I have had it done and I remember in the past, having a similar experience to your sister. (Stains disappeared for longer than a week, but they seemed to come back or attract more ).

I used someone about 10 years ago here in this house and they did a very good job. I even pointed out some strange thing on the rug (it was not a stain but maybe a discoloration) to ask if it would be worth cleaning that room. I was impressed when he explained what it was and that no it did not pay to clean that room. So, I used him again this year and am again very pleased. ( I figure it's reasonable to clean again after several years ).

The point of my story is that if you can get recommendations that would be the way to go. I think most of the processes are similar. This was truck mounted steam for what it's worth. The carpets are damp afterwards, and they say to stay off for 8 hours (though you can walk in socks on it but I think it's best to stay off for as long as possible to dry completely).

We had a guy quite a few years back who cleaned my Mom's condo and he was terrific...he did our house too and took a lot of pride in his work and was a real professional. At that time, we had a cat with health issues who barfed a lot on the living room rug. The combo of cat food and stomach acids left a lot of stained spots. We had him come in and re-dye the spots to match the carpet. He did a nice job and it lasted a couple of years, but eventually the spots reasserted themselves, but it got us a few extra years out of the rug.

Other carpet cleaners do nothing but almost "vacuum" with the machine, are done lickety split and do a lousy job. How you tell them apart, a priori, I'm not sure.

We had a lot of w2w in our old house so we bought our own "sucker" machine as we call it. While it does do a decent job and gets a lot of dirt out, it's not as good as the professional steam cleaners. Having the machine though has allowed us to get to major spill right away and use it more often in the heavily trafficked areas. Using it is also a great upper body work out.

I have used the same company (one owner/operator) for ten years. He is honest about what he can and cannot do with respect to cleaning. He also has a truck mounted steam cleaner, and I think that is the best method. He pretreats stains and uses very little cleaner. We have two rooms that are carpeted, but he does some of our rugs as well. And he steam cleans our upholstered furniture every eight months or so. We have three dogs who are on the sofas and chairs more than we are, so I feel that is a necessity. Our house has no whiff of "dog," iykwim.

adding, I know that a chemical "dry clean" method was popular years ago. We had our carpets cleaned that way once (in Florida) and within a few months they were worse than before.

Also, the reason stains reappear is two fold: carpet cleaning stuff contains optical brighters that eventually fade. And during cleaning the carpet may get too wet, soaking the pad underneath. While the top (carpet) may be clean, the pad underneath is not cleaned, and may remain damp after the carpet is mostly dry. When people start walking on it the carpet re-stains from underneath. I was told this by professional and so far truthful owner/operator.

I hestitated to comment on this because it has been so long since we've used a carpet cleaner, but did want to say that I second the comment about stains reappearing. Well, not so much stains reappearing, but it seems that once the carpet is cleaned, it gets dirtier much easier/quicker. And that was even with applying stain-guard (or whatever that stuff is). We have no carpet now and my plan is to keep it that way for here on out. That said, I do think the truck mounted steam cleaning does the best job. Ask around and get some recommendations, that is your best bet I think. Dee mentioned a stain treatment and another really good one is Folex. However, if you use it on something with more color, you need to water it down a bit.

I had a wool blend carpet in my condo. Mine was a low Berber and I described it as the color of coffee with milk.

You have to be careful with the cleaning product they use on wool because they can do damage to the carpet. Don't use Chem Dry, use a good steam cleaner - the carpet store might have some recommendations. I had a small machine for occasional spills only. I only used hot water in it.

Also, wool carpet will take longer to dry.

I don't miss wall to wall, but I loved my carpet.

I once worked in a furniture store (anyone remember Castro Convertibles?) that sold carpeting. Way back then the reps of the carpet companies always preached to never wet clean any carpet.

The carpet might dry quickly, but the pad seldom does. When you think it's dry, stepping on it will squeeze the water right back up into the carpet.

Now this was back in the olden days before steam cleaning, have no idea what current day thinking is.

ML

We have our own cleaner and what works best is rinsing very well. I wait until its going to be warm in the summer and then pretreat spots / high traffic areas by doorways for a few hours and then use the cleaner and get as much of the soapy water out as you can. Then I go over the whole area again with clean water. Any soap residue attracts dirt later so areas that weren't dirty before become dirty faster later on. The carpet must be fully dry before anyone walks on it again. I like to clean them before we go somewhere so they can dry a few days with the windows open and then for a week or more while we're gone. Spot treating is best if your carpets are pretty good looking. Cleaning with a light bit of water and damp terry rag is next so you don't wet the pad too much. I always go after spots right away with a cleaner and follow with water and using a shop vac to get any water up. I don't like the dry chemical cleaners. They get dirty too fast and it's bad for your health and your pets' health.

