Carpet

[BeautifulMadness]

i have the messiest,dirtest carpet due to my kidlets....any ideas on how to get stains out without me getting someone to do it

[Bathsheba]

We bought a Vax 16 years ago. Means we can spot clean really well. Highly recommended. it means that most of the water in the underlay gets sucked up and the "tide" mark that manual spot cleaning can leave is reduced. otherwise use a foam cleaner and dry the area by standing on an old towel until the area is almost dry. i find the powder sprinkle on cleaners are a rip off BTW they don't work.

[Kazbah]

You can start by sprinkling with bicarb soda and letting it work for a little. You can also hire a cleaner from woolies etc and they can be a good start.

[Little Chicken]

I found preen carpet cleaner works really well. Got a lot of stains out of our rug

[~Lashes~]

i pinch df's car upholstry foam, works great for small spots. spray and scrub with the brush thing on the lid, then scrub off with a cloth, not sure how you would go doing a large area, might take a long time!

[Boo Boo]

I know you said you didn't want to get someone in, but if it is a large area it may be a hard job....on alot of shopadockets there is Electrodry - three rooms for such and such....which sometimes works out more reasonable than buying the products and all the hard work you put into it. So I guess you could nominate your three dirtiest rooms and just get them to do that, it does come up really well. xxxx

[helle]

i pinch df's car upholstry foam, works great for small spots. spray and scrub with the brush thing on the lid, then scrub off with a cloth, not sure how you would go doing a large area, might take a long time!

I was gonna suggest that. I use it when the dog tracks stuff thru our carpet. Works great!

[helle]

Those old timers in the 1950's knew a thing or two when it came to family-friendly carpet. Those floral designs hid a multitude of sins... I mean stains. There is a pinkish red rose design on a pale grey background that I covet. You've got everything from wine stains to shoe polish camouflaged in that!

Vax. Yep, worth the outlay. The shampooing function requires a bit of fussing around attaching the clear tubing etc and it's slower than the professional guys pace... but it's done the trick for us.

That carpet you speak of... We have some of that. We used it to line the back of DHs ute for our camping trips! very hardy stuff!

[Bathsheba]

oooh this is torture! I hope one day they decide to reproduce those old designs... and maintain the quality... because yes! It is hardy! My PIL raised 5 kids on it and it still looked as good as the day it was laid 55 years later! They did how ever go through a phase of using those ugly clear plastic hall runner things over the top of it... this did help preserve it.

[Kazbah]

Bathsheba - check out the Axminster wool carpets - my parents just laid one like this.

[Bathsheba]

Oh yes I know about Axminster carpets! I've worked in two Parliament houses and walked on it daily as a catering assistant. I used to be amazed at how good it looked despite the traffic and food spills etc. I guess I would invest in it if we ever could afford it... but it's a bit like hoping to build with blue stone instead of timber! The pie-in-the-sky option! LOL

[black_rose]

I know what you mean by the old style carpets, we have westminster carpet in the girls rooms, 50 years old and still going strong. It cleans well, doesn't look at all damaged and doesn't seem to collect dust.