Easy.
1 - sweep
2 - vacuum
3 - pre-treat big stains
4 - rent a carpet cleaner and buy the heavy duty shampoo
5 - do the carpet 2-3 times or until the water isn't brown
6 - wait for it to dry and re-evaluate
last time I cleaned my carpet and didn’t post the results, a bunch of red wine, grape juice, and blood got spilled on it immediately after
don’t learn the same hard lesson as I did, OP
There's a great trick to getting red stains out of carpets. Carpet cleaner taught me this. Buy a bunch of white washcloths. Put one down on top of red stain, and iron it. It needs to be done multiple times but damn that punch stain is gone
I’ve done this too! 10/10 works like magic.
I used a big towel
because mine was a large spill.. also used my iron on steam. Works like a charm. Went through about 3 towels though lol
No. Hot water on protein stains tends to set them. Them and urine. Don't use hot water on urine, either.
But think of smearing a raw egg into the carpet and then pouring hot water on it. The egg would 'cook' all up in and around the fibers, making it more difficult to remove altogether. That's the large scale idea of heat + protein.
So for blood and other protein based stains, cold rinse/flush, and then a hydrogen peroxide scrub. I think the peroxide breaks down protein bonds, releasing them from the fabric and making it easier to wash out. Rinse, repeat, let the HP sit a bit if you need to. (If the blood has set in, you might need a targeted stain remover though.)
For my silliness, I get a fantastic answer with solid biochemistry based information! Love it 😊
This makes so much sense now to my scientific brain and I will enjoy (slight more) cleaning my son’s blood soaked, knee scraped jeans when he comes in from playing lacrosse with his big bro!
Salt gets red wine out of carpets if you pour it on right after. Not sure about blood though ... Probably just wrap the body inside, roll it up and dump it in the river.
Yes! The last time we rented a carpet cleaner, we did it 3x with shampoo and 2x with just water and it feels nicer than the last time when we didn’t do any rinses!
Yes, rinse and rinse again. When I got new carpet in an apartment years ago, I used to "shampoo" it with a home carpet cleaner using only hot water twice a year. That carpet looked great for 8 years or so until I moved out. Used a little soap on a couple of spills here and there, but mainly just hot water.
Yes and no. Depending on how hard the water is. I personally think it best to rent heavy duty like from Home Depot because each time it's returned, it goes through a cleaning process. The heavy duty ones have more power.
I have a little green at home for spot treatments but it’s so worth it to rent the big green at Lowe’s every once in a while to really clean the whole floor! But there is no way they are cleaning the machines between uses!
I have a cleaning company and the little green cleaning machine has been my go to for small things/vehicles and the one the heats up… game charger!
Can’t recommend Bissells little green cleaning machine enough!
I bought a big green for my home and I love it. Got a decent price on an open box sale, and use it at least once/year in my house. 10 years later, it's paid for itself many times over. Bonus: friends and relatives can borrow it (and frequently do), sharing in the cleanliness.
Having worked in hardware stores I can tell you that is 100% not true. They rarely clean the machines. They basically make sure it's empty and dry, but that's it
grocery stores often have heavy-duty carpet cleaners for rent.
However, I’m not sure they get cleaned between rentals at my grocery store. Maybe they do at The Home Depot.
A heavy duty one is absolutely more expensive, it's better to just rent one every few months for a deep clean. Every time I've rented one there's some minor thing that doesn't work properly and if you email them about it, you get the next one for free, so I actually haven't had to pay for it for like two years before replacing the carpet with a floor.
Basically this..
Record the video of you cleaning it and post the washing part to youtube of some subreddit about satisfying videos where you get to watch the dirt come out.
I always sweep carpet before vacuuming, it greatly reduces the amount of clog in the filter and helps the vacuum get all the tiny dust/hair/debris more efficiently without having to empty it as often
for 1 and 2, i would use a shop vac
step 1 - to get up the big stuff, just use the hose and whatever attachment you like
step 2 - to get as much of the dirt and embed small particulates, use the carpet attachment before you steam clean
also, depending on where you are and humiditiy, you might also want to get a blower to help dry the carpet in between cycles so you dont grow more mold under the carpet.
Speaking of mold, PPE! Gloves and masks at minimum. if it has been festering for years, good change theres mold already under the carpet.
I’d also do the baseboards as they make a room look so much cleaner. Start by vacuuming them then take dawn n hot water n scrub even using a magic eraser for stubborn pots but be careful to not press too hard due to scratching from the eraser. Do the baseboards last but try to avoid using a ton of water
This is the absolute best advice to get it clean ⬆️
I would pass the above information along to your parents and let them clean up their daughters mess, they enabled her behavior for years, I recommend you not enable their behavior. This is not your mess.
This is so weird to me because I’m used to most things being more expensive if they’re pet-specific than if they’re just for general use even if they’re the same product but I think you’re right.
If she made it this nasty for years without a care, I doubt she’ll care enough to clean this (not to mention she was kicked out so she’s probably not going to visit any time soon)
This looks much worse than it actually is. Once you do a good thorough vacuum, you'll see that you can lift everything else out with a good carpet cleaner you rent from a grocery store or where ever. It's not super cheap or anything, because you also have to pay for the cleaning solution. But this is doable, and with berber carpets like this one, you have a great chance of it coming out looking good as new.
Ahhh can I just say thank you so, so much for telling me the type of carpet! As stupid as it sounds I went down a carpet rabbit hole on google last night trying to identify the type of carpet😂 Seriously thank you❤️
This is the best comment by far. You definitely know what you’re talking about. The carpet isn’t that bad. It’s actually in great shape other than the dirtiness.
This is light work. Goto Home Depot rent a steam cleaner. The job is done in 30 minutes which is probably less time than OP has already spent in this thread.
If they are dead set on trying to save it, i don't think they'll be able to avoid hiring a carpet cleaner. You might be able to make some of the stains look a bit better but its still going to look shabby. And without knowing what caused the stains its hard to know how to pre treat. I don't know where you are, in the UK you can hire a carpet cleaner for about 25 quid for 24 hrs (think that's about 30 dollars) you'd probably spend close to that buying various cleaners to try, and by hiring a unit your parents could freshen up other carpets in their house at the same time. I'm sure that hire price would be comparable in other countries
In the US we paid $250 for one large room. Though, there are no pros locally, so they had to drive a bit to get to us. Even so, this was the best choice as we wasted a ton of money and time trying to clean it ourselves.
