How’s that for a headline?
Believe it or not there are quite a few ‘wrong ways’ to use a carpet steamer and steam clean a carpet. I won’t be covering any of them. I will though show you how to steam clean your carpet in the most efficient and effective manner I know how. I have been using this technique for decades and I continue to produce fabulous results not only for customers but also for my home (I use the same machine(s) for both).
It’s the steps that most people feel they can skip (and still have a carpet looking like new) that make the difference between having a cleaner carpet and having your carpet look and shine like they day it was installed. Paying close attention to those small but vital aspects of steam cleaning will cost you a minimal amount of time expended yet provide you with optimal results. I learned this through quite a bit of trial and error.
1) Dust First
Make sure the house is clean and start your dusting from top to bottom. Do this the day before if you want to break up the workload. Heavy carpet steaming circulates the air which causes dust spray. Your carpet steamer will also kick up dust particles. If you don’t properly high dust beforehand you stand the risk of large dust clumps landing on the wet carpet. If you have even wondered why it looks as though new stains have emerged from cleaning this is why. Those aren’t new stains, they’re dust bombs.
2) Vacuum
You should be vacuuming regularly anyway to reduce crushing, or the loss of what is called ‘pile thickness’ from foot traffic. Don’t make this part an hour long process. If you haven’t vacuumed in a while, it’s not a big deal but you will want to avoid spreading particle residue around the carpet. Even more important than removing particle residue you loosen the carpet fibers for your steam cleaner. When you eventually go over the carpet on your final dry pass your carpet will ‘pull up’ and look more like a new carpet, bounce and all.
3) Mix Solution Ahead Of Time
You should have two solutions pre-mixed and two pots of boiling water ahead of time. Your first solution should be the carpet solution you are using, boiling water, and a half cup of white vinegar.
Most people balk at the idea of using vinegar but let me tell you firsthand it is the single most important cleaner you aren’t using and here is why:
Even a 5% solution of vinegar kills around 99% or germs and 80% of germs and mold. The reason most household vinegar companies don’t disclose this as an added cleaning benefit is because in order to make those claims the companies would need to register their product as a pesticide with the EPA. That is much too much hassle for most people and it’s also not the direction those companies are interested in going.
Vinegar also reduces the amount of soap suds in your carpet during your wet pass. I get complaints all the time from people who were told to use a certain carpet cleaner or shampooer only to find that they had too much soap in their carpets. Vinegar solves this problem immediately. Don’t be afraid of the vinegar smell; it will wear off within a few hours.
Use whatever cleaner to water ratio your carpet steamer suggests, but add around a half cup to a full cup of white vinegar to the mixture. Don’t forget to use boiling water. I have cleaned my home carpet with only white vinegar and boiling water many times and it works very well. Hot water does wonders to dirt and grime.
4) Bottle Spray The Carpet First
Be careful not to over saturate your carpet here. Get a spray bottle and fill it with boiling water. Spray the entire carpet with a very light, simple spray coat. This pre-agitation step will aide your carpet steamer in its first wet pass. Coat the entire carpet but be ready to operate your carpet steamer shortly after this step. You don’t want to run the risk of having added moisture to account for-moisture attracts mold. Right about now you should be turning on your ceiling fans if you have them (and have dusted them).
5) Wet Pass First
Nothing special here. Operate your steam cleaner as directed. Make only one wet pass and don’t go over parts you have already covered. Use long, slow passes and do not neglect the spots of your carpet closest to the walls. If you have an adequate steam cleaner you will only need one wet pass if you follow the above steps.
6) Dry Pass Second
Use the same path you used in your wet pass. Again, do not go over parts of your carpet that you have already touched in your dry pass. Trust that the process you are following will be just enough to get the job done right.
7) Minimize Traffic For 2 Hours
You don’t need to tip toe through the place for an entire day. Give your carpet about 3 hours to dry out fully and you can walk on it again without interruption. Your carpet should look amazing by now, and the smell of vinegar should be close to if not fully gone.
If you properly steam clean your carpet using the above steps you’re going to have a carpet that sparkles. I have used this simple yet effective method of carpet cleaning for as long as I can remember. If you are interested in the carpet steamer I use you can find that here. It’s all you need to get a professional looking carpet in about an hour or so.
Having worked in a commercial business for many years, I have tried almost every conceivable carpet steamer that exists. My experience with many brands has told me that no one brand stands out from the other, but there are certain machines that consistently outperform the rest. One particular machine has been a miracle worker for both home use and industrial type jobs.
The Hoover SteamVac with Clean Surge is pretty much the king of the hill as far as steam cleaners go, IMHO. Mind you, this is a home carpet steamer that could be (and has been) used in commercial operations because of it’s power and durability.
If you have looked into renting a steam cleaner from places like Rug Doctor you know that it usually costs around $60 for a one day machine rental including the cleansers you will need. Two rentals in one month equals (almost) the total cost of this SteamVac–yet this thing blows away those Rug Doctor professional cleaners.
I personally used the SteamVac to clean restaurant carpets that were very high traffic and highly soiled. I also still use it in my home (Wife, baby, 2 dogs). Not quite sure why the word ‘steam’ is even included in the name of this thing as it doesn’t really ‘steam’ up, but man does it work. Without turning this into a 500 page novel I’ll briefly touch on the most important aspects of this steamer.
Weight
It weighs about 20 lbs. For a home carpet steamer with this level of professional strength, 20 lbs. is amazing. Having industrial sized carpet steamers for years that performed much worse and were much heavier, this is a true blessing. If you don’t have much strength you will do a lot worse with most other models of comparable power since they are large, bulky and very heavy. You roll it on back wheels anyway.
Clean Surge
Even though the Clean Surge button is in an awkward spot on the carpet steamers handle (it is in the front opposite the spray trigger) when you use it it does wonders on the more soiled parts of your carpet. Be smart, though…do yourself a favor and lightly pretreat your carpet with some hot water and maybe a little spray cleaner before you make your first pass with this SteamVac. This will loosen the carpet (and the stains) ever so slightly and make the Clean Surge function all the more useful. It dispenses extra solution for the harder to clean spots and does an awesome job.
Dog & Cat Hair
I have two dogs. They are small dogs, but both shed like crazy. This carpet steamer must suck up pounds of their hair at a time. I would strongly suggest removing the brushes at the end of every cleaning and remove the hair from the brushes. It takes me maybe five extra minutes and every time I break the machine out it is like new again. My biggest concern with a newborn at the time was all of the hair in the house but this steam cleaner has really saved me from that worry. To test whether it picked up a good amount of hair or not I take a white towel (it’s black dog hair) and I pat random areas of the carpet with it. While it won’t suck up every single hair, it leaves almost no hair behind.
Urine, Vomit & Other Goodness
If I might make another suggestion…use colder water to start when cleaning up these messes. Then take your Hoover and pass over with hot water. If you do this like I do, you will find that none of the stains ‘set’. There are a few spots on our carpet that have become our dogs’ ‘favorites’, but now you can’t tell where they are.
Price
When I bought this carpet steamer it was just under $200. I think Amazon sells it for like $130 or $140 right now with free shipping. That deal can’t be beat for the work that it does.
One con for me is the size of both the solution tank and the recovery tank. They are very small. Both will fill up quick and you will have to remove them to empty them frequently. That is slightly annoying when you really get into the groove of cleaning.
This Hoover carpet steamer would also be a very wise purchase for someone who was starting a mom and pop carpet cleaning business. I am at the point where I can get an entire full size restaurant completed in 1.5 hours and the carpets look amazing. My carpets at home look even better.
If you buy it, make sure you get model F5914-900. That is the most recent model.
