Carpets are very elegant and beautiful when they are first laid. Making them last long and keeping them clean requires quite a regular routine of maintenance. Even after vacuuming your carpet every week and cleaning stains and spills as soon as possible, you will be faced with a time when your carpet demands something more to look fresh, clean and new. Experts advise that you should get your carpet professionally cleaned at least once a year, if not more. In an age of DIY, many of us want to clean our carpets ourselves using professional methods instead of hiring professional cleaners. This can be a great idea because DIY carpet cleaning has a number of advantages and it can be a simple process.

The most important advantage of do it yourself carpet cleaning is that you will save a lot of your hard earned money. Getting your carpets professionally cleaned can cost you hundreds upon hundreds of dollars. Add a hundred more for every post cleaning treatment that you want for your carpet anti staining, anti mold, anti odor, etcetera. However, if you go for DIY carpet cleaning, you can professionally clean your carpet for a fraction of what professionals would charge.

On the other hand, there are a number of professionals who botch up carpet cleaning jobs badly. When you clean your carpet that cost you thousands of hard earned bucks, you will most probably take more care of your carpet than any professional will. It is not hard to find people who have had very bad experiences with carpet cleaners and the only way to ensure against this kind of experience is to do your carpet cleaning at home. You can clean your carpets as nicely as professionals do by using the right kind of equipment and carpet cleaning products.

However you will need to read up well about how to clean your carpet yourself if you do not want to mess your DIY carpet cleaning. If you take some care and use a little common sense you can get great results and it makes more sense than leaving the marks on your carpet too long and taking a chance that the damage is permanent. A small step by step guide on how to clean your carpet yourself is:

First decide on whether you want to go for wet or dry cleaning. Since most professionals use wet cleaning methods, we will talk about that here.

Vacuum your carpet thoroughly. Replace all furniture from the carpet surface and put aluminum foil or plastic wrap under the feet of furniture that still stays on the carpet.

Use the most powerful extractor that you can find. Most extractor machines wash well, but all do not extract equally well. The more powerful your machine, the more dirt and water you will be able to extract from your carpet.

Follow the instructions that come with your carpet cleaning machine and products. Using little or more than what is advised may end up ruining your carpet for good.

Clean your carpet using the extractor, starting from a corner and ending at the door so that you do not have to step over wet carpet. Remember that the slower you move the wand the more water that will be removed.

After extracting as much water as possible, let your carpet dry for at least 12 hours. Ventilate the room well and keep the fans and AC on to prevent your carpet from acquiring wet moldy smells.

Once your carpet is fully dry, vacuum again and replace furniture.

If you take the time to purchase a good steam cleaner or carpet shampooer you will save even more money than renting, it is much more convenient and this is an excellent method to keep the carpets cleaner and you can still periodically get a professional cleaning.