We have a lot of carpet for the time being. I've never had it professionally cleaned, but borrow my mom's carpet shampoo/steamer at least once a year. I've always hand scrubbed any accidents (pet, coffee, etc.) and don't have stains anywhere. They don't show back up later when I shampoo the carpet.

Maybe it has to do with the type of stain or how long it's there. Definitely ask lots of questions. Hopefully you'll have a good experience.

We have wall to wall only in our sun room (indoor/outdoor) and have had Stanley Steamer clean it 2x/year. The stains always reappeared in a few days. This year I rented a machine from a hardware store and DH and I did it ourselves. The results were o.k., but what really worked was hitting the stains with 409 Carpet Cleaning Spray (very inexpensive.) I followed the directions and am happy to report-absolutely NO stains remain. Kind of disappointed because I'd like hardwood in that room!

Having said that, I can't imagine doing spot cleaning in 6 bedrooms, but try it in one room and see if it works for your particular type of carpet. If it works, the results will be evident within an hour or so. I used a fan to dry the stained spots.

We removed wall-to-wall in the bedrooms here (house was built in 1964) and uncovered beautiful oak hardwoods, which simply had to be refinished. I'm guessing that is not the case with your house, but maybe test an area to see what's underneath the w/w if you're not sure.

We have wall to wall in the basement. I would have to ask my husband what company he uses but they do an excellent job. I have not noticed stains coming back in the same place. We do get it cleaned once a year though as our Au Pairs have a large area in the basement and have girls over on a regular basis and somehow the occasional drink or make up or whatever gets on the rug. Some have been bigger slobs than others :) We like to get it cleaned before the new one starts every year. Maybe the old stains would come back if we didn't get it done once a year? I have no idea.

We have area rugs in this house, but I've only used Stanley Steemer for the area rugs and when I've had carpets in former condos. We just had them here about 2 weeks ago. They extract so much water the carpets are only a little damp when they leave. Only time it takes longer to dry is when it's December. They also do the tile and grout in the kitchen and bathrooms. Plus, the crews are always outstanding and professional.

I know way too much about carpet cleaning. My story - our little elderly male dog, Benjamin, passed away. We adopted Oliver, another small male dog. I knew Benjamin had some "accidents" & wanted the carpet to be pristine, before Oliver arrived. I got a black light (lights up urine spots) & my carpet, which looked perfect, was a crime scene. I was shocked. Expensive carpet with no visible spots or discernible odor to me. But I know Oliver has a better nose than mine, so I started researching. I ended up lurking for weeks/months on a professional carpet cleaning forum. I really got into it - kind if like how I got into the Kitchen Forum

At the time, I had just retired, was perimenopausal & obviously a bit OCD. I ended up spending close to $1000 on a "portie" (professional carpet cleaning machine) & gallons (literally) of cleaners, spotters, rinsing agents, anti-wicking agents, anti browning agents, etc. I even bought a special piece of equipment called a "Waterclaw" that removes urine down to the pad. I spent many hours cleaning that carpet. In the end, I told my husband "I need a truck mount." I believe that's a $10,000 or more investment. I gave all my equipment & chemicals to my brother & had a professional with a truckmount clean my carpet & remove all the chemicals I had left in the carpet. That portie didn't have enough PSI and CFM's (vacuum power) to adequately clean & remove dirt.

Resoiling (spots reappearing) is usually due to "residue" being left in the carpet. It can be whatever caused the spot and/or the cleaning agent. It has not been completely removed. It may be that the right rinsing agent has not been used & residue has been left behind. The residue attracts more residue & the spots reappear. If that happens, call the cleaning company to reclean. Reputable ones will come back & address the resoiling. Carpet cleaner post: "Help, customer called me back for spots reappearing."

I still use the Waterclaw & a portavac for the occasional accident. Otherwise, a reputable company, with a truckmount. There are some dry cleaning methods that are highly thought of. I ran out of energy & interest, so I can't speak to those.

We haven't had carpeting for about 5 years and then we always used Coits and was always really happy with the work. They were professional, always moved the furniture and put it back with pads underneath, and we never had any reappearance of stains which were usually cat throw-up or young boys messes.

The only minor problem we ever had was one fellow who showed up who was obviously a very heavy smoker. He wasn't in the house for 5 minutes when I had to ask him, hopefully very politely, to leave because of smoking allergies, by this time my eyes were tearing so much I couldn't see.

I called the carpet cleaners and they sent someone else out the next day.

So, heads up, ask for a non-smoker.

This is extraordinarily helpful. Thanks, everyone.

To be honest, my first thought was to replace it. Then I thought, OMG, how wasteful, it should be cleaned. But a high percentage of people are not happy with the results. I will talk to a local carpet dealer i know, see what they say, and then decide.

The floors are wood underneath ( our house is 100+ yrs old) but I wanted carpet for a change, and I also didnt want to have to match the new wood floors we used throughout (Carlisle extra wide plank)