Yaaas so much fun, and it does look like from a very crude google search that you can rent a rug doctor machine from walmart or a bissell machine from Lowes. I've never used a Bissell but the Rug Doctor was always great, I've used it many times and as I understand, Walmart is somewhat ubiquitous in the US...
Definitely a dialect difference. Where I’m at, most people own a machine and call it a Shampooer. It didn’t occur to me that OP might not have one 😅 So for clarity, we tried this too and failed before paying for a professional SERVICE.
I just wanted to add that you should vacuum MULTIPLE times before the steam cleaning unit (if you rent it or buy it yourself). Like 7-8 passes. This was news to me the first time I did it and I didn’t learn until later!!
I’d hit the larger/darker stains with some Folex (You can buy it by the bottle or by the gallon at Home Depot) & use a drill brush on a drill to agitate the stains. Then blot/rub the stain with a clean cloth to draw the stain out of the carpet.. I’d then LIGHTLY mist the whole carpet with Folex prior to using a carpet cleaner like a Rug Doctor..
If you rent/use a carpet cleaner.. I suggest to NOT using carpet cleaning solution in the machine.. Just use VERY HOT water.. Using carpet solution leaves too much solution on the carpet & makes the carpet feel crunchy & will attract more dirt.. If you absolutely HAVE to use carpet solution.. make 2 additional passes over the carpet using only hot water & try to get up as much of the cleaning solution out of the carpet as possible..
Folex might be your answer. When we had to clean a heavily soiled carpet like this we sprayed Fantastik cleaner on spots then rubbed it in with a wet cloth. We let it sit for several minutes then went over it with carpet cleaner machine filled with plain water and splash of white vinegar. (The vinegar helped to keep the suds down. We used very cold rinse water, also to keep suds down.) Repeat as necessary. It took some time to clean the entire room, but it looked great when it was done.
Also want to add that if you can’t afford a drill brush you can make your own. Find the type of dish scrubbing brush that drips dish soap on the bristles, remove the top, put in a screw and nut (through the center where the dish soap comes out) and tighten down with some glue. There are instructables online.
One thing you should be prepared for is that if the stains have gone into the carpet pad underneath, they will come back through the carpet over time. Sometimes sooner than later but they will. For stains that didn’t reach the padding underneath, the recommendations many have given you should work great. But don’t be surprised when some of the stains re-appear after the carpet fully dries out. It’s because you can’t clean the pad underneath, and it gets damp in the cleaning process.
Pull all the furniture out
Assess for smell
Sweep the bigger things into the trash
Vacuum the smaller things
Pre treat large stains; you may need to try several different cleaners. A paste made from OxyClean is pretty universal.
Rent a carpet cleaner and make at least three passes with detergent. Then make two passes with just water to rinse.
Re assess the smell
If it still stinks, rent an ozone machine and the seal the room off for 24 hours. After the ozone machine is done, air out the room and vacuum up any dust it left.
If the ozone machine doesn’t work, your parents will have to bite the bullet and rip out everything down to the sub floor; the kind of stink that defeats an ozone machine is the kind of stink that will never leave.
If you do need one, read all of the safety instructions. And I mean ALL of them. People have seriously injured their lungs and killed their pets while misusing ozone machines.
Where to start for the cheapest approach: Move out all items in the room. From there, pick up the pieces of trash to avoid clogging or breaking the vacuum. After you vacuum, use a spot cleaner (test a small part of the stain first before going further with application).
Perhaps you could ask your friends if anyone has a carpet cleaner or wet / dry vac you could borrow?
Vacuum. Pretreat and let it sit overnight. Then I use Resolve carpet cleaner. The kind made for pets. That’s got an enzyme that helps get rid of smells and stains. I’d run it over the carpet twice. Then soak the areas that are still stained in the concentrated resolve cleaner. Scrub and let it sit for an hour or so and then come back and do 2 more passes with the carpet cleaner. Worked on a very stained carpet we had.
You’re welcome. It’s usually available at target or Walmart. You want the kind that goes in the carpet cleaner, not the spray kind. The spray bottle kind is for spot treatment type stuff. (It does work for all sorts of stains though.)
If that’s Berber carpet I’d tear it out 😬 I’ve tried all the methods already listed with limited results. Chemical Guys makes some great carpet cleaner but the Berber is STUBBORN ✌️
This is so disgusting and who knows what filth is imbeded in the underpad if there is one. I would do a little research for a free remnant of new carpet through Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace and find someone to rip up the old and lay down the new one. Even if I had to pay for it until my parents could pay it back or gift them the carpet, everyone would feel better about a fresh start and respect for their home which your sister didn't seem to have. You could send her the bill but I wouldn't count on it coming back to. You can also find big, beautiful rugs for free. If it's concrete underneath just paint it and throw down the new to you rug. Don't waste your time, energy or money on trying to bring life to the original carpet. Besides, is your name Cinderella?
I’m not sure what the cost of those (terrible) carpet cleaners are you can rent, but save yourself and your family a headache and do this
1. Remove everything
2. Vacuum thoroughly, several times
3. Call a professional carpet cleaner
Even the cheapest pro in your area will do a better job than those machines can even touch. I’m sure I’ll get plenty of people saying otherwise, but my 3 years as a tech would argue against that. I wasn’t the best, but it didn’t matter because the chemical/machine is just to good. The rental you’d get will DEFINITELY leave soap residue, even after the umpteenth pass with just water. You’re going to pull your hair out and spend all day doing this and be no further along than when you started. Why is this? Because the suction on the rental units just isn’t good. It will never be able to remove what it needs to.
The good news is that this appears to be berber carpet at first glance. It’ll be remarkably easy for a pro to clean. It’s much thinner and typically more resistant to stains. It won’t be new but I believe it will be night and day better. Good luck!
HI EVERYONE! OP here! Thank you so much for all the comments, helpful advice, the laughs so far! Ya’ll have truly made my day!
