If you have a house full of pets, kids and foot traffic, carpet cleaning probably ranks high on your list of chores to tackle. Many homeowners decide on carpet steam cleaning as their preferred method to deal with the dirt, and wisely so. Steam cleaning removes more dirt, keeps the carpeting cleaner longer than traditional shampooing and is thought to be healthier because it uses water rather than chemicals to clean. When the need to steam is frequent enough, it may be time to buy a steam cleaner of your own. Although you could bargain hunt and find  carpet steam cleaners for under $100, consider carefully the following questions.

- How large is the area you want to clean at one time?
- What kind of dirt are you expecting the home steam carpet cleaners to lift?
- How much time can you allow for drying?
- How much muscle power can you put into cleaning?

If you’ll be doing more than occasional spot removal from small areas, a lightweight steam mop with carpet accessories for around $100 might be suitable. Items labeled “mop” or “personal steamer” will not make good, home carpet steam cleaners, though. For whole rooms or even small businesses, you will need to invest in something a little more robust.

At the $150 to $200 price point, you will find many steam cleaning machines to choose from. Features such as powerful suction do double duty. They extract deeply embedded dirt and pull moisture up to allow for quick drying. Above this price point, the choices are usually higher capacity tanks, heaters that will keep water at high temperatures for longer periods of time and more attachments for different jobs. If you have large areas to clean at one time, you might consider a continuous fill tank feature. This feature allows you to keep adding water to the tank, rather than needing to wait until it cools down. This can save hours on a big job.

If the home carpet steam cleaning units aren’t quite up to your requirements, another option might be to move up to the level of commercial carpet steam cleaners.  It is possible to spend thousands on a professional quality machine or machines similar to those you can rent at the grocery or hardware store.   And if that thought isn’t very appealing, you can also make a compromise and only steam clean your carpets on a quarterly or half year basis.  To do this, it might make sense to hire someone.

This is easily done locally or even using online services such as Yelp or Angie’s List.  When you do have all your carpets professionally steam cleaned, you’ll want to make sure to give them enough “away time” for a complete drying.

If you do this a few times a year, then you can purchase a lesser expensive steam cleaner for moderate monthly maintenance in between the big jobs.   One way to work this plan is to do a room or area of the home each month.  That will only take less than an hour or two and can be great to maintain your carpets and rugs.

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