Great-looking tailored carpeting and floor covering requires constant work to keep it looking beautiful. A steam vacuum cleaner allows you to make quick work of those traffic pattern areas and anywhere deep dirt collects. You're not the first person to have dirt tracks through your home and on your carpets. If you have kids, dirt tracks, juice stains and miscellaneous food debris discolorations on your carpet are just the fact of life. With the steam vacuum cleaner however, it's much easier to keep your carpets looking their best.

The steam vacuum cleaner is actually not steam based, but uses a cleaning solution in hot water to clean your carpet. Preparation and pre spotting is the key to removing the stains and discolorations. You can actually rent a steam vacuum cleaner at your local hardware store or supermarket. These rentals are typically made for two days at a fixed price which is more than enough time to clean your carpets. Although many people pay for a heavy-duty carpet cleaning service, a steam vacuum cleaner rental is a great idea between those more expensive cleanings.

But the large expense of a steam vacuum rental however is in the cleaning solutions and chemicals. Here are a few carpet cleaning solution chemicals that are a lot less expensive and are claimed to do just as good a job. This is a good time to remind you to be very careful using any type of chemicals.

It's also important to test all chemicals even those specifically recommended for steam vacuum cleaners before using on your carpet. One quick way to check is to take a white cloth dipped it in the chemicals and rub your carpet in a hidden spot to check for color fastness. If any color transfers to your rag, the dyes used in your carpet will not hold up to the chemical recipes selected.

Here are a few home carpet cleaning recipes that have been very successful.

1. Go to the local janitorial supply and pick up pre-mixed carpet steam vacuum cleaning solution by the gallon

2. 3 teaspoons of cheap, non moisturizing clear dishwashing liquid, 1/4 cup of ammonia, and 1/4 cup of vinegar to 2 gallons of water.

3. Use equal portions of very hot water and Windex window cleaner. You can buy Windex or plain window cleaner by the gallon at your local janitorial supply store. Just find any window cleaner that has ammonia in the ingredients.

4. Pre-treat your carpets, using a spray bottle with very hot water in an oxygenating bleach such as Oxy-clean. I personally have used regular chlorine bleach and hot water in a 1% solution on my light gray carpets to make them much brighter. [10 parts water and 1 part bleach]

Remember that whatever steam carpet cleaner chemicals you select be certain to rinse your carpets thoroughly. The key to keeping your carpets cleaner longer is to remove all of the soap and chemicals used to clean them. Many steam cleaning solutions can act as a dirt magnet making your carpets look dull and dirty much faster.

Using a steam vacuum cleaner rental can be much less expensive than having a service in to clean your carpets. If you clean your carpets at least twice a year however, it may be worth while considering the purchase of your own steam vacuum.