How flipping much!!!

I used the Rug Doctor and was very pleased with the result. My friend used it when he moved into a rented flat with dirty white carpets and that, too, did the trick. My daughter-in-law has had her house fitted out with a carpet that looks like wool (it isn't) but can actually be bleached! I dont' k now what it is but I think I would get it next time.

Depends how long it takes to sell your house, though - £135 per hour would have been a snip for my neighbour who sold hers after two viewings!

Even allowing for paperwork/phone calls etc it would have been far, far cheaper than 1.5% of the sale price.

An interesting thread would be - Have you been overcharged/quoted for other things too?
I was recently told by an estate agent she would be charging £135 per hour - I don't need to tell you what we replied. Now its 1.5% of sale - that's better. We don't live in the West End if you're wondering but an ordinary market town.

Professional cleaning has its advantages - the DIY ones leave the carpets more liable to soiling again, for reasons I have never really understood, but I have done both in my time.
I do recommend you get another quote - though I remember last time we needed it was hard to find anyone still doing carpet cleaning in our area.

I like my Karndean floors. A rug on the middle of sitting rooms looks good. In the small sitting room, where we watch TV, we have a rug under our feet, and are never cold. Might do my hall next.

It certainly doesn't feel cold underfoot and we've never regretted putting it down. It is a large space and we soften it with a patterned wool rug. DD has Karndean right through downstairs and it's perfect for them - bomb proof against small boys and looks terrific. I wouldn't go back to carpet now except for bedrooms.

kitty

do be careful if you decide to diy though.
I borrowed a friend's carpet shampooer and did about four rooms with it - and gave myself a shoulder injury which has bothered me ever since despite physio.
They are extremely heavy.

At the quoted £50 per room it appears we have 28 - excuse me while I look for hidden doors to the rest of my house as I appear to have lost 17 rooms.

sorry kittylester, I meant to add that I think that's an outrageous quote. Good luck in getting a more reasonable one.

Anya, we had a similar discussion about whether replacing the carpet in the back sitting room with wood would make it 'cold'. It didn't make it cold but it did make it so much easier to keep clean. We now only have carpet on the stairs and in the bedrooms. I'd never go back to carpeting downstairs, though I am a rug addict.

I've got Karndean on all downstairs room Grayduster except the living room. We're thinking of taking up the carpet there and making it Karndean throughout the downstairs.

Would you recommend it then? DH is worried it will be 'cold' (? I don't follow his logic) but I've already bought a lovely big shaggy cream rug (unbeknownst to him) to make it seem cosy.

I used to work for a very reputable carpet cleaning firm - now closed down. Even at today's prices you wouldn't have been paying that sort of price. As quoted, around fifty pounds a room is reasonable. When we moved into this house, the carpets downstairs were terribly stained and dirty. The previous owners had two small children. We yanked them up and put wooden flooring down. Now if things get spilled, it's no sweat. We hired a Rug Doctor to clean the upstairs ones, which hadn't had so much wear and tear, and the HS&L, and they came up very well. The machines are a heavy piece of kit though.

Is that including new carpets?

If a workman doesn't want a job, they do tend to over quote so that you will say no. It has happened to me. I have used 1001 and got down on hands and knees before now but not any more. But ring round and get at least another two quotes to compare.

I have a very beefy gardener coming on Monday to sort out my back garden. Looking forward to it really and it is somewhat of a treat as I have done all the work on all houses myself up until now. Thankfully, my lovely dad has helped me with the cost of the labour of said hunk. If I don't post on anything next week, you will know why!

Buy your own carpet washer, they are not much bigger than a vac. Cost around the same price as a vac and do a great job. I frequently dog sit a lovely but smelly spaniel that loves a walk in the fields.
As soon as he goes home my Bissell machine comes out and I go through the house. I am always amazed at the filth that comes out of the carpets, this despite there being only me in the house most if the time and I do vac often!
A bottle of the wash solution lasts ages and I can use the machine as often as I want. Trouble is my family have also seen its benefit so it is frequently borrowed.

Once the carpets are cleaned impose some rules on the children. My grandchildren remove shoes (I expect everyone to do this but not everyone does) and they are never never allowed food or drinks anywhere except in the kitchen. This helps a lot to keep carpets clean.

cleanerandclearer.co.uk have an impressive website with prices and seem to cover most areas and some good reviews - fully insured too. I'll try them.

You have inspired me kitty to get mine done. they are all oatmeal all through the house and the ones that came with the house when we bought it new five years ago so although DH has been regularly spot cleaning and we don't have pets or wear shoes in the house inevitably over that time they will need a clean. I'll get a price and let you know how much they are charging here which isn't that far from you. Perhaps its regionally priced.

I had my hall,landing, stairs and living room done a few years ago and suspect that the mould I found in the living room is a result of furniture being put back onto slightly damp carpet [even though they used a very impressive machine to dry the carpet afterwards]. It was quite expensive and, in retrospect I now wish I'd just replaced the carpet..it wouldn't have cost a great deal more.

mcem, it was Chemdry!

We have always used a man from the next village (we got him on recommendation) and, on his previous charges expected to pay around £250-300. I've rung him twice and he hasn't come back to us

I want a professional clean as some of the carpets are quite stained and, as it's the whole house, I doubt I'd find the time.

I am worried about asking any old company to quote as I think I might end up with carpets that have shrunk or being burnt by chemicals!

I used a small local firm and he did stairs and three rooms for £80. He said that the big firms charge lots as they do big contracts. He did an excellent job. Sometimes the small local places are really good to use, he just called the company by his name then carpet cleaning, very small but did what he said. I found him on Google, put in the name of where I live and carpet cleaning.

I think its always worth getting a professional clean. The Rug Doctor machine is too heavy for me and I thought the professional clean was much better and drier but I have certainly never paid anything like as much as that kitty. Can you get a few more quotes?

The Rug Doctor machines are excellent and leave your carpets much drier than the ones that you can buy, in my experience anyway. I hired one for two days and did the lounge/diner, hall, stairs and landing. The carpets came up like new and the cost of hiring the machine and detergent was about £40. This was about five years ago, don't know how much it would be these days, but certainly less than £1400 !

Buy a vax, they're great. We always clean carpets when we are going on holiday. It's the last thing we do before closing front door. That way you know that it's going to dry properly before you walk on it.

What?!? I've just had bedroom and sitting room done for £50-that quote is extortionate. Buy own machine or hire one in.

kitty DD used a machine from "Rug Doctor" from Tesco on the light beige carpet in her rental. It did a good job.