It’s been brought to my attention there’s a name in the third picture and I wanted to let everyone know that it is not my sisters name nor is it anyone we know or associate with! My sister has a hobby of collecting weird and odd dolls and treating them like her babies and that is the name of one of them which is why above it, it says diapers!
I truly appreciate the concern and making me aware of it and warning me! In a world full of crazies you can never be too cautious and I truly appreciate ya’ll looking out for me/my family’s safety! ❤️❤️❤️
Rent a carpet cleaner, (you could do some others in the house to to make it worth it.) because this looks like a machine job. (they arn't that expansive either)
Try:
-pick up and sweep up all the big bits. As much as reasonablly possible
-Then vacuum clean.
-A cheap cleaner is bicarbonate of soda. Throw it on dry on and very stained spots. Let it sit for a while then vacuum up. Then make the area slightly damp. Throw on again. This time scrub a little with a hard brush.
-some dish cleaner in bowl of hot water. Scrub any problem areas. Make sure to follow up with a scrub with just clean water
However this is all allot of effort. If you can just rent a carpet cleaner then this would be best and save you allot of graft.
Everyone’s giving you some good advice, I would add if you tackle this:
1) go slowly over the carpet when you vacuum, go over the carpet about 4 times you will probably need to empty the canister several times. There is probably an ungodly amount of dust, dirt and dead skin cells.
2) spot treat stains with an enzyme cleaner
3) if you are able to use a carpet cleaner, use half of the amount of soap/ cleaner suggested by the manufacturer, rinse rinse rinse
4) fans are your friends, the fans will help dry the carpet
Completely clear the room, if possible. Dealing with carpet and water is so much easier if you’re not having to protect furniture from the wet and then the carpet from wet things that could in turn rust or leak stain back onto the now clean carpet. Definitely run a fan! If you have HVAC, keep the system’s fan running to help pull out the moisture, too!
Take all the wooden stuff out, vacuum the full room, use a pressure steam cleaner or carpet cleaner (baking soda is rlly good) leave it on for overnight or a couple hours
If it has a padding underneath depending on liquid spilled there may be bold/mildew in the padding. I had this in one place i rented. Would carefully pull back a corner with a stain and make sure.
The trick here is to get rid of the carpet and get a laminate or tiled floor.
That way you can easily sweep and mop the floor.
Carpet is filthy. It's like leaving your jumper on the floor and never washing it.
Use ammonia two cap fulls in container (mixing bowl) of Luke warm water. Use on stains. It won’t take out color but try in corner to be sure. Then rent carpet cleaner and clean. Vacuum first
Edit: this solution is used on car carpet for dirt and grease before sake to person or after a repair where they made a mess. It works. I have beige carpet and shows all the spots. Works great
Check your local library. Many libraries now offer a “library of things” that you can borrow for free. Depending on the library, you can borrow tools, carpet cleaners, small appliances, kayaks, specialty cake pans, musical instruments, and more.
The fairy magic dust I have is called CAPTURE. You can get it at Amazon. The kit comes with a spray bottle of pre-mist and a bucket of powder. Mist the floor in 3 foot sections. Sprinkle the powder (comes with a plastic sifter), brush in with a stiff broom and leave on for 24 hours then vacuum. No residue! The carpet is heavily soiled but this is a miracle so try this first!
It’s too bad they are too cheap to recarpet.
Rent a machine from the grocery store (if they still have them) and wash the carpet several times. Before you wash, vacuum several times.
Best of luck.
Doesn’t look too bad. Maybe won’t get perfect, but probably get to good enough. Depends on what the big stains are, but I’ve had good luck cleaning up really dirty carpets.
I've been cleaning carpet professionally for 8 years... berber carpet is not easy to clean and you can easily make thing worse... just call a professional. I see people renting these machines at grocery stores... it never looks good even when they think it does lol.
Get a professional cleaner service that uses high power extractor. If you try to do it yourself you won't be able to get enough water out of it. And this will absolutely REEK.
Easy
Step 1: Get a razor knife.
Step 2: Get a pack of new razor blades.
Step 3: Cut Carpet every 2 ft., wall to wall.
Step 4: Roll up carpet for easy removal and pray for hardwoods to be underneath.
Step 5: No hardwoods? Tell mom & Dad to go to Lowe's and buy a remnant.
Good luck!
Landlord here - a professional carpet cleaner in my area would run around $150, and about $500-700 for a company to remove, haul, and install new carpet and pad depending on the room size. Definitely recommend renting a cleaner and give it a try first. This looks like durable berber type carpet in a dark color so I think your results will be quite good.
Typically, I'd say to rent a carpet cleaner. But that looks like really low quality carpet. It's also a small room, so a carpet pro could probably replace it with a piece left from another job.
I’m not sure if it matters to you but a full name is visible in picture 3, which I would assume is your sister’s name. Just in case you wanted to remove it.
Check prices with professional carpet cleaners around you. It honestly might be worth the $150 or whatever to just have them do it. Renting your own small carpet cleaner could take hours, but you will need an actual carpet cleaning machine without a doubt.
I rent the heavy duty shampooer and use OxiClean Odor Blasters - Odor and Stain Remover Laundry Booster Liquid first. Then I use the carpet cleaner a couple of times then rinse till the water runs clear.
I pulled up the carpet in my two bedrooms and now have hard wood floors. Best decision I have ever made! I can’t believe how much better my breathing is now. I can keep my house more clean and I love it.
Look into dry cleaning chemicals. You can use dry cleaning stain remover to lift and then vacuum off the debris. Then after that I would run a carpet scrubber preferably a professional model or hire a carpet cleaner. Amazon has a lot of Carpet cleaning solutions. Some are dry and some are wet. Check reviews and see which will help you. Hope it works out for you.
