I need a vacuum cleaner recommendation, but not for your basic Dyson versus Hoover (Dyson all the way). I need a vacuum with very strong suction. If it also had the best beater/roller ever invented, it would be a bonus.
I’ve got a plush carpet in my house. My Dyson is very good, but it doesn’t get used as often as it should. We’ve got these high traffic areas where the nap of the carpet is becoming felt in front of my eyes. I bought a carpet rake to help pull the pile back up, but a really strong vacuum to help pull the pile apart would really help.
Does anyone know of an extra-strength (commercial or shop maybe?) vacuum that would help get the pile separated and the carpet really cleaned and de-matted?
But the OP is talking about several high traffic areas, not a few dents left in the carpet from a piece of furniture. The advice in the article sounds great for that, but I doubt the OP wants to spend hours brushing up every square inch of a large area by hand.
For heat and moisture, I wonder if something like a Rug Doctor might work. You can fill the thing with hot water and go over the high traffic areas. Usually you rent them but I think I’ve also seen them for sale. Probably expensive, though.
Yeah, I agree. I was just trying point out Sunny Daze’s logic is flawed.
Not sure Rug Doctor would work though, I don’t think their machines heat the water (I could be wrong on this). She needs to be sure she’s using a machine that heats the water. I’d suggest she call the pros if her budget allows for it.
They don’t, but that’s why I said she’d need to fill it with hot. For a situation like this where you’re doing multiple small areas, I wouldn’t fill it up, I’d put some in and then add more hot as you go along so it doesn’t have a long time to cool.
I’ve also seen steamer mops meant for hard floors and I wonder if you could use something like that to get the carpet moist and hot and then go over it with the vacuum to lift the fibers. Maybe too much moisture for a regular vacuum, though. Maybe a shop vac.
I have a carpet steamer - you can buy them in the vacuum aisle. The Bissel ProHeat one heats up the water (although I received TERRIBLE support from the company after the fact).
I’m not the OP (and my paper-thin carpet is absolute garbage from the 70’s I think) but I appreciated the info! Hopefully I’ll be moving soon and can save up for a solid reconditioned vacuum. Thanks for the link.
Shark. Now, there are pets and longhaired people in my house so we have to clean and de-hair the roller, but it fluffs up the thick carpet really nice. I am not a fan of carpet and but for this cleaner, I would have deep-sixed it.
We used to have a Kirby. Got it for ten bucks on Craigslist, cleaned off the muck from being out in a shed for years, put in a new bag, and the thing was too strong. It was pulling so hard on old loose wall to wall carpet that the brush roll would jam.
When I was married we owned a Kirby Sentria. It was the best vacuum I’ve ever tried, and it is heavy but it’s built like a tank. Yes, we paid $1100 for the thing because my ex-wife bought it from the door to door salesman while I was at work (and had I been home there’s no way I would have bought the thing) but it lasted longer than our marriage until a switch or something failed and the power would no longer come on.
You’d have to spend WAY more than you’d want to on a heavy as hell vacuum if suction if your problem. I think your best bet is to hire a professional carpet cleaner. I was one for 8 years back in my younger days. There is no practical way to clean / renew your carpet like a truck-mount unit can. You could even rent the ride-on sized vacuums, it would give you the suction you’d need, but it still would be cheaper to just let a guy with the best tools for the job come it and knock it out real quick.
I believe a recent issue of Consumer Reports included ratings of vacuum cleaners, so I recommend looking at it. I think Hoover or Kenmore have the top-rated upright cleaners.
Screw the Kirby and Dyson vacs. Get an NSS Pacer. This is an industrial/commercial vac, and is hands down the best vac I’ve ever used. Suction so strong it pulls the vac forward for you.
We have a Miele C3 that we need to turn down when vacuuming the carpet. The powered brush head works really well too. I dumped our old dyson because it had an air powered brush head that would always stall out on the carpet.