"djay" writes:

I'm looking at options to clean my light-tan carpet. My limited knowledge
and google attempts reveal that the carpet is a Cut Pile of the Saxony
variety as it shows footprints and beater bar marks from the vacuum. Anyway
the carpet is just lightly stained - nothing unreasonable but it certainly
could use a deep cleaning. I've used one of those "green machine" spot
cleaners for a few years and it's done a wonderful job but now it's time for
an all-over job. The spot cleaner is just too small.

So, I've seen the "rug doctor" in my local supermarkets. Outside of that I
think I have to call a pro team. I have about 1000 sq ft of carpet to
clean. Is the rug doctor what I want to use or should I get a pro to come
in?

The supermarket devices work.

There are also consumer grade rug cleaner solds in appliance stores.
For the cost of a few rentals you can buy one. Not as good as the
pro machines that are much bigger but they work just about as well
as the supermarket machines.

I've been using one I bought and don't use the pros anymore.
One of the advantages is that you can clean spills when they occur.