Works good, but has limitations- Resolve Carpet Cleaner
Written: Apr 18 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Lifts dirt, grime and food stains with ease.
Cons: Can NOT be used on vomit or urine stains.
The Bottom Line: For dirt, grime and food stains Resolve will be your best friend. It works quickly and easily without having to over scrub and ruin your carpet.
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| patch3boys's Full Review: Reckitt & Colman 22 Oz Resolve Carpet Cleaner |
Yes, I am one of those hard headed women who just had to have light colored, plush carpet put into my house. "No, problem!" I arrogantly said "I can handle it just fine!" Oh brother, what on earth was I thinking. (Does this kind of wisdom just come with age? If so, when's it coming?) With three "dirty" little boys (God love em') and a husband who comes "clomping" in each night with work books fresh from the construction site, my floor had become the hardest thing in my house to keep clean. I had two choices. I could either find a good carpet spot remover and make spot cleaning a part of my daily cleaning routine, or I could accept this cool, hip 101 Dalmatian look on my carpet and call my self a trend setter. Being the clean freak I am, the first choice won out.
What RESOLVE will resolve!
Resolve Carpet Cleaner was my first choice. I had no prior experience with Resolve, but being that it was the spot cleaner that I saw most widely marketed on TV, I decided this would be the route to go.
I started following my men around, armed with my new bottle of Resolve Carpet Cleaner and a carpet brush. The results I was getting were amazing. This was much easier than having to lug out the Steam Cleaner every 3 weeks and clean the entire carpet.
I use my Resolve Carpet Cleaner on dirt stains, food and drink stains, and "little boy" stains. (I say "little boy" stains because there really is no way of knowing exactly what the heck it is that they get all over everything. These stains come in different colors, smells and consistencies and are very hard to identify. All I do know is that it always comes from them......the boys!
Resolve Carpet Cleaner has definitely held its own in the area's I mentioned above. On top of the every day dirt and food that gets tracked throughout the house, I have had 3 "major" spills on my carpet that I at first wasn't sure if Resolve was going to be able to help. A plate of spaghetti, a glass of grape juice and my most favorite, water colored feet prints that trailed from the garage to the kitchen when my son decided it would be a good time to run in and get a drink, while we were in the process of making a "foot print" mural in the garage. Talk about coming unglued! Especially when this happened only a few weeks after moving into to our new home. However Resolve surprisingly worked like a charm on all these stains. It did take a little bit more soaking and scrubbing than it did on the smaller stains, but it did the job. We do have our carpet scotch guarded so I am sure that helped, but I have to say I was impressed with the power of Resolve.
What RESOLVE will not resolve
While Resolve Carpet Cleaner tends to work miracles on dirt and food stains, I found that it doesn't stand a chance when faced with stains made from the inside of the human body, mainly vomit and urine.
Vomit
I will start with the vomit stain since that is the one that still haunts me to this day. "Mom, I'm vomiting right now......" I hear as I wake up to see my 12 year old vomiting in my door way. Now, let me ask you this. If you had to vomit wouldn't you at least "attempt" to make it to the bathroom? Would you deliberately come into my bedroom to "show" me you were vomiting? I will never understand that kid! I could kind of understand it if it were my 4 year old, but my almost 13 year old??? Do any of you have one like this? A drama king or queen who loves it when something ills him so that he can eat up all the attention? Mine is so bad, that I swear he even tries to stage injures so that he can get babied. I guess being the only child for 6 years before you have any siblings is a recipe for disaster in the jealously kitchen.
Anyway, I learned something new through this whole ordeal. You NEVER put a chemical cleaner on a vomit stain because it mixes with the acid and causes a reaction. In my carpet, this reaction was a 1 X 2 foot bleached stain that still sits there in my doorway as a "proud" reminder of what NOT to do.
After doing some research online and talking with a carpet dealing I was told the best chance you have when someone vomits on the carpet is to quickly (don't wait too long because the longer it is there the bigger chance of it staining) pick up the excess vomit and then scrub the area gently (over and over until the stain is lifted) with warm soapy water and cotton wash rag. No chemicals or cleaners. Surprisingly enough, this actually works! I had a chance to put this to the test a couple weeks ago when my youngest got the stomach flu and decided he needed a little "extra" attention too and threw up in my bedroom. This time, next to my bed. I followed the advice I was giving and the stain came totally clean. It worked great. Who would have known that was all it would take.
Urine
Urine is another stain that I found Resolve couldn't remove. While it removed the coloring some, it didn't help with the deep down cleaning. The smell of ammonia stayed embedded into my carpet. (By the way this one I can't blame on my kids, the cats are responsible for this one!)
No matter how much I scrubbed and how many times that I treated these stains with the Resolve Carpet Cleaner, I couldn't get the smell to leave the carpet. Just like the acid in the vomit did, the ammonia in the urine must have had a reaction with the chemicals in the Resolve. It just seemed to make it worse. I ended up buying some stuff at our local pet store that helped get the stains clean and eliminated the odor.
So, should you take it or leave it?
For dirt, grime and food stains Resolve will be your best friend. It works quickly and easily without having to over scrub and ruin your carpet. Just be sure to pretreat the area and let it soak in for a few minutes before you scrub and you will find the stains to lift off with ease. If it weren't for Resolve I would have ripped my carpet out a long time ago. This stuff really does work on this kind of everyday spot cleaning. For this reason alone, I give it 4 stars. Just remember that no matter how much of a habit it is to grab your handy dandy Resolve bottle whenever presented with a stain, refrain from doing so if that stain is vomit or urine. It will not work on these stains and will ruin your carpet. Hope this helps someone to not make the same mistake I did.
Recommended:
Yes
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patch3boys
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Location: California
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