Carpet cleaning overall is a job that is best left to professional cleaning companies.
They have proper equipment, chemicals and the training to get the job done.
Some people just insist on doing everything themselves though.
If you are one of those people this article will give you some tips to help you get the job done right.
The first thing you need to do is prep the carpet correctly.
This is the most important and most overlooked step but prep is everything.
Move us much furniture out of the way as possible.
Do a few rooms at a time.
Do not try to do too much with a rental machine as you will end up rushing and doing a poor job.
Vacuum the carpet thoroughly and slowly to get as much dry soil out as possible.
Vacuum in all directions.
Dry soil is much easier to remove than the mud you will get if you spray water on the dirt.
Now that you have the carpet vacuumed you are ready to apply your prespray.
Most machines say to add the shampoo to the tank but this just forces you to rinse the carpet with a shampoo leaving a massive amount of residue behind.
Instead get a clean pump up sprayer and spray the shampoo or cleaner on the carpet.
Let it dwell for 5 to 10 minutes.
Now fill the machine with plain water and extract the prespray from the carpet.
Be thorough making several cleaning passes followed by a few extra drying passes to remove as much moisture as possible.
The last step is to dry the carpet as quickly as possible.
Turn on ceiling fans and use portable fans if you have them.
If it is a nice day you can open the doors and windows to allow for good ventilation.
If it is a humid or rainy day you shouldn't even be cleaning the carpet.
That's all there is to it.
Now you just need to wait for the carpet to completely dry before putting it back to use and before putting the furniture back.
Never place furniture on damp carpet and be careful of the slip hazard of wet carpet.
Good luck.