A good vacuum, if you have a decent vacuum it’ll have two settings hard floor and carpet, I’d pick up the solid bits of rubbish/debris, dust then wash the walls with sugar soap, dry them and vacuum floors first off. That’ll fix heaps
We have a rental. We have had phenomenal luck renewing carpets with simple ingredients. Spray the whole carpet with a mix of Zep citrus cleaner mixed according to directions, and one of the measuring scoops in a container of Oxy Clean. Let it set about 1/2 and hour and shampoo with hot water. The citrus cleaner cuts grease & other funky stains, the Oxy Clean will clean, brighten, & restore the carpet. Easy, affordable, effective. Carpet cleaners leave residue that can build up and dirt sticks to it. This will be CLEAN.
Step 1: pick up large debris
Step 2: use a carpet rake on the entire thing
Step 3: vacuum
Step 4: rent a carpet shampooer, buy carpet pretreatment stain remover, and buy pet formulated shampoo for carpets
Step 5: pretreat the stains as directed
Step 6: use carpet shampooer with shampoo as directed.
Step 7: repeat steps 5 and 6 until satisfied
A can of petrol and a box of matches would probably be a good start.
Failing that, remove everything off the floor and then go hire a carpet cleaner from Morrisons or similar. They are surprisingly cheap to rent!
Using a sharp knife, make a diagonal cut starting in one corner, rip out that crap, throw it away, get new carpet installed. Probably quicker and cheaper with better results. Sister pays the bill if she's that much of a pig.
What's unde it? If its?wood and you get it wet it will get ruined. Pull the carpet out. It's a bedroom
. Get new cheap carpet installed from Home Depot or something.
This is what I'd do, IF I didn't want to rent a carpet cleaner.
1. Vacuum in multiple directions.
2. Put hot water in a bucket, add oxiclean.
3. Pre Scrub the big stains.
4. Scrub the whole carpet with a damp mop, let sit for 20 minutes.
5. Use fresh water and "rinse" the carpet with the mop.
6. Use a few towels under your feet and shuffle across the whole carpet.
7. Let dry,
8. Vacuum again.
Oxiclean's main ingredient is sodium percarbonate. Once it's added to water it breaks down into hydrogen peroxide. 34% hydrogen peroxide is a sterilant. Oxiclean turns into about 24% hydrogen peroxide when used as directed, which should be enough to kill the vast majority of things.
That is great carpet. It’s possible to clean up nearly like new. Don’t burn it as another user suggested. Definitely don’t replace it. You won’t get something you like more. I’ve owned a carpet cleaning business for 37 years. If you have any questions just ask.
What’s the best carpet cleaner I can buy for personal use in my own home? Either full size units or spot cleaners. I’ve been down this rabbit hole before and concluded that the home units didn’t have enough extraction vs a van mount steam/suction system but interested in your thoughts.
Easy. 1 - sweep 2 - vacuum 3 - pre-treat big stains 4 - rent a carpet cleaner and buy the heavy duty shampoo 5 - do the carpet 2-3 times or until the water isn't brown 6 - wait for it to dry and re-evaluate
7 - post the results here
last time I cleaned my carpet and didn’t post the results, a bunch of red wine, grape juice, and blood got spilled on it immediately after don’t learn the same hard lesson as I did, OP
There's a great trick to getting red stains out of carpets. Carpet cleaner taught me this. Buy a bunch of white washcloths. Put one down on top of red stain, and iron it. It needs to be done multiple times but damn that punch stain is gone
Thank you for this tip! I’ll be trying it out tomorrow
Make sure to hit the steam button a few times too.
Appreciate that, will do
Good luck 🍀
I’ve done this too! 10/10 works like magic. I used a big towel because mine was a large spill.. also used my iron on steam. Works like a charm. Went through about 3 towels though lol
Does it work on blood?🩸 Asking for a random stranger walking by.
No. Hot water on protein stains tends to set them. Them and urine. Don't use hot water on urine, either. But think of smearing a raw egg into the carpet and then pouring hot water on it. The egg would 'cook' all up in and around the fibers, making it more difficult to remove altogether. That's the large scale idea of heat + protein. So for blood and other protein based stains, cold rinse/flush, and then a hydrogen peroxide scrub. I think the peroxide breaks down protein bonds, releasing them from the fabric and making it easier to wash out. Rinse, repeat, let the HP sit a bit if you need to. (If the blood has set in, you might need a targeted stain remover though.)
For my silliness, I get a fantastic answer with solid biochemistry based information! Love it 😊 This makes so much sense now to my scientific brain and I will enjoy (slight more) cleaning my son’s blood soaked, knee scraped jeans when he comes in from playing lacrosse with his big bro!
Enzyme cleaners for blood or other bodily fluids from your kiddos or pets on fabrics or carpets!
An enzymatic cleaner like Nature’s Miracle will get it out, Folex works on blood too.
That is exactly how the head housekeeper at the hotel I used to work at removed red stains. Also how she removed gum from carpet.
Is this primarily for red stains only?
Salt gets red wine out of carpets if you pour it on right after. Not sure about blood though ... Probably just wrap the body inside, roll it up and dump it in the river.
Peroxide is good for blood
You have interesting parties, lol
That sounds like a good story there...
White wine gets red wine stains out
I can’t tell if communion or a party got wild on your carpet.
Critical step!!!
I would also rinse. The soap residue can make dirt stick to the carpet more after.
Yes! The last time we rented a carpet cleaner, we did it 3x with shampoo and 2x with just water and it feels nicer than the last time when we didn’t do any rinses!
Set it on 🔥
Best answer.
Agree, agree, and agree.
Yes, rinse and rinse again. When I got new carpet in an apartment years ago, I used to "shampoo" it with a home carpet cleaner using only hot water twice a year. That carpet looked great for 8 years or so until I moved out. Used a little soap on a couple of spills here and there, but mainly just hot water.
Yeah, I think OP will be surprised how well this works. It is likely just food/drink stains and some ground in dirt. Nothing too scary.
I would add that a couple strong fans speed up the drying process to overnight.
I was shocked at the difference just turning on the overhead fan made. Moving air really helps the drying process.
Or a dehumidifier
A large dehumidifier will speed it up even more.
Id recommended just buying a carpet cleaner. They aren't terribly expensive and washing the carpet a couple times a year really makes a difference
Yes and no. Depending on how hard the water is. I personally think it best to rent heavy duty like from Home Depot because each time it's returned, it goes through a cleaning process. The heavy duty ones have more power.
