If you have a lot of carpeted areas, you can buy a Hoover steam vac for
about $ 150. Works very well and you can just pull it out of the closet
whenever you need it.

For a smaller area you can rent the Rug Doctor or similar products at
supermarkets. Just like the Hoover, it has rotating/vibrating brushes.

The key to success is to use a minimum of detergent for the first run. Then
do at least one more pass with lots of clear, warm water. Do this until the
rinse water is clear. Then make one more pass without water, sucking the
carpet dry. This is the only way to keep your carpet from attracting soil
again.

--
Walter
www.rationality.net
-
"George" wrote in message
...
I previously used a rented wet "steam" cleaner to clean our carpets. I have
heard that there can be mold issues because of the time it takes to dry and
also the soap that is left behind tends to attract more dirt.

I noticed the stores are now selling carpet "dry cleaning" products. They
are a granular product that you brush into the pile, let dry and vacuum
with "capture" http://www.captureclean.com/capture seeming to be the most
readily available. I previously tried Resolve which is a similar "dry
cleaning" product for spot cleaning and wasn't impressed.

So what does everyone prefer for carpet cleaning?