- Get a Shark Navigator vacuum or it’s equivalent (Dyson or the latest Hoover Dirt cup design) and vacuum all the carpet until no more soil comes up. Pay special attention to entry areas, in front of the TV and where the dog sleeps. Work it from at least 3 directions. Dry soil is a hundred times easier to get out than mud.
- Pick up some “20 volume/9%” Hydrogen Peroxide from Sally’s beauty Supply (liquid, no cream) in a quart bottle and thread a trigger sprayer on it. As soon as you are done vacuuming liberally spray all organic (urine, coffee, soda fruit etc) spots/stains with the H202(Undiluted). Do not use this on wool or any other natural fiber rug or carpet or furniture.
- Get a pump up “Hudson” type sprayer and fill it with SOFT water as hot as you can get it. Turn your water heater up if need be. Leave room to add 2 ounces of premium carpet cleaner “Pre spray”. Your local Janitorial store or carpet cleaning supply store will sell it to you regardless if you are a professional or not. Odoban 3 in 1 from Home Depot is good for moderate soiling.
- With your “Hot Hudson” mix practice spraying your driveway so you can get a feel for how much liquid it will take to get your carpet fibers wet from top to bottom without getting the backing soaked. Work about 100 to 150 square feet at a time, anymore and the pre spray will work it’s way into the pad and take forever and a day to dry. It will get moldy and smell for days on end so take it slow and easy.. Next take a clean push broom and scrub the carpet in a few directions. This will help break the soil loose and make rinsing easier.
- Now fill up your Rug Doctor similar carpet extractor with hot SOFT (if possible) water and half a cup of white vinegar to every gallon ran through the machine to help rinse out the prespray and to neutralize the carpet. Apply the water/vinegar solution only on the backstroke only. Due to lack of real heat, water pressure and vacuum like the Pro’s have (Me) you may to need to pre spray, agitate and rinse real bad areas more than once. DO NOT USE MORE THAN 4 ounces per gallon. More is not better.
- Once you have the area looking good, use the Rug Doctor to dry stroke until you no longer are recovering water. Fiber content and density, amount of pre spray and rinse used will dictate how much time you’ll need to dry stroke the carpet. Keep in mind that you are removing soil as well as water so don’t skimp here.
- When you are content with that 100 square feet set as many fans on the carpet as possible. Consider renting a Snail /Water Damage fan if you’ll be cleaning in the winter months. turning the heat on and closing the windows will only slow down the drying process, fresh airflow is what it’s all about. If you have a built in house fan or want to run the AC at full blast that will work too.
- Wood or non stainless steel furniture legs placed back on damp carpet will need a plastic barrier under the legs so rust or wood stain does not ruin your fine flooring.
- You won’t be able to clean staircases with your machine unless it comes with a hand tool. Rug Doctors use to come with a real wand and hoses but lazy renters kept breaking them by slamming them in the trunk so RD came up with this horrible all encompassing Box design. Sorry.
- Plan on spending one to two hours on each 100 square feet of carpet with this method.
- Next summer after you sell the the machine at your yard sale, don’t forget to tip the pro you hired to replace it.
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