Should I Rent a Rug Doctor? Reviewing the Pros and Cons of DIY Carpet Cleaning in Orlando

When it’s time to clean your carpets, you have probably considered renting a Rug Doctor. It’s the most popular brand of compact carpet cleaning machines that you can rent or buy.  

The most common reason people choose to rent a machine and do the cleaning themselves is to save money. In this article, we review the Pros and Cons to see how well it works and if it really does save you money.

Pros

Convenience - The best part of renting a machine is that it’s convenient. You can do the cleaning yourself whenever you want, rather than having to schedule a time with a professional carpet cleaner. It’s also readily available at major home and grocery stories like Walmart, Publix, and Home Depot, which means you don't have to drive far in Orlando to get one.

Similar Process - The machine you rent uses pretty much the same steps and process of a professional carpet cleaner. The machine lays down a soapy solution on the carpet and scrubs it to loosen the soil. Then, the machine injects hot water and then proceeds to pull out the water, bringing out the dirt with it.  

Initial Lower Cost - Rentals typically run $30-$40 plus the cost of the cleaning solutions you have to get, it ends up being around $70-$80 dollars. RugDoctor.com offers their rentals for $29.99. If you add their 4-room solution cleaner ($14.99), Pre-Treat ($7.49), and Pet Stain Remover ($9.49), that adds up to about $62. If you have more rooms and larger square footage to cover, you’ll have to purchase more cleaning solutions.  

Cons

Lack of Power - The biggest drawback is the rental may not be powerful enough to extract the dirty water that’s in the carpet. Most of the time, you have to make a lot of passes, about 10-15 passes just in one area to get the water out. Even after many passes, the carpet may still be wet and it takes much longer to dry. Leaving carpets overly wet runs the risk of damaging them, especially in Florida where our weather is humid. Wet carpet and humid weather is a breeding ground for mold issues. The benefit of professional truck-mounted cleaning equipment is its power to remove dirty water at a commercial grade level to result in cleaner and drier carpets. 

Residue - Due to the lack of high power, rented carpet cleaning machines may not get all of the soap solution out. If this happens and you hire a professional carpet cleaning to re-clean the area, once they lay down their own solutions, it makes it more difficult to clean the carpet the second time because the remaining residue is still in the carpet.

Higher Cost - After using a rental and you are unhappy with the results, when you hire a professional carpet cleaner to re-clean, you end up having to pay more in the end.  

Is the Rug Doctor Rental Worth It?

As you are thinking through whether you should rent a machine to clean your own rugs and carpets, it's important to consider the Pros and Cons. The benefits of renting a machine is convenience in time and scheduling as well as initial savings, but the cons could cost you more and you will not receive the same professional quality clean as hiring a company with a powerful truck-mount equipment.  Interested in how Veritas Carpet Cleaning Orlando can serve you?  Find out more about us or give us a call today!