Hey Hey! So, this isn’t a super pretty post with amazing project or room reveals. This is a cleaning post because in the real world my house gets D.I.R.T.Y. I found an amazing carpet cleaner and while that isn’t exactly riveting news, the results it gave me are definitely blog worthy!
I’m just going to come right out with it. Kids are GROSS. Pets are GROSS. Obviously, I still love them all but yes, they are very dirty! My entire home is hardwood (upstairs) and laminate (downstairs) with the exception of my 12 year old son’s bedroom. When we moved into our home about 4 years ago this carpet was brand new. But like I said, kids and pets are gross. Dirt has been trampled, drinks have been spilled and snacks have been smooshed.
I lived with it like this as long as I could stand it then I decided to do something about it. After a little bit of research I found two easily rentable carpet cleaning machines, the Rug Doctor and the Bissell Big Green Carpet Cleaner. But because I’m a nerd I decided to rent BOTH and do a side by side comparison for your sake. I’m going to tell you exactly which machine to rent!
SPOILER: It’s the Bissell Big Green Carpet Cleaner!!
Here are both machines and generally they operate the same way. You pull out the top tank and fill the bottom tank with clean, hot water and add your cleaning solution to the tank. The big difference here, is with the Rug Doctor. There is no lower clean water tank to remove. You either have to fill a mop bucket or other vessel with water, add your cleaning solution, then pour into the non-removable tank on the Rug Doctor. This is not easy on a Momma’s back. What I wound up doing was using my extendable sink sprayer to add the water. The Big Green however, has two removable tanks, one for clean water, one for dirty water, that both come off so you can easily lift them into the sink to fill or over the toilet to pour out the dirty water.
On to the actual cleaning, I did a strip of carpet with the rug doctor and a strip of carpet with the Bissell Big Green. Hands down, the Big Green won! The cleaning results of this machine are amazing. As you can see this kiddos carpet was nasty and the Big Green made easy work of cleaning it. There are a few wayward stains that won’t come up, but nothing short of ripping the carpet out will fix those.
This whole room took me about 30 minutes to clean and I only emptied the tank on the Big Green one time and that was when I was finished. The 30 minutes included two passes over the carpet. The Big Green is super easy to maneuver. It’s slightly heavy, but the push handle is tall enough so that you don’t have to lean over to push and pull it. It easily adjusts and glides over the carpet. On the other hand, I found the Rug Doctor to be clunky and hard to operate. The handle is too short, which takes a toll on your back when doing a big job. With the Rug Doctor you have to tilt the machine back on it’s wheels when you are sucking up the dirty water. This causes two problems. 1. the machine is too far away from the carpet to suck the water up efficiently. 2. It’s HEAVY!!
Once the carpet was all clean we let it dry overnight then we were able to move his bed back in again. As a Mom, I seriously NEED my spaces to be clean. Life is so much more enjoyable and easy when spaces are clean and tidy. Not to mention it smells GREAT in here now! The Bissell Bog Green cleaning solution has a nice fresh and clean scent. Clean carpets make me happy!!
The REALLY great news for you? A coupon for savings so you can go rent a Bissell Big Green Carpet Cleaner before Summer hits full swing. Get those carpets clean for company and just for your own piece of mind! AND!!! I have a giveaway from one lucky winner!!!
To enter the GIVEAWAY just leave a comment below letting me know WHY you want to use the Bissel Big Green and what room needs it the most in your house!!
It looks so great now! Wow! I’m impressed lol
I want to win because our carpets are long overdue for a deep cleaning!! They look horrible!!
I’d need to use it in the main living area!
Thank you for the chance to win!
Joey
It costs too much to have someone come in and do it, and this looks easy and effective. Between dog and human traffic, the family room needs it the most.
I’d really love to win because we’re getting ready to sell our house and the last parts that we’re working on is the cleaning and painting. I’d love to get our rooms deep cleaned
Hi there! You won the Big Green Rental Giveaway!! Please email me (leighanne @ houseologie dot com) with your email address, mailing address and phone number so I can pass the info along to Bissell. Thanks for reading the blog and entering to win!! CONGRATS!!
With three children, it seems like I can never get the house clean / clean enough. With the summer, they’ll be spending the majority of their time with their sports or at sports camps so I can really dig into the carpets and pretty much everything.