate dirty carpets; I cannot abide a spot. The thought of what may be lurking between those fibers gives me the heeby-geebies.
The problem with the soap is that a residue always remains. Most cleaners use way too much to start with, leaving no way to retrieve every last bit. ANY soap left in the carpet becomes a sticky dirt magnet. Huge problem.
Most home cleaners do not use the power of boiling water, but I do. I have done this for 14 years now, and without any problem. Just be aware that should you follow my lead, you may be voiding your warranty.
With NO SOAP at all, only the power of the spot remover (now and then I do add 1 cup white vinegar to the reservoir before filling with the hot water, especially if I have just applied a lot of spot remover, as the vinegar helps to remove all of it), I go to work.
I have only used this method on 100% nylon and 100% wool carpet. My results are not predictive of your results. I do not represent or suggest you should try this on antique, Persian, oriental, or any other type of rug or carpet because I have not tested that. Should you elect to go ahead, please make sure that you test first in an inconspicuous place so you know what your outcome will be.
Pour ingredients into carpet cleaning machine adding hot water to the fill line. This will not only clean your carpets it will also deodorize. It will smell slightly of vinegar until the carpet is dry. Be sure to test in an inconspicuous place first, just to be safe. Once the carpet is clean, return with hot water only in the machine to rinse.
Nok-Out has a pH of 8.5 and works best in an alkaline environment. If you have used acidic cleaning products such as vinegar used previously (like for treating spots or spills), you must neutralize that acid by spraying club soda or a mild baking soda solution (1 teaspoon baking soda to 2 cups water) to the carpet using a spray bottle before applying Nok-Out to the area.
Allow this solution to dry before continuing the odor removal procedures. This step will neutralize any acids left behind by other cleaners on your carpet and allow Nok-Out to work most efficiently and effectively.
When using Nok-Out in a carpet-cleaning machine, add 1 to 2 cups to the reservoir, then add enough room-temperature water to total one gallon (128 ounces). Never use Nok-Out with hot or boiling water.
Push the carpet shampooer forward while spraying, but do not vacuum up the cleaning fluid yet. Spray the entire carpet first, and wait for 10 to 20 minutes to allow Nok-Out to penetrate deeply and oxidize into the fibers of the carpet, as well as the matting, the pad, and floor substrate underneath.
Everyday Cheapskate participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn from qualifying purchases, at no cost to you.First published: 8-12-13; Updated: 9-1-21
Hi Mary,
I want to tell you what I do and it works good.. I use the hot water and I pour NOK-Out in the soap container of my Hoover. It works for me, thought I would tell you. The only thing I use is the N-O and hot water. No soap at all.
I have a folder for you emails and I keep as many as I can.
Hi, I used to sell Rainbow vacuums and when I did a demo I would ask the customer if they had a tough stain that I could remove for them. All I used was hot tap water and no soap. After I removed the stain I would dry carpet with a hair dryer. I removed a lot of stains with just hot water. You are right not using soap, very hard to remove all of it.
Do you have carpet in your home? Learn how to make two types of Homemade Carpet Cleaner, one for scrubbing and one for carpet cleaning machines. Both are made with natural, simple, and frugal ingredients.
It depends on your stain. A year-old blood or juice stain might be difficult to get out (with any carpet cleaning solution, homemade or not). DIY Carpet Cleaners will work best on basic stains such as fresh stains, pet stains, and dirt.
Use the water and a rag to clean up most of the baking soda and any excess liquid. Using a rag is best since a paper towel will disintegrate and leave a bigger mess. Then you can run over the spot with a vacuum to remove any remaining baking soda still left.
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