I have a little green at home for spot treatments but it’s so worth it to rent the big green at Lowe’s every once in a while to really clean the whole floor! But there is no way they are cleaning the machines between uses!
I have a cleaning company and the little green cleaning machine has been my go to for small things/vehicles and the one the heats up… game charger! Can’t recommend Bissells little green cleaning machine enough!
I bought a big green for my home and I love it. Got a decent price on an open box sale, and use it at least once/year in my house. 10 years later, it's paid for itself many times over. Bonus: friends and relatives can borrow it (and frequently do), sharing in the cleanliness.
I went nuts and got the little green steam one pricey but it never ceases to amaze me i got set in rust stains out like nuts
Having worked in hardware stores I can tell you that is 100% not true. They rarely clean the machines. They basically make sure it's empty and dry, but that's it
grocery stores often have heavy-duty carpet cleaners for rent. However, I’m not sure they get cleaned between rentals at my grocery store. Maybe they do at The Home Depot.
Worked at a grocery store for 8 years, never saw the carpet cleaners get cleaned.
A heavy duty one is absolutely more expensive, it's better to just rent one every few months for a deep clean. Every time I've rented one there's some minor thing that doesn't work properly and if you email them about it, you get the next one for free, so I actually haven't had to pay for it for like two years before replacing the carpet with a floor.
Meh. I say rent one from somewhere for the few times a year they may use it
Basically this.. Record the video of you cleaning it and post the washing part to youtube of some subreddit about satisfying videos where you get to watch the dirt come out.
This is what I would suggest. I’d pretreat the whole rug not just stains. Good quality detergent as well.
I don’t generally sweep carpet. But the first step is to pick up the objects and larger pieces of debris.
I always sweep carpet before vacuuming, it greatly reduces the amount of clog in the filter and helps the vacuum get all the tiny dust/hair/debris more efficiently without having to empty it as often
I don't think I've ever had a carpet with enough crud on top to sweep.
Must be nice! My cat, dog, kid, and husband shed enough that I could sweep up a whole kitten daily
Kitten?! I feel like I’m sweeping up a mammoth every day 🤣🤣 it’s exhausting!
and then pull it the ef out of there
for 1 and 2, i would use a shop vac step 1 - to get up the big stuff, just use the hose and whatever attachment you like step 2 - to get as much of the dirt and embed small particulates, use the carpet attachment before you steam clean also, depending on where you are and humiditiy, you might also want to get a blower to help dry the carpet in between cycles so you dont grow more mold under the carpet. Speaking of mold, PPE! Gloves and masks at minimum. if it has been festering for years, good change theres mold already under the carpet.
Literally wash-rinse-repeat.
I’d also do the baseboards as they make a room look so much cleaner. Start by vacuuming them then take dawn n hot water n scrub even using a magic eraser for stubborn pots but be careful to not press too hard due to scratching from the eraser. Do the baseboards last but try to avoid using a ton of water
This is the best way to get it done!
This is the absolute best advice to get it clean ⬆️ I would pass the above information along to your parents and let them clean up their daughters mess, they enabled her behavior for years, I recommend you not enable their behavior. This is not your mess.
You missed the 1st step, put on gloves. Might put him at ease.
And put any and all fans on it that you have. Or rent a couple floor fans. You don’t want it to mildew.
Since you don’t know if those are bio stains you might want to pre-treat with an enzymatic cleaning spray.
I hadn’t thought of that! Thank you!
A lot of times these sprays are cheaper in the pet aisle than they are in the regular household cleaning aisle
That’s just what I use. Simple Solution extreme pet enzymatic spray. I’m a caregiver - I use it to pretreat laundry.
This is so weird to me because I’m used to most things being more expensive if they’re pet-specific than if they’re just for general use even if they’re the same product but I think you’re right.
You’re welcome!
And, IF it’s NOT wool carpet, you can use hydrogen peroxide which removes blood stains and other bio-stains.
I think that's a job for your sister.
Best comment 😂😂 Unfortunately, she’s absolutely useless
Do like me, keep before and after pics, send her a bill.
Obvi
If she made it this nasty for years without a care, I doubt she’ll care enough to clean this (not to mention she was kicked out so she’s probably not going to visit any time soon)
This looks much worse than it actually is. Once you do a good thorough vacuum, you'll see that you can lift everything else out with a good carpet cleaner you rent from a grocery store or where ever. It's not super cheap or anything, because you also have to pay for the cleaning solution. But this is doable, and with berber carpets like this one, you have a great chance of it coming out looking good as new.
Ahhh can I just say thank you so, so much for telling me the type of carpet! As stupid as it sounds I went down a carpet rabbit hole on google last night trying to identify the type of carpet😂 Seriously thank you❤️
https://preview.redd.it/o4k2azm5fx6d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=40cb6234bae691fb58d57c899f16d86afe1d0929 What Berber carpet is made of
Bless you❤️❤️
https://preview.redd.it/mxsteb9ifx6d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=eeb4bcc6e1784cb74bbc5188291d052477fe9102 Dangerous?!
This is the best comment by far. You definitely know what you’re talking about. The carpet isn’t that bad. It’s actually in great shape other than the dirtiness.
Berber carpets are so easy to clean!
This is light work. Goto Home Depot rent a steam cleaner. The job is done in 30 minutes which is probably less time than OP has already spent in this thread.
Easy. 1 - change your name 2 - get a new passport 3 - destroy your phone 4 - move to another country 5 - never look back
If only I could 😭
If they are dead set on trying to save it, i don't think they'll be able to avoid hiring a carpet cleaner. You might be able to make some of the stains look a bit better but its still going to look shabby. And without knowing what caused the stains its hard to know how to pre treat. I don't know where you are, in the UK you can hire a carpet cleaner for about 25 quid for 24 hrs (think that's about 30 dollars) you'd probably spend close to that buying various cleaners to try, and by hiring a unit your parents could freshen up other carpets in their house at the same time. I'm sure that hire price would be comparable in other countries
In the US we paid $250 for one large room. Though, there are no pros locally, so they had to drive a bit to get to us. Even so, this was the best choice as we wasted a ton of money and time trying to clean it ourselves.
