Carpets are great for adding pops of color to your home and making your living space a little cozier without adding unnecessary clutter to the area. However, they can also trap dust, dirt, and other debris that you and your family bring into your home every day.
And while using a vacuum cleaner is fine for surface cleaning, it still won’t get every bit of dirt in your carpet—especially if it’s settled deep within the fibers.
As far as carpet cleaning goes, there are DIY methods that you can look up on the internet so you can get in deep and rid your carpets of stubborn stains and dirt. But is it better to choose DIY cleaning, or turn to a professional?
Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of both options.
DIY Carpet Cleaning
Pro: Helpful for small messes and spills. If a little one spills their ice cream on your carpet, or there are small stains from a food fight, should you immediately call for professional services? The truth is, DIY cleaning at home is good for a household that’s prone to little everyday messes that leave only surface stains.
After all, you can’t pack up the kids and head out for an hour or two every time they track dirt and mud onto your carpet after a day of play
Pro: You decide when to clean. When you go the DIY carpet cleaning route, you can take care of it when you have the time. For instance, rather than leaving work early to greet the professional cleaners, or finding another way to squeeze an appointment into your schedule, you can just opt to clean the carpet when your calendar frees up.
Some people find that it helps to set aside some time each month to clean their carpets, but the fact remains that you can pick a day and time that works best for you.
Con: It’s time-consuming. This is particularly true if you’re a first-timer when it comes to cleaning carpets. You need to first remove any furniture that’s on the carpet and then return them to their original positions once the carpet is clean and dry. Then there’s preparing the mixing solution, operating your carpet cleaning machine, drying the carpet … you get the idea.
Con: You risk destroying your carpet and your floor. You may have a rough idea of how to properly care for your carpet without damaging it, but you still run this risk since you’re not a professional.
Without the understanding of proper cleaning techniques, you could wet your carpet—or carpets— too much. You might also use more cleaning solution than necessary or not dry the carpets properly. All this can cause the carpet fibers to wear out faster, resulting in a tired-looking, less vibrant carpet in the long run.
Then there’s your floor, which can end up damaged if you use too much water or cleaning solution too often.
Professional Carpet Cleaning
Pro: It’s convenient. You don’t have to supervise the team of professionals coming into your home, nor do you need to provide the equipment for them to use since they bring their own. They take care of everything for you. Compared to DIY cleaning, you know exactly when you’ll be able to set foot in your home again, your flooring isn’t at risk of being damaged, and your carpets are thoroughly dry.
Pro: It maintains the look of your carpets. A professional knows how much solution or stain remover to use, and they know just how to clean different kinds of carpets without damaging them. This means that, no matter how battered the carpet looks because of all the foot traffic and dirt tracked into it over time a professional cleaning service is enough to rid it of dirt while restoring its appearance.
Pro: It’s more cost-effective. DIY cleaning may cost less than one professional carpet cleaning appointment, but the cost of chemicals, accessories, stain removers, and drying equipment, among other things, means that it doesn’t take long for DIY cleaning to become quite expensive.
Con: You need to schedule it. Unlike DIY carpet cleaning that you can put off or reschedule as you please, professional carpet cleaning needs to be scheduled. You have to find a day and time that coordinates with their calendar and then you have to stick to it as much as possible.
This means that unless any last-minute emergencies or unforeseen circumstances pop up, you should avoid rescheduling as much as possible. And if you do need to cancel, you need to go through the whole scheduling process again.
Again, both DIY and professional carpet cleaning have their pros and cons, and there’s no harm in using both. However, don’t rely only on DIY cleaning tips if you want your carpets to last as long as possible. Schedule a professional cleaning service at least once a year, to make sure your carpets are as clean as they can be while maintaining how they look and feel.
