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I second what Gary said for the dyi person. After I'm done cleaning an area I will go back over it using only suction. Most machines have a clear section on the wand or tank top and you can see if you are still picking up moisture. It takes some practice to get a feel for the proper speed of moving the wand or machine. Too slow and you'll push moisture deep into the carpet, and too fast and there's too little time for the machine to clean. If you aren't sure watch some videos and err on the side of moving a little too fast. If you are moving too fast you can always make another pass, but too slow and you've pushed the water down to the backing or worse.
One bad result of overwetting besides wicking of deep stains to the surface, is rusting the staples used to secure the carpet to the floor. In a home carpets are only secured around the edges with tack strips but it's much more common in RVs to have the carpet stapled down with hundreds of staples. When I had the carpet replaced in my '96 Bounder I removed the carpet myself to save some money and to be able to makes some minor repairs to the floor. I could not believe how many staples held the carpet down. I swear the installer must have been paid by the staple because there was at least one staple in every square foot of carpet. I had to pry about half of those little monsters with a flat screwdriver and needle nose pliers!
I also forgot to mention that if you are going to use regular soap based shampoo, that you use half the recommended amount. Less is more when using soap on carpets.
If you have a stain I suggest you pre-mist the stain (don't soak or you'll drive the stain deeper) with either a pre-treatment spotter, or full DILUTED strength shampoo/water mixture. Let the mixture sit for a minute and lightly agitate with your fingers. Then use the machine filled with pain water. Add shampoo after doing your spots, and do the rest of the carpet.
Speaking of brushes, spots and carpet - I recommend purchasing a carpet brush for removing stain that have either just happened or have dried. Search Amazon for a: Spotting Brush #72 White Nylon. This is what commercial carpet maintenance pros use. If its a fresh stain, blot with a dry towel or fold the towel and press it to the stain with you hand or foot to absorb the moisture, refold and repeat. When the blotting towel isn't picking up much moisture you'll switch to using the brush. Contrary to everything you've been told or taught, this brush is NOT used for scrubbing, it's used for pounding. That's right, pounding. Now lay a clean dry unfolded towel over the stain and start whacking the towel with the brush bristles. You don't hold it like a hammer, but more like a drumstick and you use your wrist more than your arm. If you hold it right you'll understand why the handle has a curve - so you don't whack your knuckles on the floor. You're not pounding nails, it's more like whacking a bug. Keep moving the towel to a fresh section over the stain and whack until the underside of the towel is coming up mostly dry or clean. For old or dried stains you apply whatever solution you are going to use to the spot, then follow the instructions above. The bristles force the towel into the carpet nap where it absorbs the stain without damaging the fibers. Again, don't over wet. You be amazed when you see the stain being transferred to the towel. With thick pile carpet, fluff with your fingers now and then and whack some more. This is much faster than using a thick folded towel and a weight to draw the stain up and it works on short nap tightly woven carpet which can be hard to get stain out of. It may take a few tries letting the carpet dry between attempts to get the stain up.
Ok, sorry for the long winded post but I hope these tips help.
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Tom and Pris M. along with Buddy the 18 year old Siamese cat
1998 Safari Serengeti 3706, 300HP Cat 3126 Allison 3060, 900 watts of Solar.
Dragging four telescopes around the US in search of dark skies.
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