I flooded my bathroom now the hallway carpet smells, what do I do?

Question

I am looking for a natural remedy for removing the mouldy/musty smell from the carpet, the whole house smells.
Please help

Answer 1

You should pull the carpet and replace the pad. The carpet may be OK with a good cleaning and re-installed with new pad. Any cleaning or restoration company can clean the carpet. There is always a possibility of shrinkage, and hopefully the backing has not delaminated from the flooding.
There are no natural remedies.

Your home-owner's insurance should cover anything above your deductible, if applicable.

Answer 2

Hi
If it has only been a few days it is a musty smell you are smelling from the water not mould.
First thing you have to do is dry the carpet. I am going to assume you do not have professional equipment for this.
1/ You will need to lift the carpet where it is wet. Where the carpet and wall meet there should be tack strip holding the carpet down.( behind carpet) You can lift the carpet off the tack strip with a pair of pliers grabbing the carpet fibre and pulling up.
2/ Pull the carpet back until the wet spot is exposed .At this point you should be able to see the under pad. Try to remove as much water as you can by either a wet vac or towels.
3/ now you will need to dry the pad by either lifting it out and drying it outside or leaving it in place and putting a fans blowing on to pad and carpet. This will need 3 or more days to dry.
4/ When to carpet and pad is dry you should not be able to smell it.
5/ Install the pad and carpet back down and I would recommend cleaning the carpet but that will be up to you.

In the flood business for 14 years

Answer 3

Put some fans to blow across the carpet also some electric heaters if you have them. The carpet and the pad need to dry as fast as possible , You could buy some floor dry like mechanics us in their shops.
Worry about any odors after it is dry. Get a shop vac(wet-dry) to help with the pick up.
Best would be to remove the carpet and get it outside also the pad,

Answer 4

the scent wont come out reason its no longer the carpet thats smelling, you are able to pull the carpet up ( dont want new ccarpet) and replace the insalation and padding below the carpet, this isnt costly and you are able to purely could replace a small area, no longer the finished floor. keep in mind no longer new carpet, new padding. and purely a small area. the scent could be long previous as quickly as u try this. pee soaks into the carpet and seeps down below neath, so cleanig the carpet gets it out yet no longer out the padding. and u cant sparkling padding reason its very fragile and consumer-friendly to tear.

Answer 5

Professionally speaking, get that padding out of there now, padding is basically a big spounge.If the hallway is soaked to then extract it with a wet dry vac, or take it out to dry as well. Padding will need to be replaced its cheap anyway.80 percent of carpets nade these days have synthetic backings which will not mold. most importantly you need to get the structural walls drying immediately. Dehumidifier a must to pull the moisture out of your walls sheetrock etc,Lysol or preferablly an antimicrobial treament should be applied to kill any possibilities of mold or mildew setting in, which could happen in as little as 24 hours.Sorry could not reccommend any short cuts to your problem, black mold could be deadly if not handled right. Get as much air flowing on your structural wall where the water went thru pull baseboards to allow more air the faster the drying time the less risk of harmful black mold

Answer 6

Edward is correct. The padding MUST be replaced. It will hold any and all bacteria that saturated into it from the septic water. The carpet can be cleaned but the padding is to porous and needs to come out. It can become a health hazard.

Answer 7

You probably need to pull the carpet up and make sure that the floor under the carpet is dry. You also can use baking soda or replace the carpet.

Answer 8

you might try renting a carpet cleaner or having a professional cleaning service come out and try to clean it. If you want to try something by yourself first, you can try those vacuum powders that you sprinkle on the carpet and the vacuum, or even baking soda. if the smell is really pungent, though, it might not be enough to kill it. maybe it's time for a new carpet?

Answer 9

You can try using a carpet cleaner, but generally when carpet is soaked like that there's nothing you can do to save it. It almost certainly should be replaced. Please don't delay too long--some molds are very hazardous to human health and must be stopped before they spread all over.

God bless! (And sorry about the carpet--I know replacing is expensive!)

Answer 10

are you a homeowner? if so .. this has happened to me... contact the homeowners insurance....
they will send someone out to test the carpet and floors even the walls if the bottom of the walls were affected. I had a flood happened that way, the insurance company paid for new carpeting, new sheetrock, paint, etc...
good luck, have a good one....