The following contribution is from another author.
Vacuum cleaners will only clean up so much from your carpets. When it comes to stains and deeply woven hair/dirt, a carpet cleaning machine is necessary. But is it really worth buying one for home use? Especially when you can hire one instead or outsource someone to clean your carpets for you? This post takes a look at some of the things to consider before buying a carpet cleaner.
Effectiveness
Home carpet cleaners are effective at cleaning carpets up to an extent. Some stubborn stains on certain types of carpet may not shift unless you’re willing to use an industrial carpet cleaning machine on them. In these cases, it can sometimes be more economical to replace a carpet than to clean it.
Cost
Home carpet cleaners cost $100 to $500 to buy. Industrial carpet cleaners cost upwards of $500 with the best solutions cost over $1000. How much does it cost to hire a carpet cleaner? As little as $30 for a day. Meanwhile, for most small jobs, it’s possible to hire a carpet cleaning professional for $100 to $150.
Storage
Carpet cleaning machines can take up quite a bit of space. Some are more compact than others, but most are about the same size as a vacuum cleaner. If you haven’t got much space in your home to store an extra appliance, you may find that hiring is a better option.
Usage
Whether a carpet cleaner is worth purchasing or not comes mainly down to usage. How often are you going to clean your carpets? If you’re cleaning your carpets every month, buying is likely to be a much more worthwhile investment than hiring a machine or hiring a company. If it’s likely to spend a year gathering dust, it may not be worth purchasing. Hire companies and carpet cleaning services are typically a more economical option for one-off cleans. Some companies can even carry out area rug cleaning or upholstery cleaning using specialist equipment, attachments or chemicals.
Convenience
Having a carpet cleaning machine in your home to use at any time can be handy. You don’t have to go through the hassle of contacting a company and arranging a date. Instead, you can clean your carpets immediately – which could allow you to react quickly to spillages and reduce the chance of permanent staining. Of course, you do need to do the carpet cleaning work yourself. Hiring a professional to do it can save you the time, and they’re likely to do a better quality job.
Conclusion
A carpet cleaning machine is worth buying if you’re going to use the machine often and have space to store it. Households with kids and pets are more likely to benefit from these machines – it’s in these homes that carpets are more likely to get dirty more frequently.
Avoid buying a carpet cleaner if it’s a one-off job or if you don’t have the space to store a machine. You may also want to avoid buying a carpet cleaner if your carpets are old and due a replacement (especially if you’ve been thinking of replacing them with hard flooring).
