This one hit my inbox today, you can get a 3 room carpet cleaning for $50 from Ambassador Cleaning. In Fargo, though.

If you live in another area, this is the sort of thing you might want to keep an eye out for on local deals sites. I see this sort of thing often, and if you are opportunistic enough you can get a pretty good deal.

Notice how they are offering this deal during a time of year when not a lot of people are moving? They might be trying to keep some business rolling in the less-than-busy months, so take advantage of that sort of thing. It’s the smart thing to do as a consumer in a society where things are getting more expensive all the time.

I like what this video shows, this cleaner did a nice job of cleaning up a nasty carpet stain. There is also a lot of in depth looks at how the machine is put together and how it works. You can see how it pays to keep it slow, you don’t want to move the machine too quickly.

We like this machine too.

I dug around out there a bit, on the Web I should say, and found some info to help those that will be hiring a steam cleaner to come in and do a thorough job on your carpets.

Check it out:

Angie’s List has an article which recaps the potential experience in a single page. It’s a nice outline of what a typical cleaner will do, what detergents they might use and what process they might take.

Oxyfresh has a page that talks about their process in brief. They mention that they go over everything twice, which is nice I guess.

Here is some more advice regarding considerations to take when hiring a cleaner. This one gets a little bit into pricing and what to think about in terms of cost.

It doesn’t hurt to ask a few questions either when you are checking around. You should ask about methods used to clean, what they use to clean (what types of detergents and machines) and also ask about the process. Don’t forget to ask about cleaning other upholstery you might have around the house as well. You might be able to get that cleaned along with the carpets.

I don’t know if they are just trying to push my buttons, but my cats know exactly what type of stuff to do to make me wonder about their dedication to keeping a clean home.

Whenever they puke, they always decide to go for the carpeting, the nice, clean carpeting that I would rather not clean up again today.

There is plenty of hard surfaces and linoleum areas. But they just don’t want to puke where it would be super easy to clean up. No way. It’s just not worth their effort.

Maybe they could be trained? Based on prior cat training experience, my guess would probably be not.

Have you ever gotten gum on the carpet? And got it stuck in there really good? Nope? Then you are lucky.

If you have, it can be intimidating at first to have to think about cleaning up a mess of sticky gum on carpet. But it can actually be kinda easy to clean up.

Try using WD-40. Did you know it has thousands of uses? I just used some the other day to fix a squeaky car door. And also to get some gunk off of a metal shelf. Check out all the different ways you can buy it, many different sizes and even pens.

Spray the gum/carpet down good. Scrap with a stiff brush or a blade, depending on your carpet type. Be patient, it will come out, just don’t overdo it and cut or scrape the carpet too heavily. Once you have the gum removed from the carpet, use something to clean up the WD-40. I like to work the spot over with my carpet cleaner/extractor and use a carpet cleaning detergent to help get the WD-40 out of the carpet. It does a nice job of cleaning up the stuff left behind during something like a gum-from-carpet extraction.

We recently cleaned up our MaxExtract, it was in dire need of a cleanup.

When I first set up my Hoover SteamVac, I didn’t expect there to be as many parts as there were. It had more stuff to put together than my Hoover MaxExtract did. But that’s okay, it was still pretty easy. Here’s some photos to show you how this steam cleaner gets put together.

More photos can be found on our Flickr set for this gallery.

If you decide to get a steam carpet cleaner for you home, first of all, good idea!

A machine like this will help you keep your carpets clean, much more clean that you can do with a regular vacuum. Have you ever thought about what’s down in that carpet of yours? Especially if you live in an apartment that has had previous renters, do you really want to know what’s down in that carpet?

Using a steam cleaner on your carpets will get them looking like new and smelling fresh again. But you need to pay attention to a few quick tips before using a new carpet cleaner, they may help you get better results from your machine.

