Back about a month ago when my pregnancy morning all-day, all-night sickness was in full swing, I couldn’t stand the smell of my house. Although I was admittedly a total cleaning slacker during this time, I normally keep my house pretty clean. It took a while, but I finally figured out that the problem was a combination of cooking smells and dog.

Gross, right? If you’ve ever been pregnant, you know you can smell things that no one else can, so at least that kept me from being totally embarrassed that friends and family had ever set foot in this house.

I pledged that as soon as I started to feel better, I was going to do something about the dog smell. I cleaned all of our linens and Febreezed what I couldn’t wash, but it still didn’t help. Then, I realized it was the carpets.

I thought about having the carpets professional cleaned, but I really hated the idea of spending all of that money for a one-time service. I started to check out carpet steam cleaners, and when a friend bought one she feel in love with (and showed me her before and after pictures), I was sold.

Last week, I bought the Bissell ProHeat 2X Multi-Surface steam cleaner at Target. It cost me $199 (plus tax), and I was given a $20 Target giftcard at the register to use at a later time as part of Target’s weekly promotion. Considering it would cost me about that much to have my carpets cleaned professionally just one time, I figured it was worth a shot. I also liked that this machine cleaned carpet and hard surfaces, so I was hoping it would save me from having to buy the steam mop I’ve been wanting for my tile floors.

I took it home, read the User’s Gude, and immediately began cleaning. Here are my personal thoughts on the Bissell ProHeat 2X Multi-Surface steam cleaner:

Ease of Assembly and Use: Right away, I was delighted with the ease of use of this machine. I had to assemble it out of the box, but the instructions were very clear and assembly was easy. I also really liked that the machine, even when full of water, was fairly light. Although it is heavier than a vacuum cleaner, it was light enough that I didn’t feel like using it was hard work.

Carpet Cleaning: Following the directions, I vacuumed my carpet with my regular vacuum to get rid of any debris on the surface. We have a few high-traffic areas that just look dirty all the time, so I went to work on one of those spots immediately. Here’s how it looked before I used the steam cleaner:

And here’s how it looks now:

Are you shocked or what? I couldn’t believe the difference!

This machine has four different cleaning settings – Heavy Traffic, Normal Clean, Light Clean, and Water Rinse. I cleaned the high traffic areas of my carpet on the Heavy Traffic setting and it really did the trick. I accidentally left it on this setting when I should have switched it to Normal Clean for the rest of the carpets, and I blew through the solution in mere minutes. Total user error, but I learned my lesson!

After you clean using one of the cleaning settings, you have to go back and use the Water Rinse setting to make sure all of the solution (or whatever you choose to use in your machine) has been picked up. When I was finished, my carpets were just slightly damp and only took a few hours to dry all of the way.

I cleaned the rest of my living room and I was amazed at what the steam cleaner got up that all of the other carpet cleaning products and machine rentals I had tried couldn’t – a year old coffee stain, tons of shoe and paw dirt, and other stains of unknown origin. I feel like I have brand new carpet.

Hard Floors: As I mentioned before, I was hopeful that this machine would do a great job cleaning hard floors, too. There is an easy to install attachment that goes on the bottom of the machine for hard floors, and I could tell that it wasn’t going to do a good job cleaning tile grout.

I started cleaning the kitchen tile floors, and honestly, it was just a big mess. Perhaps it was user error, but water just went everywhere. I guess it probably cleaned better than a mop and bucket because it was hot water (there is a built-in water heater in the machine) and dirty mop bucket water wasn’t being used again and again, but ug! After more work than I thought I would have to put into my kitchen floor, the machine pulled up enough water that it only took about an hour for the rest of the floor to dry on its own.

The kitchen floor does look very clean, but I don’t think that I’ll use this machine on my floors. I guess I will need to keep looking into a steam cleaner that is just for tile (if I really even need to use a steam cleaner at all).

Attachments: This machine comes with three attachments – a Tough Stain brush, a TurboBrush, and the hard floor attachment. I didn’t use the Tough Stain brush, but it looks like a little scrub brush. I did use the TurboBrush, which is a brush that you put “tough stain” solution in for areas that need to be pre-treated or have really deep stains. It worked well on the few spots that I tried.

Customer Service: The Bissell ProHeat 2X Multi-Surface has a 1-year warranty for manufacturer defects (you have to keep your original receipt for the warranty to be valid). I did have trouble with my TurboBrush the second time I used it. I called customer service and they gladly shipped a new one out to me. Only after I talked to them did I realize that the problem was my own fault (there wasn’t enough water in the tank, so it wouldn’t spray), so I guess I just have two TurboBrushes now.

Cleaning the Machine: This was the part of owning a steam cleaner that I was really worried about, but cleaning this machine is no hassle at all. There are only two tanks that need to be rinsed (and you can actually leave Bissell solution in one of them to store it if that’s the type of solution you use). I was able to lay the machine down and clean the brushes very easily. It probably only takes me about 10 minutes to clean it for storage.

In summary, I really like this machine for steam cleaning my carpets, and I am VERY glad I purchased it. It was a good investment for my home and my family. I will likely not use it to clean the tile, but that is certainly not that big of a deal to me given it’s tremendous cleaning power on carpets. If you are looking for a great carpet steam cleaner as Spring Cleaning kicks into full swing, I recommend the Bissell ProHeat 2X series.

Even better, my house no longer smells like dog!

*****

Disclaimer: I purchased the Bissell ProHeat 2X Multi-surface with my own money for use in my own home. I have never, in any way, been contacted by Target, the Bissell corporation, or their representatives and have not, in any way, been compensated for this review.