Last night, in about a 7 minute period, my 19 month old managed to take off her diaper and poop in my 4 year olds bedroom. Not only did she poop, but she smeared it all over the carpet and herself. She's all cleaned up, but the carpet is a mess. I scrubbed it with towels, a toothbrush and carpet cleaner but it is so ground it in just won't come out.
I need to go buy some sort of carpet cleaning machine, maybe a spot cleaner or some other compact device. I looked online but there are so many out there with reviews all across the board. Does anyone have a machine they love or hate?
Thanks in advance for your suggestions!
R.
I would actually recommend calling a professional carpet cleaner. I have two elderly dogs who are having trouble with their housetraining in their twilight years and I've used both home machines (Hoover Steam vac and hand held steam cleaners) and professional carpet cleaners. The professionals do a much superior job. The guys I used apply a special sanitizer first and their equipment (new) uses super hot water.
R.,
I bought a "Little Green" from Target after baby #4 and everytime I pull it out, I think, "Why did it take us so long to buy this?" It has pulled up everything from poop to cat vomit to blueberries - you name it. I also love to use it in high traffic areas that get dingy and it is great for the floor mats in the car.
Good luck,
S.
If you've considered the Bissell Spot Bot, it works really well and does the job for you - you just set it on the spot for 10 minutes or so and you're done. But, it is expensive and is extremely loud. Annoyingly loud. You have to shout to talk to each other. Just so you know!
Since it is for ground-in poop, I would really recommend renting a carpet extractor. (Like Rug Doctor). The extractor forces the water down into the carpet and then forces the dirty water back up into the machine, unlike a lot of your regular home carpet cleaner machines, which basically just do a surface clean and you end up with a lot of water left in your carpet (which will then begin to grow mold and mildew...)
(This advice is from a landlord perspective- I have no carpet in my own home since hubby is allergic to mold and mildew. For my sofa I use a Bissell Little Green Machine (smaller than the Green Machine), but I have not been very impressed with it. Lots of water is left soaking in the cushions, giving it a damp wet-dog smell for days. The carpet extractors we rent for our units have gotten carborator and engine grease off the carpets.)
Note: For any wet mess, make sure it gets cleaned up right away- for example if you have a chronic problem with a dog peeing somewhere, and you miss one accident and it sits there, it will soak through to the padding beneath the carpet and then even an extractor won't do any good removing the smell. You'd need new padding then.
But for your small poop mess, I'd still recommend the extractor. Just rent it for one day and while you have it, do the rest of the house too.
We've had a Hoover SteamVac for about five years, and it it still doing its job. We purchased it after my older two girls decided to fingerpaint with mustard and ketchup on our new carpet. They were ages 1 1/2 & 3. Lovely. This cleaned it up wonderfully. Now they are 7 & 8 and we've had little Izzy who is currently in the ending stages of toilet training. This machine is great because it has an upholstery devise so that we just steam clean the couch or the bed mattress when she has an accident. After routinely shampooing our carpets and upholstery and all of the other little incidents where it was required, I can't believe that my SteamVac is still working as good as new!
This is the same machine as Charity O. below has recommended. It is a bit larger than some of the other machines suggested, about the size of an upright vacuum cleaner.
Good luck with your search!
I also have the Little Green from Bissell. It is awesome---works for everything from kid's vomit to our cat's accidents. It is definitely the one appliance that I cannot live without! You won't be disappointed if you purchase this!
I have the Little Green proheat compact multipurpose cleaning machine by Bissell. I have had great success with it (4 kids and LOTS of messes!) and it's not too expensive. I think that Walmart and Target both carry it. I bought it at Target. K.
We have a Hoover SteamVan and LOVE it! My husband picked it up on the way home from work one day after my middle boy played in the toilet after my oldest didn't flush. Since ten, it has cleaned up plenty of disgusting messes with excellent results.
http://www.target.com/Hoover-SteamVac-Blue-F5914-900/dp/B...
We rented a Rug Doctor from Lowes and it worked really well! Our dog kept having 'accidents' when we moved to our new house. We rented that and it got the stains and the smell out. And it's pretty cheap to rent...just $25 for a day.
Good Luck!!!
If you aren't ready to committ to buying one, I know that both Cub and Rainbow rent Rug Doctors. We have used these machines for carpet cleaning and water removal when I forgot to turn the hose off (oops!) and slightly flooded the basement and they work great.
I wonder if "pet stain removers" would work in this case. If it is in a small area check out the stain removers at stores like Petsmart. They are designed to take out urine and poo stains. If you do have a pet be sure to treat the area with vinegar water after it is cleaned. Pets do not always understand that just because they can smell urine or poo in an area in the house, they can't use that area too. Vinegar removes the smell.
I would just rent a rug doctor....because I wouldn't want to go buy a new machine and the first thing I use it on is poop...but it may just be me. Good luck....I feel your pain. (but my pain came from a foster Great Dane)
I can't recommend a carpet cleaning device, but my son pooped on the floor last week and to spot clean it I used peroxide. It worked like a charm! Test spot an area of your carpet first to make sure it won't bleach the carpet or anything. Then, pour it on the spot and blot it up with a light colored cloth. It was easy and worked REALLY well.
I like the Little Green. Easy for spot treating and has a scrubbrush to help get out the ground in stains. Of course it's always better to have it professionally done wtih a steam system, depending on your budget. Kustom Clean does an excellent job and leaves you with a cleaner that lifts off stains easy. They treat your carpet to help it stay clean (aside from spot cleaning). and you only have to do it every few years, not once a year like you would if the company cleaned with soapy water, which doesn't get the stain completely out and will resurface over time.
