This week we have bought a new carpet. They aren't cheap - at least not for a good one. This was for our new front room which has, as far as I know, never had fitted carpets before so it really bumped up the costs - partly this was because I went for thermal underlay which cost almost as much as the carpet itself. The end result is fantastic - the pile is so deep that it feels like walking on freshly fallen snow (except much warmer). The only problem is we are now bit precious about it and the kids have to remove footwear before venturing in and the dog is going to be fitted with a hover-board.
We didn't have any carpets fitted in the downstairs of
our old house but they were fitted to most of our new house when we moved in
and I've decided I like them - at least
in living rooms - I'm not fussed on them in dining rooms and I find the concept
of them in a bathroom as revolting. However, they do inevitably attract dirt
and smells. I had planned to get them cleaned when we moved in but they weren't
in too bad a state. However, since we have been in the house for a few months and have
got round to doing some decorating I decided to clean them.
I've had mixed luck with carpet cleaners in the past. I
had a Vax at one time but I found that they made the floor attract more dirt
than they cleaned up. They were also cumbersome things that left the floor drenched
for days. I have seen contraptions called "The Rug Doctor" in supermarkets
so I thought I'd give one of these a go. I picked one up at the local Morrisons
supermarket. The rental was £19 for a night which I thought was fairly
reasonable but they also sell detergent for the cleaners and I think this is
where they make their money from. I bought a 2.5 litre bottle for around £15
and, although it was recommended for the number of rooms I wanted to clean, it was
way too much. I also have no idea whether this is any better than something
that could be bought from the supermarket at a fraction of the cost.
Nevertheless, it does actually seem to work.
The actual cleaners themselves are reasonably
straightforward to use - at least once the rather confusing instructions have
been discarded. The process involves filling the machine with a mixture of hot
water and cleaning fluid and dragging it back over the carpet. The cleaner
consists of a nozzle to spray the mixture on the carpet, brushes to agitate it
and a fairly heavy duty vacuum to suck the resulting mess back in. It makes a
Hell of a racket but the results are quite pleasing and the carpet is not the
soggy mess that the Vax used to leave. The waste water is quite disgusting so
it does clean out a lot of dirt. The only downside is that the machine is not
designed for the tallest of people and I did have quite a bit of back strain
after a while.
I have considered buying some sort of carpet washing
device but at £19 a shot for the hire I'm quite happy to go with this type of
thing. It is certainly a lot cheaper than new carpets.
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