How to Do it Yourself with Near Professional Results

You can save money and have very good results by NOT following the rental company's instructions.

The following technique works very well. It takes time and effort on your part but the results are quite impressive.

You can be successful and do a good job of cleaning your own carpets. But you must be willing to go beyond following the instructions on the rental machine.

You will need:
A Clean (never used) 2 ½ to 3 gallon pump-up garden sprayer
A Carpet Shampoo machine
A High powered commercial style wet/dry shop vac
Carpet Shampoo* (type to use with a shampoo machine-Not extractor type)
*Try to find one which says it is a crystallizer or will leave no residue in the fibers of the carpet.

Read carefully

The rental machine will give instructions for filling the solution tank with shampoo concentrate and water. DO NOT DO THIS
1. You mix the shampoo concentrate in the same mix in the garden sprayer with hot water.
2. Now fill the shampoo solution tank with clean hot water (no cleaning chemicals).
3. Spray the shampoo solution over a 10' x 10' area (approximate). Allow the chemical to dwell on the carpet for 5 to 15 minutes. You don't want to soak the carpet with the shampoo but if it is almost dry in 15 minutes, you haven't sprayed enough.

4. Go over the area slowly with the shampoo machine - once without adding any of the clean rinse water.
5. Next - Go over the area again releasing the rinse water as you go. Again, you do not want to soak the carpet.
6. Finally, use the high powered wet/dry vacuum with a floor attachment and go over the damp area a few times.

How to Do it Yourself with Near Professional Results

This seems like a lot of work but the results will impress you. You have cleaned your carpet but much more important, you have rinsed your carpet with clean water. This has removed most, if not all of the shampoo you had used. The reason for this is that it is the residue left in carpets after cleaning that contributes to re-soiling or the return of stains or spots.

You can also substitute a rental steam type machine for the shampoo machine. Follow the same steps only use clean rinse water in the extractor. Use it to rinse and extract the moisture when you are done. This will work well also but the power on the rental machine is no where near that of a commercial wet/dry vac.
You can also speed up drying process by using ceiling fans and placing any available fans on the floor just to create air flow.

PANIC TIME!

 Your carpet is full of suds and soap and you have no idea where it came from.

You could be seeing the results of the last carpet cleaner’s work. Through the years, many times I've seen this happen. The carpet might not have been cleaned for years but there is still a ton of soap residue in the carpet. Of course it is invisible until you add water to the mix. What can you do?

First, dump out the cleaning mix you were going to use. You do not want to add or mix cleaning solutions.
Mix up 1 cup of vinegar per 2.5 gallons of water and clean as per instructions of the machine you are using. The vinegar tends to pull out the old shampoo and actually will clean the carpet at the same time. The hot water actually reactivates the old shampoo.

Go over the carpet several times in all directions and you'll find the carpet will be nice and clean and soft. Oh, but they will smell of vinegar until they are fully dry.