Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with cleaning and carpet

Renting in New Zealand - Pets urine on carpet. Smells. Pet hair

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 08:13:10 -0800

I'm currently renting a flat unit in New Zealand which I will be moving out next month. My current rental agreement states that I do not need to have the carpet professionally cleaned before I move out. I have two cats in the house and the question was raised with the property agent before I moved in. They have agreed to let me have the pets in the house and on the rental agreement, it also states that they are okay with it. The property agent did an inspection of the house recently and they have asked for me to have the carpet clean by a professional carpet cleaner because they can smell cat urine. This was not raised previously in the previous few inspections. I suspect this could be due to the fact that I'm moving out for good. I do know that my cats have made a few accidents on the carpet which I have already tried my best in cleaning up the area. The smell does remain but it's not strong. the carpet is discoloured slightly as well. My questions are: Is it reasonable for the property agent to request for the carpet to be professionally cleaned? If I disagree, am I in any way in breach of the tenancy agreement? I am thinking that since the property agent allows us to keep pets in the house, wouldn't the cat 'accidents' be the normal wears and tears of having a property rented out?

Eco-friendly carpet cleaners? In DC?

alexherder — Tue, 12 May 2009 10:07:41 -0800

Carpet Filter: My company in Washington, DC is looking for an eco-friendly company to come and clean our carpets. We have medium-sized office with standard office carpet. We want it clean. We don't want to use toxic chemicals to do it. Does anyone know what to look for in a carpet cleaner as far as environmental responsibility goes? What questions should we be asking potential vendors? Of course, if you actually know of anyone to call, that would help too.

We found one company locally and another company in Boston but we're hoping to find more in or around DC to get a better sense of appropriate costs. Anybody have any ideas?

Smells like team spirit -- or worse!

ubiquity — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 18:23:43 -0800

I live in a place that is rainy or snowy half the year, and during that half it is impossible to keep the floor of my car dry. It has begun to smell pretty bad. I recently had the interior detailed, which included washing the floor mats, and it smelt fine until the floor got wet again, which was almost immediately. Does anyone have a good technique for keeping wet carpet from smelling bad? Drying it is not an option. For bonus points, exactly what is it that causes the smell?

hiring a non-perfumey but really great carpet cleaner in NC

amtho — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 07:16:26 -0800

I want to hire a professional carpet cleaner in Chapel Hill / Durham, NC. Requirements: getting hard-to-clean, oddly-stained, cheap berber carpet looking good; strongly prefer no scent left behind; would love to get this done soon. Any suggestions? I have an appointment with "Stanley Steemer" on Tuesday; the lady on the phone seemed to have no clue about whether there would be a perfumey smell left behind, or what kinds of stains they could remove.

My stains include grayish areas where I tried to remove smaller stains. Ugh. Not sure what's going on there. Original stains are generally from cat puke...

I know berber is hard to clean. Probably nothing special to be done there. I'm not fond of this carpet, but I do want to live somewhere that looks and is clean and doesn't smell perfumey.

My limited experience with the world of professional large item cleaning (car, previous attempt on the carpet) has generally smelled awful afterward. Are there any companies, or ways to research, that will lead to less scented results?

Can anyone recommend some specific service?

Thanks.

Dirt Floor

chuckdarwin — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 13:16:27 -0800

I need a carpet cleaner that won't break the bank. What current model do you recommend? (UK models/links only, please) Are there features that are essential? (ex: Do I need one that uses hot water?)

"At least it's soap..." Yeah. Right.

konolia — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 13:06:12 -0800

Just a second ago my daughter spilled approximately a cup of liquid hand soap onto my carpeted hallway. How do I get this up?????

I'd actually like to clean the carpet.

bibbit — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 11:14:57 -0800

I need a small carpet cleaner - any suggestions? I only need it for stains on an (old) apartment carpet, including cat urine stains. I don't want something that breaks the bank, and I'm not expecting a miracle-worker - I just want to do what I can to keep from getting my security deposit dinged. More specifically: I have two cats, and they've peed a few times on carpet that I think is directly over concrete (no padding). There are a few other random stains on the carpet that are probably too old to do anything about, but I would like to attack them with something to at least see what I can do. And it'd be nice to have something on hand in case there are any serious spills in the future.

The carpet is brown, and short, and old. There are only a couple of rooms of it, so I want something handheld and small, not a full-size thing. Anyone have luck with anything?

Shoes pick up pet hair from carpets

dpcoffin — Sat, 11 Feb 2006 15:30:27 -0800

Here's a long-shot: About 20 years ago I bought a pair of custom-made mountain-man-ish/mocassin-style boots that I had fitted at a crafts fair in San Diego. They were moose-hide, awful-looking things with metal buttons, and came with a weird flat, textured rubber sole material that the maker said was actually conveyor belting that he cut to fit the boots. The boots were happily but a passing fancy, but the soling stuck in my memory: It was the best damn pet-hair catching substance in my known Universe... WHERE can I find some more? Attached to a stick, it'd make a smashing carpet brush.

Clean the Carpet, Honey!

ubersturm — Wed, 12 May 2004 00:56:03 -0800

large broken bottle of honey + carpet = much sticky unhappiness. any suggestions on how i can get the carpet cleansed before the ants arrive?