Hot Water

Many steam carpet cleaners that are in the more affordable price ranges (and even some more expensive ones) don’t have heaters for the water. They rely on you putting in hot water if you want hot water to be used during the cleaning process.

There is no doubt that hot water will clean better.

Some users like to boil water and add that to their machines before beginning work. This will help you clean very well, but if you aren’t careful you could burn yourself with the hot water. So if you decide to follow through with this tip, and use very hot water in your machine, just be careful!

Check a New Machine for Leaks

Some buyers have leaking problems with their new carpet cleaners, this tends to be common. The matter of the fact is that these machines use water, so there is potential for leaks. When assembling any new cleaner, make sure to read the instructions thoroughly and to assemble everything well. If something has a seal, make sure the seal is seated properly.

Some of the Hoovers have a Clean Surge feature, for example. If the “hookup procedure” during initial assembly is not performed correctly, you may experience leaks. This is an example of something to watch out for and an example of why you need to read the directions.

Pre-treat Bad Spots

Steam carpet cleaners can do a better job than a vacuum, but for the more affordable models you will often need to be more patient to get good cleaning results. Some people in this situation take to the habit of pre-treating their carpets before they use their carpet cleaners.

This gives the cleaning solution a chance to work on tough spots before you use the carpet cleaner to more or less “mop up” the bad spot. This technique can save you a lot of time if you have some spots that are soiled pretty badly on your carpets.

Go Slowly

This is a comment comment made by buyers of the more affordable machines more often than owners of the large, more heavy duty machines. A light duty machine might be light-duty after all, but it can do a heck of a cleaning job if you go slowly during cleaning and be patient with it.

For best results, take your time. The brushes need to get into the carpet and scrub. Let them do that, and if your machine also needs time to suck the moisture out of the carpets effectively, do that as well. Usually a good rule of thumb is that the more affordable and smaller the machine, the slower you should go to get good cleaning results.

Always Clean Your Carpet Cleaner After Use

Steam carpet cleaner maintenance is very important, for many reasons. Brushes and containers need to be cleaned properly after every use to ensure that they stay in optimal working condition. Detergent tanks and other parts need to be cleaned as well, you don’t want to leave any gunk anywhere on these machines after use, it will dry up and potentially cause problems during future use.

Some say that it is much more important to clean steam carpet cleaners after every use, compared to vacuum cleaners. The fact that they deal with water, wet detergent, and grime coming out of your carpets should be reason enough for us to reinforce this. Take good care of you carpet cleaner and it will last longer and be more effective for you.

When you are looking for a carpet steam cleaner, you start to notice a few of the same features or specs from machine to machine.

Clearing path width, water capacity, brush rotation, heating capabilities and more. All of these are things that you need to look out for. We’re going to take a quick look at the major features you will need to consider when buying one of these carpet cleaning machines for home use.

Affordability vs. High Price

One thing you will notice is that there is a large range in prices for all sorts of classes of carpet cleaners. You will be able to find steam carpet cleaners for as cheap as $80 and as expensive as $600 or more.

The cheaper ones are designed more for light use, use in smaller homes, or for spot cleaning. They can do a good job cleaning large areas too, but you will need to be more patient, maybe too patient for some users in these situations.

Large more expensive machines are capable of cleaning larger areas effectively with fewer maintenance concerns.

Brush Action

Some carpet cleaners have brushes that rotate. Some have brushes that rotate multiple directions. Some have multiple brushes that rotate multiple directions. And so on. The point is that there are a lot of options here depending on what models you look at.

Two nice feature to look for here is brushes that rotate both ways and brushes that can be removed easily for cleaning.

Spot Cleaning Ability

Some models have specific spot cleaning modes or surge modes that apply more detergent or water to the areas that need extra attention. This feature can be useful if you have to deal with tough spot for any reason.

Hose Length

Machines with longer hoses are going to be easier to use in situations where you need to use the attachments. If you are going to be cleaning a lot of upholstery or stairs, a longer hose will be a better option for you.

