In the past, moving in to a new place, I've always used Rug Doctor carpet cleaners. They work decently, but the solution and drainage tanks are small, you can't extract that much water from the carpet because of the shape of the machine, and it takes a long time.

I rented a "Carpet Butler" from Ace Hardware on Wellborn and I'm happy to say that it's everything the Rug Doctor is not. The tanks are large, it has a heater in it to keep the water hot, and it really does a GREAT job.

The previous owners of my house seem to have used the entire place as a giant spittoon. There are chewing tobacco stains *everywhere* -- bedrooms, family rooms, etc. And the carpet was so dirty that I thought it was grey. Turns out it's a very light tan. The cleaner not only removed the stains, it restored the carpet's color and the loft of the fiber. .... or at least it will until I move my dogs into the house. >.< Seriously, the place is disgusting and having the carpets clean helps by an entire magnitude.

A big thumbs up to Ace for having this machine available. If you need to clean your carpets, and you don't want to pay several hundred dollars to someone to do it for you, go get the machine from Ace.

(this is not a paid ad or a sponsor message, just a testimonial. I did not receive anything for posting it.)

How much did it cost to rent? I already own one of the consumer grade 'deep cleaners' but sometimes it really just doesn't do the trick. I'd be willing to give a good cleaner a try for a once yearly job.

that's a great store on Wellborn

Cool, will have to try. Our carpets need cleaning. Have used a spot bot for stains and in a few areas we have lighter colored circles!

Will it clean car seats???? or is it too big?

Too big to clean car seats. The wand is the size of a normal vacuum or thereabouts.

The rental for 24 hours was $20 for the machine and $10 for the beater brush (not required, you can use a regular extractor nozzle like the pros, the beater brush just makes it easier), I think ... the chemicals were (in my opinion) expensive, but you can probably get away with cheaper ones from Home Depot if you want. I think it's the same product but they don't list active ingredient on the bottle. All told, I did 1600 sq ft, some of it multiple times, for $60-ish.

I liked it better than the rug doctor because I didn't have to dump as many loads of 'reclaimed' solution out.

Bonus picture of me doing a professional job...

FWIW, most of the time when I use my own 'steam cleaner' i.e. deep cleaner, I use Lemon scented Pine-Sol for the detergent. It doesn't foam up and does a good job cleaning (at least as well as that machine does). The bonus is that it's way less expensive than the stuff you are supposed to buy for them. The smell isn't overpowering either, since it's so dilute, and I generally do a second rinse with no detergent.

Since ace hardware is gone, does anyone know who rent these machines locally? not a fan of the rug doctor

It looks like the Brenham Ace hardware rents them. You might also check the Ace hardware in Navasota,

Thanks, but with the price of gas and time, either one of those options doesn't looks feasible

is the Parker-Astin hardware in downtown Bryan still an Ace hardware?

We have rented equipment from Prostar industries in Bryan. They had all sorts of different carpet cleaners.

Navasota Ace does not rent out carpet cleaners.