STORM2K

My situation:

In the past, I've rented the smaller of the 2 available rental commercial carpet cleaners in stores (Rug Doctor is the applicance name). I don't care what those salesmen say - they are NOT lightweight! My back is killing me after I return it. And it's not exactly cheap, when you add it all up. While I'd love to have our entire home's carpet professionally cleaned, I know that's not in our budget. That said, I remembered borrowing a former in-law's Bissel Pro-Steamer. It worked great. Definitely much lighter than the ones from Home Depot, for example. Of course I can no longer borrow hers, she's left the family......So, I'm interested in this one, for budget reasons and mainly, b/c it's lightweight. I'm not supposed to lift over 30-40 lbs for the rest of my life (I kinda fudge on that).

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/sr ... B000AS9IL4

Thanks! Reviews for it sound positive. I don't mind the small water tank, that's not a problem. Weight is.

Mary

Hey Mary! Yes, I've used the Rug Dr., and you're right, it's not exactly lightweight, but compared to some of the others out there, I guess they can make that claim. I've found it works better than most, too. With 2 dogs in the house, I finally got Dave to buy one. We got a Hoover Steam Vac Silver 12 amp model that works almost as well as the Rug Dr. and definitely weighs less. For the money, I'm happy with the job it does. (Tried to pull up your link, and for some reason, it wouldn't load - probably my internet service). Can you get out to any stores to get a better idea of the weight on some of the models?

Sorry Jen, maybe I joined the Target website long ago and forgot. You probably need a password to see products. I hate that.

The link is for a Bissel Carpet Cleaner, that is lighter than the heavier Bissel Pro Steam (12 amp). This one is less, at $89. Definitely worth the price I think.

Hoping to buy it soon. I was just making sure it was a good product. When I borrowed my former SIL's heavier one, I said we need to buy one. With a dog you need your own. For budget reasons, I'm opting for the simpler one.

Thanks for your input.

Mary

The link works for me, and now I am really interested in this as well. My carpets are due to be cleaned, but it does cost a small fortune to do all the rooms. We usually just do the living room areas and the bedrooms always seem to get ignored. The carpet in the rooms is brown anyways so I guess you can't see all the dirt, but you know its got to be nasty. In general I don't like carpets, but can't afford to put the wood floors down that I would rather have. I was thinking about renting a cleaner from our local hardware store, but for $89 I may just buy my own. The ones they rent at this particular store are just like Stanley Steamers, you just move around the wand which seems like it would be rather light weight. I guess the water is in another part that you drag along with wheels, kinda like an old fashion vaccum. I didn't see anywhere on that page the amps of the Bissel though. How many amps is this smaller one? And is the 12amp alot more expensive?

Kelly - if you have the money, go for the nicer one of these Bissel Carpet Cleaners. It's the same one my former SIL owned and I miss borrowing it! Here's the link for it:
http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/sr ... B00008NRTR

It costs $169 and my SIL had an extra attachment called a turbo brush. Intended for stairs and upholstery. I used it under my china cabinet and one foot under each bed. Not sure how much that runs, probably around $50. She also said once you purchase these appliances, you can use any carpet cleaner. A guy at Home Depot told me that too.

Mary

My wife and I have a Bissel.. you need to make sure that you get one with a rotating brush, either a single long one, or several rounded ones.. do not purchase one with out the brush or you will be throwing money out the window IMHO.

Good luck I HIGHLY recommend Bissel!

Oh man, I miss my Bissel Pro-Heat carpet cleaner, we had the pro-heat one for about 7 years and it finally gave up the ghost on us, we would clean out carpets with it twice a year and it works great! I guess I'll have to spend money and get another pro-heat one, Bissell is the best!

Thanks for the link Mary. Now to convience hubby we need it. He would buy the $89 one no problem, but it may take a bit of conviencing for the better one. lol. But it will pay for itself in a year. When we do finally get the wood floors it will probably only be in the living areas, the 3 bedrooms will still have carpet, and I could also lend it to my mom. Oh, thats an idea. Maybe mom and I could go in halfsies on it. Hmmm.

Let us know if you get it Mary and how it works.

Well, we needed a new washer and opted for a new dryer to replace our old 17 yr old dryer, sooooo......I may not be buying this cleaner soon. I'd love to! Thanks everyone for your replies!