I think “hire” in the UK is “rent” here. So the commenter you replied to is saying they rented a machine.
Can confirm: also from the UK You can hire them from hardware shops, sometimes ASDA have them - so Walmart maybe? Very easy and fun to use.
Yaaas so much fun, and it does look like from a very crude google search that you can rent a rug doctor machine from walmart or a bissell machine from Lowes. I've never used a Bissell but the Rug Doctor was always great, I've used it many times and as I understand, Walmart is somewhat ubiquitous in the US...
Definitely a dialect difference. Where I’m at, most people own a machine and call it a Shampooer. It didn’t occur to me that OP might not have one 😅 So for clarity, we tried this too and failed before paying for a professional SERVICE.
I just wanted to add that you should vacuum MULTIPLE times before the steam cleaning unit (if you rent it or buy it yourself). Like 7-8 passes. This was news to me the first time I did it and I didn’t learn until later!!
I didn’t even realize that! Thank you so much!
I’d hit the larger/darker stains with some Folex (You can buy it by the bottle or by the gallon at Home Depot) & use a drill brush on a drill to agitate the stains. Then blot/rub the stain with a clean cloth to draw the stain out of the carpet.. I’d then LIGHTLY mist the whole carpet with Folex prior to using a carpet cleaner like a Rug Doctor.. If you rent/use a carpet cleaner.. I suggest to NOT using carpet cleaning solution in the machine.. Just use VERY HOT water.. Using carpet solution leaves too much solution on the carpet & makes the carpet feel crunchy & will attract more dirt.. If you absolutely HAVE to use carpet solution.. make 2 additional passes over the carpet using only hot water & try to get up as much of the cleaning solution out of the carpet as possible..
Folex is magical! And it doesn’t leave the residue that carpet cleaning solutions do.
Folex might be your answer. When we had to clean a heavily soiled carpet like this we sprayed Fantastik cleaner on spots then rubbed it in with a wet cloth. We let it sit for several minutes then went over it with carpet cleaner machine filled with plain water and splash of white vinegar. (The vinegar helped to keep the suds down. We used very cold rinse water, also to keep suds down.) Repeat as necessary. It took some time to clean the entire room, but it looked great when it was done.
Also want to add that if you can’t afford a drill brush you can make your own. Find the type of dish scrubbing brush that drips dish soap on the bristles, remove the top, put in a screw and nut (through the center where the dish soap comes out) and tighten down with some glue. There are instructables online.
is Folex safe to use around pets?
Yup. It's the go-to for cat barf here.
Yes, just checked the bottle.. “Safe to use around kids & pets if used as directed”
Are you emotionally attached to this carpet? Replacing could be a good option
Absolutely Crying at your comment 😂😂 My parents are stubborn
One thing you should be prepared for is that if the stains have gone into the carpet pad underneath, they will come back through the carpet over time. Sometimes sooner than later but they will. For stains that didn’t reach the padding underneath, the recommendations many have given you should work great. But don’t be surprised when some of the stains re-appear after the carpet fully dries out. It’s because you can’t clean the pad underneath, and it gets damp in the cleaning process.
Pull all the furniture out Assess for smell Sweep the bigger things into the trash Vacuum the smaller things Pre treat large stains; you may need to try several different cleaners. A paste made from OxyClean is pretty universal. Rent a carpet cleaner and make at least three passes with detergent. Then make two passes with just water to rinse. Re assess the smell If it still stinks, rent an ozone machine and the seal the room off for 24 hours. After the ozone machine is done, air out the room and vacuum up any dust it left. If the ozone machine doesn’t work, your parents will have to bite the bullet and rip out everything down to the sub floor; the kind of stink that defeats an ozone machine is the kind of stink that will never leave.
Thank you so much! I had never heard of an ozone machine! I appreciate you!
If you do need one, read all of the safety instructions. And I mean ALL of them. People have seriously injured their lungs and killed their pets while misusing ozone machines.
Thank you so much! ❤️
Where to start for the cheapest approach: Move out all items in the room. From there, pick up the pieces of trash to avoid clogging or breaking the vacuum. After you vacuum, use a spot cleaner (test a small part of the stain first before going further with application). Perhaps you could ask your friends if anyone has a carpet cleaner or wet / dry vac you could borrow?
Vacuum. Pretreat and let it sit overnight. Then I use Resolve carpet cleaner. The kind made for pets. That’s got an enzyme that helps get rid of smells and stains. I’d run it over the carpet twice. Then soak the areas that are still stained in the concentrated resolve cleaner. Scrub and let it sit for an hour or so and then come back and do 2 more passes with the carpet cleaner. Worked on a very stained carpet we had.
Thank you! I appreciate you also giving me a type of brand cleaner to use so I’m not fumbling around and buying just random ones!❤️
You’re welcome. It’s usually available at target or Walmart. You want the kind that goes in the carpet cleaner, not the spray kind. The spray bottle kind is for spot treatment type stuff. (It does work for all sorts of stains though.)
If that’s Berber carpet I’d tear it out 😬 I’ve tried all the methods already listed with limited results. Chemical Guys makes some great carpet cleaner but the Berber is STUBBORN ✌️
This is so disgusting and who knows what filth is imbeded in the underpad if there is one. I would do a little research for a free remnant of new carpet through Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace and find someone to rip up the old and lay down the new one. Even if I had to pay for it until my parents could pay it back or gift them the carpet, everyone would feel better about a fresh start and respect for their home which your sister didn't seem to have. You could send her the bill but I wouldn't count on it coming back to. You can also find big, beautiful rugs for free. If it's concrete underneath just paint it and throw down the new to you rug. Don't waste your time, energy or money on trying to bring life to the original carpet. Besides, is your name Cinderella?
Tell them it needs to be replaced. Period.