Power Cord Length

If you need to roam long distances in your home when cleaning the carpets, a longer power cord can come in handy, for obvious reasons.

Water Container Size

This is important to look at in all models that appeal to you. If you want lighter operating weight, get something with smaller water containers. If you want to make less trips to fill or empty water during usage, get a machine with larger water containers. Some machines have quite large water containers but can also be heavier during operation. However, larger water tanks is the only way to go if you have large areas to clean.

Separate Detergent Compartments

The machines that let you keep the detergent separate from the clean water are a little more efficient in that you don’t waste any detergent that you don’t use. Also, these machines prevent you from having to pre-mix detergent and water, which can be a little more efficient during usage.

It’s a popular question. Should I rent a carpet cleaner? Should I just hire somebody? Should I just buy one? There’s valid reasons and arguments for all situations.

Personally, I like to have my own carpet cleaner at home, for spot cleaning and cleaning my carpets on my own. And then maybe hire somebody to come in every once in a long while to do a professional cleaning.

But, there are lots of opinions out there. Check this conversation out. There’s some pretty interesting comments in support of or against any of these options.

Some arguments that are made against renting a carpet cleaner:

• Sometimes the machines haven’t been cleaned well by the previous renters.
• There is a sort of “gross-factor” for some people where they don’t want to use a machine that has been used and maybe not properly cleaned on many different grimy carpets in many different people’s homes.
• Doing it yourself with a heavy, rented machine can be a lot of work.

Some arguments that are made for renting a carpet cleaner:

• Rented machines can be pretty powerful and can do a pretty good job.
• The machines can usually hold a lot of dirty water (less emptying).

Some arguments that are made against hiring a carpet cleaner:

• Can be expensive to have somebody come in and professionally clean your carpets.
• You still may have instances where you wish you could spot clean (because of spills or high traffic areas) and it would be overkill to hire somebody to come in and clean that stuff.

Some arguments that are made for hiring a carpet cleaner:

• They empty the dirty water into their own tanks and take it with them (not dumping it your tubs, toilets, sinks, etc.).
• They often have pretty powerful cleaning machines, and might even move your furniture around for you (less work for you).

Some arguments that are made against buying a carpet cleaner:

• Many of the machines that you can buy small dirty water tanks, and you might spend a lot of time emptying dirty water.
• Doing all the cleaning yourself for a large home with lots of carpet can be a lot of work.

Some arguments that are made for buying a carpet cleaner:

• You have the machine available at all times, and can use it whenever you need to, which comes in handy for spot cleaning and regular cleaning of high traffic areas.
• They can be pretty affordable compared to the cost of renting or hiring on a regular basis.

As you can see, there is really no clear answer to which scenario is the best. They all can have certain situational benefits.

Consider these situations:

Maybe you are currently a renter. You don’t have pets. You don’t have kids. You only spend maybe a year at most in most apartments you live in. In this situation, you might be best served by just hiring somebody to come in and clean the carpets when you move out of your apartments. Without kids or pets, there’s less likelihood that you’ll need to do spot cleaning. You may be able to get away with a cheap only-when-you-move-out type of cleaning.

Maybe you have kids or pets, or have high traffic areas where you can tell the carpets get dirty on a regular basis. You feel the need to clean your carpets with a deep cleaner every month, or every couple months. You often have situations where you need to spot clean messes or spills on carpets. You may be best served by buying a good carpet cleaner to keep in your home. It will be there when you need it, which might be pretty often.

Maybe you have the need for somewhat regular carpet cleanings, but you don’t really have the desire to store a carpet cleaner or make the commitment of buying a machine. This could be for many reasons, really. In this situation you may be best served by just renting a machine when you want to clean your carpets.

It all comes down to your situation – your budget, storage options and desire to do the cleaning work in your home. What does your gut feeling tell you, after weighing the options?