How to Eliminate Odors From a Flooded Carpet

What makes a flooded carpet smell are the bacteria, mold and mildew that set in after it has been flooded. While the following steps are meant to help eliminate odors from flooded carpet, there are instances where replacement may be necessary. Those instances would be if they were flooded with sewage or were heavily flooded for a long period of time.

It is important to wear rubber gloves and a mask when eliminating odors from a flooded carpet. This is to protect your health.

• Dry out the carpet. This is the most important step in order to stop mold and mildew before it happens. If the carpet is not glued down the easiest way to do this is to roll it up and take it outside. To do this you will have to remove the tacks or staples. If the carpet is too large or heavy you can use saw horses or even chairs to air out the carpet in sections.


• Replace the underlayment. This is the part of the carpeting that will be more prone to mold and mildew problems. The bright side is that underlayment is a fairly cheap padding. If replacement is not an option then the only solution is to dry it up as much as possible. A shopvac can be used to pull as much of the water out as possible, with a fan constantly blowing to help dry out the underlayment.


• Put the carpet back in place.


• Clean the carpet. A carpet cleaning company would be the best solution because the industrial cleaning equipment will get your carpet deep down clean. A cheaper option is to rent a commercial carpet cleaner. An ammonia solution will kill bacteria that causes the wet carpet smell. You want to repeat washes until the water coming out of the carpet is clear.


• Dry the carpet again. Now that your carpet is clean it is important to dry it as quickly as possible. This can be done by turning on the air conditioner and running a dehumidifier in the room.


• Sprinkle exspresso ground coffee mixed with baking soda over the carpet once it is dry and let it set for 15 minutes and vacuum.