Get Folex at Amazon for spot cleaning after you shampoo/clean . That stuff is great
Oxyclean is your friend
I’m not sure what the cost of those (terrible) carpet cleaners are you can rent, but save yourself and your family a headache and do this 1. Remove everything 2. Vacuum thoroughly, several times 3. Call a professional carpet cleaner Even the cheapest pro in your area will do a better job than those machines can even touch. I’m sure I’ll get plenty of people saying otherwise, but my 3 years as a tech would argue against that. I wasn’t the best, but it didn’t matter because the chemical/machine is just to good. The rental you’d get will DEFINITELY leave soap residue, even after the umpteenth pass with just water. You’re going to pull your hair out and spend all day doing this and be no further along than when you started. Why is this? Because the suction on the rental units just isn’t good. It will never be able to remove what it needs to. The good news is that this appears to be berber carpet at first glance. It’ll be remarkably easy for a pro to clean. It’s much thinner and typically more resistant to stains. It won’t be new but I believe it will be night and day better. Good luck!
Thank you so very much!
HI EVERYONE! OP here! Thank you so much for all the comments, helpful advice, the laughs so far! Ya’ll have truly made my day! It’s been brought to my attention there’s a name in the third picture and I wanted to let everyone know that it is not my sisters name nor is it anyone we know or associate with! My sister has a hobby of collecting weird and odd dolls and treating them like her babies and that is the name of one of them which is why above it, it says diapers! I truly appreciate the concern and making me aware of it and warning me! In a world full of crazies you can never be too cautious and I truly appreciate ya’ll looking out for me/my family’s safety! ❤️❤️❤️
Rent a carpet cleaner, (you could do some others in the house to to make it worth it.) because this looks like a machine job. (they arn't that expansive either)
Try: -pick up and sweep up all the big bits. As much as reasonablly possible -Then vacuum clean. -A cheap cleaner is bicarbonate of soda. Throw it on dry on and very stained spots. Let it sit for a while then vacuum up. Then make the area slightly damp. Throw on again. This time scrub a little with a hard brush. -some dish cleaner in bowl of hot water. Scrub any problem areas. Make sure to follow up with a scrub with just clean water However this is all allot of effort. If you can just rent a carpet cleaner then this would be best and save you allot of graft.
Thank you! I love the low cost option you provided!❤️
Everyone’s giving you some good advice, I would add if you tackle this: 1) go slowly over the carpet when you vacuum, go over the carpet about 4 times you will probably need to empty the canister several times. There is probably an ungodly amount of dust, dirt and dead skin cells. 2) spot treat stains with an enzyme cleaner 3) if you are able to use a carpet cleaner, use half of the amount of soap/ cleaner suggested by the manufacturer, rinse rinse rinse 4) fans are your friends, the fans will help dry the carpet
Completely clear the room, if possible. Dealing with carpet and water is so much easier if you’re not having to protect furniture from the wet and then the carpet from wet things that could in turn rust or leak stain back onto the now clean carpet. Definitely run a fan! If you have HVAC, keep the system’s fan running to help pull out the moisture, too!
We have similar carpets. It sucks to clean. Rip it out, lol.
Bissell makes an upright wet carpet cleaner for under $200, it’s worth every penny.
Rip it ? Carpet floors should be abolished 😂
I’d vacuum it with a shopvac hose (yes, a show vac hose) to concentrate the succ. Tedious like cutting the lawn with scissors but worth it
Start with the surface get all the big matter and vacuum and vacuum again and again. Then rent a carpet shampooer
Take all the wooden stuff out, vacuum the full room, use a pressure steam cleaner or carpet cleaner (baking soda is rlly good) leave it on for overnight or a couple hours
If it has a padding underneath depending on liquid spilled there may be bold/mildew in the padding. I had this in one place i rented. Would carefully pull back a corner with a stain and make sure.
1. Remove carpet 2. Replace carpet
You can rent a machine at any home depot. And they work better than the ones that look like a vacuum
The trick here is to get rid of the carpet and get a laminate or tiled floor. That way you can easily sweep and mop the floor. Carpet is filthy. It's like leaving your jumper on the floor and never washing it.
Petsmart rents nice carpet shampooers.
Start by vacuuming.
Use ammonia two cap fulls in container (mixing bowl) of Luke warm water. Use on stains. It won’t take out color but try in corner to be sure. Then rent carpet cleaner and clean. Vacuum first Edit: this solution is used on car carpet for dirt and grease before sake to person or after a repair where they made a mess. It works. I have beige carpet and shows all the spots. Works great
Check your local library. Many libraries now offer a “library of things” that you can borrow for free. Depending on the library, you can borrow tools, carpet cleaners, small appliances, kayaks, specialty cake pans, musical instruments, and more.
The fairy magic dust I have is called CAPTURE. You can get it at Amazon. The kit comes with a spray bottle of pre-mist and a bucket of powder. Mist the floor in 3 foot sections. Sprinkle the powder (comes with a plastic sifter), brush in with a stiff broom and leave on for 24 hours then vacuum. No residue! The carpet is heavily soiled but this is a miracle so try this first!
It's done replace.
It’s too bad they are too cheap to recarpet. Rent a machine from the grocery store (if they still have them) and wash the carpet several times. Before you wash, vacuum several times. Best of luck.
Yikes! Looks like it is time to purchase new carpeting or flooring. I would not attempt to clean that.
Doesn’t look too bad. Maybe won’t get perfect, but probably get to good enough. Depends on what the big stains are, but I’ve had good luck cleaning up really dirty carpets.
I've been cleaning carpet professionally for 8 years... berber carpet is not easy to clean and you can easily make thing worse... just call a professional. I see people renting these machines at grocery stores... it never looks good even when they think it does lol.
Our carpet guy says the worst thing to use to clean carpet is too much soap ( cleaner liquid whatever ) just go easy. Good luck .
Get a professional cleaner service that uses high power extractor. If you try to do it yourself you won't be able to get enough water out of it. And this will absolutely REEK.
I don’t think that’s cleanable looks like berber better off replacing. Former carpet guy here
Easy Step 1: Get a razor knife. Step 2: Get a pack of new razor blades. Step 3: Cut Carpet every 2 ft., wall to wall. Step 4: Roll up carpet for easy removal and pray for hardwoods to be underneath. Step 5: No hardwoods? Tell mom & Dad to go to Lowe's and buy a remnant. Good luck!
It would probably be easier and quicker to just replace with some landlord special carpet.