One word of caution Kelly. Don't try to do many rooms in one day or if you do, switch off hands. You repeat a trigger motion with your hand by squeezing out the solution, then you allow the cleaner to go over the saturated carpet. I was doing going to do one or two rooms at a time and one day I just did 5 or 6, a hall, the steps and my DR chairs. Well, I could barely blowdry my hair or lift the coffee pot. I had pain in my right hand wrist immediately. I realized then and there I should have used both hands and not cleaned as many rooms in one day as did. So just be careful. Of course you're much younger than I am, so this may not affect you at all. It sure did me - I had xmas coming up and I wanted that big job done (on my list), so I hurried up near the end. Even though my SIL said to keep it another week. That's also when I realized if I had my own, I'd go much more slowly.

What they're also nice for are big spills. You just take of them right away.

Mary

I have a remedy for filthy carpet. Get rid of it. No matter what you do, it will never be clean. Deep down trapped germs and dirt always manage to hide in its fibers. Yuck!

Lindaloo wrote:I have a remedy for filthy carpet. Get rid of it. No matter what you do, it will never be clean. Deep down trapped germs and dirt always manage to hide in its fibers. Yuck!

Believe me if I could afford it I would. I don't like carpet at all. It harbors tons of germs and bacteria. Yuck is right. But you have to do what you can with what you got.

Shame I can't do that, one day when we finally get that house I don't want any carpets!

Lindaloo wrote:I have a remedy for filthy carpet. Get rid of it. No matter what you do, it will never be clean. Deep down trapped germs and dirt always manage to hide in its fibers. Yuck!

I've grown up with carpet. I can't imagine the winter with my feet walking across a bare floor. It seems so COLD!

With that being said, I do like hard wood floors though and with 4 animals in the house our carpets need to be cleaned often. We've discussed getting hard wood floors in some of the rooms and it'll probably be a while before we ever do it.

We have a Hoover carpet cleaner which really does a good job. It is gross when you empty the container with the dirt that has been sucked up into it during the cleaning. Sometimes it makes you wonder if your vacuum is even working. To me, the initial investment of buying a carpet cleaner is covered the first time you use it throughout the house as compared to what you would pay a professional to come and do it.

Hey all - here's my dream - ~heated~ tiled floors. Now that would be sweet-sweet! I've seen them installed on HGTV and stayed at a hotel in Canada with heated bathroom tile. That bathroom floor was so warm, in the middle of the night! So if I win the lotto.....he he

They even have heated concrete which would be IMO wasteful in Cincinnati. But say in Buffalo? Sure - no more shoveling!!!!

Anywho, like some have stated, I don't like cold floors in the winter either. I just wear warm, boot style sox and slipper boots (our kitchen is tiled). Yeah, I'm a freeze cat!

Mary

How about a heated toilet seat (sorry had to mention that)

Yup, that would be uh different. But the heated floor option sounds so nice on cold, winter days! So forget fur coats (would never own one), fancy cars, jewelry, I'd want a heated floor if I won the lotto!

Of course that heated floor might come with a brand new house, ya know...!

Cold floors? Get you some thermal bootie socks. Ya ain't supposed to walk around barefooted in the winter any ole' way.

Stephanie wrote:With that being said, I do like hard wood floors though and with 4 animals in the house our carpets need to be cleaned often. We've discussed getting hard wood floors in some of the rooms and it'll probably be a while before we ever do it.

Steph...3 dogs and a cat...you don't want all hardwood floors...you see pet hair everywhere. Thank goodness for my "roomba" robot vacuum cleaner!

For those wanting to get rid of the carpet but can't do the wood floors right now, what about stained concrete? Quite popular here.

Linda - if you've ever walked on heated floors, you want them! That's all I'll say. And I never go barefoot in winter. Nevuh! Hubby does and I can barely look at his feet. I shiver!

CM - we call our dog's hair tumble weeds, it just rolls and rolls. A broom doesn't help, it just moves it around more. I prefer my vacuum's hose attachment. Good suggestion on stained concrete, again I've seen that done on HGTV. My new hair salon has colored stained concrete floors, just random curved sections, the waiting area has 4 or 5 colors. And then they meander through out the salon. Very neat!

CajunMama wrote:

Stephanie wrote:With that being said, I do like hard wood floors though and with 4 animals in the house our carpets need to be cleaned often. We've discussed getting hard wood floors in some of the rooms and it'll probably be a while before we ever do it.

Steph...3 dogs and a cat...you don't want all hardwood floors...you see pet hair everywhere. Thank goodness for my "roomba" robot vacuum cleaner!

For those wanting to get rid of the carpet but can't do the wood floors right now, what about stained concrete? Quite popular here.

I've thought about those "tumbleweeds" myself while contemplating the hardwood floors.