A carpet can last around 5 to 15 years. But, due to the wear and tear it takes, it can start showing its aging signs early. With time, it looks dull and matted. Moreover, cleaning an old carpet or trying to bring its lost luster is not easy.
However, living in a city like San Marcos with a high cost of living, you cannot think of replacing it either. So, when it comes to reviving the old carpets, what most homeowners are left with is confusion.
It’s the confusion between choosing DIY home remedies or professional carpet cleaning. Let us see their pros and cons to make the best decision to bring a new life into your old carpet.
Comparing DIY Home Remedies vs. Professional Carpet Cleaning
Stain Removal
An old carpet must have gone through a lot of stains and spills. Be it pet accidents, food & drink spills, dirt and mud stains, and whatnot. Some of their traces would still be there, and others might even have settled permanently.
DIY:
Cleaning a carpet having old or stubborn stains is not easy. You might use homemade solutions like baking soda, vinegar, etc. Had it been a fresh stain, these DIY tricks could work.
But for an old carpet that went through frequent staining, this approach won’t work, especially the stains that were unnoticed and deeply settled. And for a side note, if you remove them just from the surface level, the stains will reoccur after some days.
Pros:
On the other hand, when you hire professional carpet cleaning in San Marcos, CA, stain removal will be much easier. The experts have usually dealt with old carpets and their tough stains.
Their stain removal works to lift deeply-set stains and remove them from the depth. They have special types of cleaner for every stain type. That works effectively to make your old carpet spotless with no chances of recurring too.
Quality of Deep Cleaning
The level of dirt collected in your carpet is visible through its dullness. That is often because the dirt particles clung to the fibers. On top of that, the foot traffic pushes it even deeper. So, considering an old carpet, with years of collected grime, it will require the deepest cleaning possible.
DIY:
Most homeowners use a normal vacuum to clean surface dirt and shampooing for deep cleaning. When you use a regular vacuum, it has a limited suction capacity, and an old carpet has deeply set dust particles that do not get removed with it.
And when it comes to shampooing, even after proper cleaning, it leaves residue on your carpet and does not reach deeper. And even when you clean it, you may leave allergens and germs untouched with DIY cleaning.
Pros:
When you hire expert carpet cleaning services, they use advanced equipment to remove deeply set dirt from your carpet.
They use an industrial vacuum that has a HEPA filter. With the highest suction, it not just pulls out the minute dirt particles but also prevents them from recirculating back into the air.
For deep cleaning, they use the hot water extraction method using truck-mounted machinery. This push the water in its fibers with pressure and pulls out all the grime along with germs.
Risks of damage
Handling an old carpet safely is the biggest concern when comparing DIY Home Remedies vs. Professional Carpet Cleaning.
DIY:
When opting for a DIY approach, improper cleaning can result in damaging the delicate fibers of your old carpet. The rakes, brushes, and random cleaning machines you use can do more harm than good.
And many times, we may get tempted to use DIY solutions without even knowing their reaction after applying them. Even if they are homemade, improper combinations can harm.
Pros:
On the other side, pros are well aware of the type of treatment to deal with old carpets. They use the most suited solutions and techniques that clean them without causing any damage.
Moreover, they use green cleaning products that work better than home remedies while also ensuring safety.
Expertise
DIY:
For a homeowner, carpet cleaning is a chore. Even when you do it on a regular basis, you only aim to clean it to make it look good. The problem here is you might lack the required training, knowledge, practice, expertise, and experience.
And that can be one of the reasons you may not get effective cleaning.
Pros:
Conversely, when experts handle the cleaning of your old carpet, they have expertise. These pros are properly trained before taking up the job. They are well equipped with the knowledge to deal with different situations that arise during the cleaning.
They also have the practice and experience as they have dealt with many such deep cleaning sessions. So the results are much better and more effective than a DIY approach.
Cost
DIY:
The DIY method does not need any high-end tools or solutions. Just using the normal homemade ingredients will work. The cleaners you use are also easily available without much investment.
So DIY cleaning saves the cost. However, one downside is that there are chances of damage that can cost you in the future.
Pros:
Experts may charge a fee for their carpet cleaning services in San Marcos as they involve labor, cleaning solutions, and industrial machinery to deep clean your carpets.
However, the cost they ask for will be worth it in the long run as they help keep it maintained for a long time.
Time and effort
DIY:
Cleaning an old carpet will take a lot of time to deep clean. That includes removing every stubborn stain, deep cleaning with repeated sessions, and longer drying times.
It becomes a laborious task for a homeowner while also wasting a lot of their precious time.
Pros:
Whereas, when you hire pro services, they will get the job done in almost half the amount of time you may take. That is because they have the experience to provide quality cleaning with speed.
So it saves a lot of time and frees you from the hassle of scrubbing for hours.
