It is completely understandable when people choose to hire carpet cleaning equipment and do the job themselves, although there are some pitfalls.
Firstly, when cleaning carpets, it is extremely important to get as much dry soil out before cleaning, using a domestic vacuum cleaner may not do the job required, particularly if the vacuum cleaner is a cylinder model, the upright beater cleaners are much better.
When you pick up your hire machine from the dry cleaning shop or hire centre, more often than not the person will ask you if you would like to buy a bottle of detergent.
Detergent will clean your carpet but unless you rinse and remove every drop of detergent used in the cleaning process, it is more than likely that you will be back again within six months to re hire the machine again.
Detergent is extremely sticky and will re-attract more dirt and dust quickly, when a professional carpet cleaning company cleans your carpet, they will not leave any residues in your carpets or soft furnishings.
Hire machines tend to be underpowered, the drier the carpet, the more dirt and soil that is removed, some smaller models will leave carpets damp for up to ten hours! A very important part of the cleaning process involves agitation, simply spraying a pre treatment product without proper agitation will give at best, a mediocre result, any cleaning will take place on the top surface of the fibres, deep cleaning will not be achieved.
A thorough, professional clean should be long lasting, sometimes a cheaper option will cost more in the long run.