Carpet cleaning is something that is usually best left to the professional but if you are an adamant do it yourselfer you might like to clean it yourself. If that is the case, there are some things you should know in order to get the job done the right way. Read this article to learn some tips on cleaning your carpet with a rental unit or with a home steam cleaner.

The first thing you need to do is get your rental unit from your local home improvement store or take out your home steam cleaner. The directions on these machines normally tell you to fill the tank with a cleaning solution and then rinse the carpet with the solution. This is a problem for two reasons. First is the fact that the cleaner will have no time to dwell on the carpet so its cleaning ability will be severely diminished. It is also bad because it will leave a heavy shampoo or detergent residue on the carpet. Instead of filling the tank with a cleaning solution fill the tank with plain hot water. Get the water as hot as possible. Now in a separate new pump up garden sprayer make a mixture of the cleaning solution . You will use the sprayer to spray the carpet separately so that the cleaner has time to dwell and so you can rinse the carpet more completely with clean plain water. Before you spray the cleaner on the carpet be sure to move all furniture out of the room and thoroughly vacuum the carpet. Now spray the solution on the carpet and give it about five minutes to dwell. Do not work with too large of an area. Work in one room at a time. After allowing the proper dwell time you will now use the rental machine or home steam cleaner and rinse the carpet. Work slowly and carefully and try to be as thorough as possible. You might need to make several passes for complete removal of soil and detergent. After you finish make one extra dry pass to remove as much moisture as possible. When you leave the room turn ceiling fans on and if you have them, place floor fans on the carpet. You want it to dry as quickly as possible to minimize problems and airflow is key. Limit traffic on the carpet until it dries and do not replace furniture until the floor is 100% dry.

That is about all there is to a successful carpet cleaning. Remember, rental and home units lack the power of professional cleaning units so if your home is severely soiled you might want to hire a professional instead. Good luck.