Why not try a DIY Carpet Cleaner?
We sometimes hear from our customers, “I can just go to Lowe’s and rent a diy carpet cleaner, and do the job for a lot less.” Is that really true? If you really think about it, probably not.
Renting the machine, and buying cleaning solution for it, will cost you about $70 after taxes, if you get accessories for things like stair cleaning. Depending on how far it is to the nearest Lowe’s (that has one available) you will spend one or two hours driving to and from, waiting in line, filling out paperwork, etc. If you’re like most folks, you will probably also shop for some other things, “while you are there, anyway.” Add in another hour, more or less, and now you’re at 3 hours. You will likely also find yourself in line at the Starbucks drive-through, since you were going right by it. There goes another 15 minutes, plus $5 for that “Venti” latte. Suck, suck, suck – the sound of your time and money going down the drain.
When you get home, 2-3 hours later, now you have to lug the heavy machine in from your car, and up the stairs. Hopefully, you don’t trip or get a back strain in the process. You then read the directions on how to use it, and get the cleaning solution and hot water in it to get started. Another hour has probably gone by since you got home, and you’ve been trying to get your kids out of your hair. They want you to take them out to do something fun, since it’s Saturday, but you are going to clean the carpet instead. Now you clean your 3 bedrooms and hallway, and then the stairs. There goes another hour, if all goes well. (Let’s assume the machine does not malfunction, so you don’t have to spend another 2 hours going back and forth to Lowe’s – but there is a pretty fair chance that you will.) Even if that does not happen, you will still spend another 2 hours cleaning out the machine, lugging it back to your car, and going back to Lowe’s. Count on spending at least 20 minutes waiting in line at the rental counter, since everybody else is bringing back the stuff they rented. Going home, you realize that you skipped eating lunch so you could get finished cleaning the carpet, so you hit the Chik-fil-A drive-through. Another 10 minutes and $10 goes out the window.
What you rented is a “steam cleaning” type diy carpet cleaner. It will leave your carpet wet for several hours after you’re finished, and there will be a sticky residue in it. The cleaning solution will have a long list of chemicals in it that you can’t even pronounce, including a fake “fragrance” to cover up how bad it makes the carpet smell. You won’t know that you would have to spend another hour going over it with plain water to rinse it out, because nobody will tell you that. The guys at the Lowe’s rental counter most likely don’t know, and the directions on the machine don’t say so. That sticky soap residue will still be in your carpet after it finally dries. The cleaning solution works by getting dirt to stick to it. After it dries, dirt from your shoes, your pets feet, and whatever else will stick to it. It will be amazing how fast it gets dirty, so the carpet need to be cleaned again. You finally get home, and it’s been about 7 hours and $85 spent since you first left for Lowe’s — IF you did not buy some other stuff while you were there. Your spouse took the kids out to do something fun, and they are all wishing you came with them. They totally fail to appreciate how much money you saved. You sit in the kitchen eating your cold Chik-fil-A sandwich and fries, alone, with a backache.