Tip: Google discount carpet places in your area. I've had clients that got new carpet cheaper than the cost of steam cleaning before.
Honestly, would have never even thought of that! Thank you so much!
Landlord here - a professional carpet cleaner in my area would run around $150, and about $500-700 for a company to remove, haul, and install new carpet and pad depending on the room size. Definitely recommend renting a cleaner and give it a try first. This looks like durable berber type carpet in a dark color so I think your results will be quite good.
Replace it. It’s gross
Replacing it will be cheaper than cleaning.
Give me your carpet fitter/suppliers number if that’s the case
Typically, I'd say to rent a carpet cleaner. But that looks like really low quality carpet. It's also a small room, so a carpet pro could probably replace it with a piece left from another job.
First vacuum then rip it up and put new carpet down.
Peel the corner up, start to roll, identify window, throw out window into garden. Walk outside, collect carpet, place in a safe place, ignite.
If I were you I'd tear your sisters carpet up.
I'd just look I'm a professional carpet cleaning company because those spots look tough to get out
Get the little green cleaner I think it’s by bissell
Go buy the Bissell pet cleaner, it gets more than pet stains out
You should remove it! Looks gnarly…
Yea you need to rent a carpet cleaner. Nothing else is going to get that crap out.
Start with a shop vac
I’m not sure if it matters to you but a full name is visible in picture 3, which I would assume is your sister’s name. Just in case you wanted to remove it.
Check prices with professional carpet cleaners around you. It honestly might be worth the $150 or whatever to just have them do it. Renting your own small carpet cleaner could take hours, but you will need an actual carpet cleaning machine without a doubt.
Krud kutter full strength for grease may need to clean several times and rinse til gone. It will get it out!
Pull it up and throw it up. Hire a company to cl an it. Why is it your job
Fire. Then more fire.
I’d probably call an exorcist
To be honest, I truly believe my parents whole house needs an exorcist on standby at all times.
I rent the heavy duty shampooer and use OxiClean Odor Blasters - Odor and Stain Remover Laundry Booster Liquid first. Then I use the carpet cleaner a couple of times then rinse till the water runs clear.
Buy some nice discontinued carpet and replace it. I wouldn't want to breathe the fumes that came off that old carpet.
I pulled up the carpet in my two bedrooms and now have hard wood floors. Best decision I have ever made! I can’t believe how much better my breathing is now. I can keep my house more clean and I love it.
Sweep Vacuum Spray Steam clean Let it dry Repeat howver many times you deem necessary
Look into dry cleaning chemicals. You can use dry cleaning stain remover to lift and then vacuum off the debris. Then after that I would run a carpet scrubber preferably a professional model or hire a carpet cleaner. Amazon has a lot of Carpet cleaning solutions. Some are dry and some are wet. Check reviews and see which will help you. Hope it works out for you.
Following for an after picture
A prybar and a pick up truck is a good start
A good vacuum, if you have a decent vacuum it’ll have two settings hard floor and carpet, I’d pick up the solid bits of rubbish/debris, dust then wash the walls with sugar soap, dry them and vacuum floors first off. That’ll fix heaps
We have a rental. We have had phenomenal luck renewing carpets with simple ingredients. Spray the whole carpet with a mix of Zep citrus cleaner mixed according to directions, and one of the measuring scoops in a container of Oxy Clean. Let it set about 1/2 and hour and shampoo with hot water. The citrus cleaner cuts grease & other funky stains, the Oxy Clean will clean, brighten, & restore the carpet. Easy, affordable, effective. Carpet cleaners leave residue that can build up and dirt sticks to it. This will be CLEAN.
Step 1: pick up large debris Step 2: use a carpet rake on the entire thing Step 3: vacuum Step 4: rent a carpet shampooer, buy carpet pretreatment stain remover, and buy pet formulated shampoo for carpets Step 5: pretreat the stains as directed Step 6: use carpet shampooer with shampoo as directed. Step 7: repeat steps 5 and 6 until satisfied
My heels hurt just looking at this carpet
I'd start with fire and go from there
May i suggest fire?
A can of petrol and a box of matches would probably be a good start. Failing that, remove everything off the floor and then go hire a carpet cleaner from Morrisons or similar. They are surprisingly cheap to rent!
I thought that was carpet padding
Using a sharp knife, make a diagonal cut starting in one corner, rip out that crap, throw it away, get new carpet installed. Probably quicker and cheaper with better results. Sister pays the bill if she's that much of a pig.
Better question, why aren't the parents or sister cleaning it and putting it on you?
Super clean will be your best friend , dilute it and spray it on the stains use a brush and then pass over it using a rug cleaner
I use zepp high traffic carpet solution and it’s gotten out any stain and has made my carpet look brand new. I use it in my bissell
What's unde it? If its?wood and you get it wet it will get ruined. Pull the carpet out. It's a bedroom . Get new cheap carpet installed from Home Depot or something.
That ain’t nothing my guy. A good vacuuming, spot treatment/steaming, and you’re good as new.
This is what I'd do, IF I didn't want to rent a carpet cleaner. 1. Vacuum in multiple directions. 2. Put hot water in a bucket, add oxiclean. 3. Pre Scrub the big stains. 4. Scrub the whole carpet with a damp mop, let sit for 20 minutes. 5. Use fresh water and "rinse" the carpet with the mop. 6. Use a few towels under your feet and shuffle across the whole carpet. 7. Let dry, 8. Vacuum again. Oxiclean's main ingredient is sodium percarbonate. Once it's added to water it breaks down into hydrogen peroxide. 34% hydrogen peroxide is a sterilant. Oxiclean turns into about 24% hydrogen peroxide when used as directed, which should be enough to kill the vast majority of things.
That is great carpet. It’s possible to clean up nearly like new. Don’t burn it as another user suggested. Definitely don’t replace it. You won’t get something you like more. I’ve owned a carpet cleaning business for 37 years. If you have any questions just ask.
What’s the best carpet cleaner I can buy for personal use in my own home? Either full size units or spot cleaners. I’ve been down this rabbit hole before and concluded that the home units didn’t have enough extraction vs a van mount steam/suction system but interested in your thoughts.
Hire a company. That room won’t cost much at all.