topic Re: Steam Mop Suggestions and Questions in Home

Steam Mop Suggestions and Questions

SouthernBee — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 14:04:18 GMT

Appreciate information from tried and true users. I have a room that has too much stuff to remove and have new carpet installed. The carpet is Berber and over 20 years old. Still looks good except for a few stains. I wanted to try to clean it my self. A friend suggested a steam mop but offered no suggestions. Is this something good to use to clean carpet ?

Re: Steam Mop Suggestions and Questions

cjm61 — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 14:08:25 GMT

@SouthernBee We have a steam mop and love it. For tile floors. It came with a carpet adapter but it was to "sanitize" the carpet, not clean the carpet. You could try it, I suppose it wouldn't hurt. I just don't think it would work all that well to remove stains.

Re: Steam Mop Suggestions and Questions

mimomof4 — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 14:22:30 GMT

When we had Carpeting I tried using the Steam mop for gentle cleaning and it didn't work well at all. I used the attachment for carpet and furniture, nothing got cleaned. A carpet cleaner is needed to actually able to clean the dirt and grime off the carpeting. A carpet cleaner is able to go deep into the carpet and pad to clean out the dirt. A steam mop can only clean the surface.

If you just have small sections of carpet to clean you can buy small cleaners instead of lugging around the full size carpet cleaner. The pain of trying to keep carpet clean is the reason we no longer have carpet. Hard Wood is much easier to clean.

Re: Steam Mop Suggestions and Questions

SouthernBee — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 14:17:37 GMT

@cjm61 : Thank you for responding so quickly. I know the carpet needs to be sanitized but also a good cleaning. Friend said it would probably help clean and use in the future to remove spills before they can stain or soak into the carpet.Plus not a big storage issue like a carpet cleaner. I wasn't sure and never used a steam mop.

Re: Steam Mop Suggestions and Questions

faeriemoon — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 14:21:07 GMT

I think to really clean a carpet you need a carpet steam cleaner, particularly if there old stains that need to be removed. You are probably going to have a challenge removing those even with a proper carpet steam cleaner. You will have to pre-treat them before steam cleaning. I don't think a regular floor steamer with the carpet attachment is going to help you much at all.

Re: Steam Mop Suggestions and Questions

SouthernBee — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 14:24:52 GMT

@mimomof4 : Thank you. I had my doubts. Also don't have extra storage room for a carpet cleaner. My bathrooms are the old stuck on tiles or whatever the correct name and afraid to use a steamer on them.

Re: Steam Mop Suggestions and Questions

SilleeMee — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 14:27:11 GMT

No matter how you're going to do it, cleaning carpet is a back-breaking job to do yourself. Spot treating is not too bad but to clean a large carpet is just too much work for me. I would hire a professional. I am happy to pay them for the hard work that it involves.

Re: Steam Mop Suggestions and Questions

SouthernBee — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 14:31:04 GMT

@faeriemoon : Totally agree and understand. I have some carpet cleaning spray and will use it and have a long handle brush to rub it in. Will leave it on for a couple of hours and then vacuum and hope this makes a difference. Just hated to have someone to come out to clean one room.

Re: Steam Mop Suggestions and Questions

faeriemoon — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 14:45:55 GMT

@SouthernBee Good luck! Fingers crossed for a good result!

Re: Steam Mop Suggestions and Questions

ECBG — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 15:05:11 GMT

@SouthernBee

More than once we have a company come in like Zero Res

(Residue). They do a wonderful job and it dries quickly. Safe for children and pets.

Re: Steam Mop Suggestions and Questions

mimomof4 — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 16:26:40 GMT

@SouthernBee Carpet cleaners can be rented at grocery and hardware stores.

Also there is a small handheld one which can be purchased - Hoover Portable or Bissle Little Green. Both are for smaller jobs which may suit your needs.

Re: Steam Mop Suggestions and Questions

mimomof4 — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 16:27:52 GMT

@SouthernBee One more suggestion. Stanley Steamer advertises carpet cleaning specials. I don't know how much they charge but possibly they would be worth the cost.

Re: Steam Mop Suggestions and Questions

SouthernBee — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 17:06:11 GMT

@mimomof4 : I have a local carpet cleaning company that does a better job than Stanley Steamer. This is my room used for office, pantry and exercise room . I try to keep anyone from seeing the room. I am going to try to clean it myself first. Then consider professional help.

Re: Steam Mop Suggestions and Questions

Kachina624 — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 17:18:21 GMT

A steam mop is not a vacuum so has no way to extract dirt from a carpet. It may even "set" a stain. You need a carpet cleaner. You might try one of the aerosol foam cleaners and a stiff brush.

Re: Steam Mop Suggestions and Questions

SouthernBee — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 17:29:45 GMT

@Kachina624 : I have a long handle stiff brush and spray carpet cleaner to use.

Re: Steam Mop Suggestions and Questions

jlkz — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 17:31:29 GMT

@SouthernBee

We have a Hoover carpet cleaner at home and at our FL condo. It has great water extraction power and I can take it apart myself to clean when done.

It does a wonderful job. Where there are stains, simply go over it several times. There is a button for when you want it to extract both going forward and backwards; otherwise, it sprays cleaning solution forward and extracts on back pull. Weight wise, it is easy to maneuver.

BJ's has had it on sale for $159.

BTW, we also use the FL one on our tile floors as well as our lanais. Very pleased with it. ( When I checked on the cleanliness of my vinyl floor at home after " steam leaning " it with the Haan, I got rid of it. Waste of my energy for sure. )

Re: Steam Mop Suggestions and Questions

jlkz — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 17:32:21 GMT

@SouthernBee

We have a Hoover carpet cleaner at home and at our FL condo. It has great water extraction power and I can take it apart myself to clean when done.

BJ's has had it on sale for $159. Kohl's had it for $199 and up.

Re: Steam Mop Suggestions and Questions

Somertime — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 18:44:06 GMT

@SouthernBee Since your carpet is 20 years old, I would strongly suggest you use a professional cleaner. Do not do it yourself, you will ground the dirt and the stains into the carpet. The professional cleaners have far better and heavier equipment than what you would rent or purchase on your own, The suction for water and dirt removal is far superior and the end results are far superior than what you would accomplish especially on a 20 year old Berber carpet.

Re: Steam Mop Suggestions and Questions

RedTop — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 19:23:18 GMT

Having had Berber carpet in a high traffic area, I strongly suggest saving your money, energy, and time as far as a do it yourself job. Just as your friends suggestion about using a steam mop would be useless, I fear that after you tire yourself out trying to use even a long handled scrub brush on that stiff carpet, the end result will still not be what you are hoping for.

This is the time of year carpet cleaners run spring specials; it would be worth checking into for steam cleaning and scotchguard protection.

Re: Steam Mop Suggestions and Questions

AuntG — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 22:53:00 GMT

Have you considered a smaller carpet cleaner? I have something that is quite old called Bissell Little Green Machine. I use it on stair steps and to clean high traffic areas. It's got good suction and I truly think if I had to clean a 5x7 foot rug with it, I would be successful.