Carpet Flooded...How do you get rid of the musky smell?

United States
March 12, 2009 10:00pm CST
My mom is trying to find a solution to her problem without having to rip the carpet up and put down a new one. Her water heater hoses busted last week, flooding the room next to it, soaking the carpet. She got as much of it dry as she could but is now left with the musky smell and it is really becoming a problem for her and my step-dad. Does anyone have any suggestions that I could pass along to get rid of this smell or is she going to have to replace the carpet?
6 responses
@nikky28 (1572)
• India
13 Mar 09
Put it out in the sun to dry. If you want the carpet to get dried fast, you could use a blow dryer. I don't know if you are ready to wash it, if you do, I think a washing detergent would get rid of the smell and the techniques explained in previous responses might work. If nothing else works, use some heavy perfume on it lol.
@ShepherdSpy (8544)
• Omagh, Northern Ireland
13 Mar 09
Depends if the carpet was valuable enough to be worth going through the drying and cleaning it'll need to fix the problem..If you don't want to go through the "hire a professional" route,Others here have suggested cleaning and deodorising methods that sound good..My advice would be buy or hire a dehumidifier and get a heavy duty fan/heater too..
@gjabaigar (2200)
• Philippines
13 Mar 09
^_^ Howdy Armstrong7886! This are basic solution by mixing in water either 1/2 cup of vinegar or 1/2 ammonia. Or by these kind of mixing: Add about 3 teaspoons of clear dishwashing liquid (non moisturizing), 1/4 cup of ammonia, and 1/4 cup of vinegar to a few gallons of water. ^_^ Thanks and Enjoy!.... myLot!....
@lynnemg (4529)
• United States
13 Mar 09
Not too long ago, one of my clients had a problem with their drain in the basement and it ended up flooding their carpet horribly. I helped them get rid of the water by using a wet/dry vac to get up as much water as I possibly could.Then, we set a fan blowing directly on the carpet and left it there for a good week. After it was thoroughly dried, I went back and sprinkled baking soda on the carpet, let it sit for about an hour and then vacuumed really good. The next week, it still smelled a bit musty, so, I put more baking soda down, and turnes a fan on again, but this time, I pointed the fan at the door to help carry the scent away. It seemes to have done the trick, it doesn't smell anymore. There was a lot of water too, I am talking at least 100 gallons in all. If you are able to, I would suggest using industrial sized fans to help,if not, use a regular fan. It takes time and patience to get rid of the smell, but it can be done.
• United States
13 Mar 09
That smell is mold. She might want to rent a steam cleaner and boxfans. After she shampoos the carpet help her set up the fans so that they dry the carpet real good.
@pricelis (86)
• United States
13 Mar 09
This is just a hunch, but I have a feeling the carpet is in need of replacing. If theres padding beneath the carpet it probably got wet too and so did the floor beneath it. (Hopefully they aren't hardwood floors!)