While I love all the homemade recipes and ideas here on Thrifty Fun, this one I have to chime in on. I have been in the floor covering industry for 18 years now. In my honest opinion, there is no such thing as a homemade carpet shampoo recipe that will actually work.
Homemade solutions have too much soap in them and our home machines are not strong enough to remove that from the carpet fibers without leaving residue. Residue will cause the dirt to come back with a vengeance, therefore making you clean your carpet way too much. You'll need new carpet in 2-3 years.
Every carpet yarn manufacturer recommends hot water extraction (steam) cleaning by a professional, with equipment strong enough to get the carpets clean and dry.
Plus, if you ever have a problem with your carpet, the manufacturer will NOT warranty any carpet that has been improperly cleaned. Be careful!
By Vicki Keyes from Springfield, MO
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MINE DID - Lemon scented Ammonia - vinegar - hot water - and I believe it was very very small amt of dish washing deter cleaned my carpets better than any store bought. Many store bought also ruin the carpets as the product stays on the base and never completed rinses. Hope this helps
How much of each (ammonia, vinegar, and small amt of dish detergent) in a steam vac tank of hot water?
Not to dispute you but if you have ever had a reputable carpet cleaning service clean your carpet in the South most of them leave too much moisture in the carpet when they leave and the mold forms under the carpet on the pad and you are sick before you realize what has happened. I will stick to my method of cleaning and enjoy the lack of worry about the expense and the new carpet that it would cost again.
Concerned, I commend you for taking a stand that may not be so popular here on TF. We tried and failed to clean our carpet effectively using our (rather expensive) home carpet cleaning machine. It wasn't the soap - it was the fact that, hard as we tried, we just couldn't get the "catch-basin" back into place once we emptied it. The cleaning solution went into the carpet, but we couldn't get it sucked back up into the machine.
Thank goodness for a grant from the Area Agency on Aging's Passport program! Part of the "deep-cleaning" they funded last December was a thorough (professional) carpet cleaning.
One last thing: pros have access to a dry-cleaning method that just isn't available any other way. There are places to pinch pennies until they scream. I just have to agree with you that carpet cleaning isn't one of them.
I have been cleaning carpet for a long time 20 plus years. How do you think carpet shampoo is made? It all started somewhere and no you dont want residue but you need to use the right amount of soap. I could name some good ones but you think only a big company can make them, lol.
We used to use the vinegar mix, but have a dog. The dog kept going in the carpet and we found out it was actually BECAUSE we used vinegar. After that, we gave up on the homemade recipes and now we only use Genesis 950. By far the best cleaner we have used. The homemade mixes can actually be worse.
what is gensis950, I've never heard of it and I also need something to leave my carpet soft . I have a Bissell carpet cleaner the heat kind and I usually use the Bissell cleaners, they cleane pretty good but leave my carpet hard .
I have been using Gain Mango Scent laundry soap for years. It makes the entire room smell clean, it cleans the carpet with no fading or discoloring, and it is safe for fabric. I will never put anything else in my shampoo machine. You will never want to change once you smell the clean smell it leaves behind. I by sample bottles when they are sale.
Funny how tonight I just read that steam cleaners should not be used on urine odors and stains because the heat will permanently set the stain and odor by bonding the protein into any man made fibers
Steam Cleaners shouldnt be used on urine stains byt carpet shampooers are fine not all shampooers are made to use steam action.
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