I sit here while I am having my carpets cleaned. So a little survey came to mind.

Do you have your carpets professionally cleaned? How often? By who?

I must admit we do not have them cleaned very often at all, if we do, I usually clean them. I hate the job and it is very hard work and I never feel like it is as nice as the professionals. Up until this time I have always used either Stanley Steamer or a local guy. Both had very similar set ups, big truck, everything attached to the van, etc. Well because I am cheap I decided to try Kiwi. Well so far they have been here less that an hour and I am unimpressed. I hope the carpets look nice. The add says this: We do all this, move furniture, vacuum, pre-spot, rake. Well okay when stanley moves your furniture, they put it up on styrofoam, so all you have to do to be ready in a day is pop those litte squares out, the other guy had big flat plastic squares. Well this guy has flat round disk, the size of a half dollar. So how many of you have couch legs that will work with? So he was going to go around the couches...umm no thank you I have small kids we need it ALL done. So he (i had to supervise) moved the couch to the entry, he shoved the love seat into the kitchen, fine except it won't fit easily and we wanted to slide it...umm no, it is leather it will rip, geesh! Anyway, so when he is finished adn the carpets dry it will take me and my hubby to move the furniture back. Not a huge deal except I have company coming to visit tomorrow before hubby gets home. That means it has to be moved tonight, I hope the carpets dry fast. I think I am going to go buy some plastic sheeting to put under the legs. Anyway, so already this is proving to be a big pain in the butt. I had to have them cleaned though, I still have a smell from the fire I had. UGH!

By Conni on Thursday, April 21, 2005 - 09:29 am:

I just had mine cleaned first week of April. I have them come about every 6 mos or right before we have company (the inlaws have been showing up since last Friday. Another set of them coming today. Anyhoo, it's a couple that comes and they do an AWESOME job. I even had them steam my tile last time they were here.

I always move my furniture for them before they show up. It saves me a little money and saves them alot of time. They are very nice and very professional. They do the styrofoam deals underneath if you want them too. They also leave booties for everyone in the family to wear until the carpet is dry. lol Those are fun. The kids like them. They send a cute Thank-You card afterwards and they send us Christmas cards.

I am always happy with the job they do.

Open your windows and turn some fans on so that the carpet will dry more quickly today and tonight. Then in the morning move your furn back.

Enjoy your clean carpets!!

By Unschoolmom on Thursday, April 21, 2005 - 10:19 am:

We're going to clean our carpets this summer. We'll do it by firmly grabbing one corner and pulling.

I'm done with them. Laminate floor all the way baby!

By Boxzgrl on Thursday, April 21, 2005 - 10:23 am:

My Dad owns a cleaning business so he's done it for years. We probably do it every 6 months or so. In between I use our Kirby, now that we have one.

By Babysitbarb on Thursday, April 21, 2005 - 10:50 am:

I usually clean my own but, have been considering having someone do them this time. I just can't decide when and who. There never seems to be the right time. With babysitting and babies spitting up I just always think I should wait until the babies are older and than I end up not doing it. I had one get sick this week and throw up 3 differnet places. I scrubbed it good with resolve but,I keep getting a little smell of it here and there.

By Emily7 on Thursday, April 21, 2005 - 11:03 am:

I clean my own. I think with a 3 year old & a 15 month old it is just wise to own your own cleaner. If they get really bad then I will go rent a Rug Doctor, because I think those work great.
I clean every 4 months & spot clean as needed.

By Debbie on Thursday, April 21, 2005 - 12:34 pm:

I clean my own if there is a spill or a bad stain. I have them professionally done once a year. Dh used to install carpet and he said the key is to vacuum high traffic areas every other day, so the dirt doesn't get ground into the carpet. LOL, like I have time to vacuum that often.

By Kaye on Thursday, April 21, 2005 - 05:38 pm:

Ugh...well I am not very happy. First he didn't rake the carpet, this leaves it icky feeling to my barefeet, so guess who has been raking?? Not my idea of a fun day. Second my carpet now has stripes, I can't get rid of them. I think he didn't change the pad often enough, just one room is real bad (the family one that EVERYONE sees). I am just livid, I have been gone all day and came back, I have vacuumed and raked that room and can't get it to even up. I am going to complain, but really do I want them to come back out? I am not sure, but I would rather a refund and let someone else come fix it. We will see what hubby has to say when he gets home. And we still need to move all this furniture back. I am trying so hard not to be really upset, but boy has it pushed me past my stress level.

By Jann on Thursday, April 21, 2005 - 06:11 pm:

Rake? Do you have a shag type carpet?
I have been using the same company for years. My carpets will feel a little crusty till things dry 100% but after that it's fine.

By Imamommyx4 on Thursday, April 21, 2005 - 09:36 pm:

From what I have seen over the years, if somebody is a lot cheaper than the average of others, they usually do substandard work. I have a friend that was having some internal house reconstruction done. She had estimates of $3000, 4500 and 4800. She went with the $3000. And boy, did he mess her over. Made a huge mess, never accomplished anything in 2 months and kept adding on extra charges.

I'm really sorry you have had such trouble right before company is coming. Trying to get everything nice right before visitors is always stressful for me. You didn't need that. Good luck getting it all together though.

By Conni on Thursday, April 21, 2005 - 11:11 pm:

Jann, I dont know what she has, but I have a cut berber that they rake when they are done and leaves it looking sooo nice.