Ok so I live in my parents basement. Recently it flooded slightly by the water heater. We have (my brother and I who have never had to deal with flooded basement before) tried so soak up all the water we can with towels, but the carpet is still wet. We have turned on all of our fans to try and help move air around. We also tried to find out space heater, but cant.
So now the basement is smelling all musty and very stifling. All I want to do is open the windows to let air in, but we can't because there aren't any screens on them and we live in bug, mouse, and un-welcomed visitors city. What else can I do to help air out the wet carpet? I took all the fans we have down there. My dad doesn't get home till tuesday (maybe) and he isn't around any phones. We can't afford professional help at all. UGH! It's not a huge section of carpet. Maybe a ten foot strip and 2 feet wide, but it got saturated. We are still soaking up water. We are washing towels constantly and then going down there and soaking up the water.
Utah is generally though of as a desert, so de humidifiers I've NEVER seen them around at all. I never even knew they existed. I'll go and get a carpet cleaner. I have been meaning to clean my carpets in my room and sons (cloth diaper experiments gone bad). And we rent, but our landlord is one of those that don't care. I don't know where a copy of the lease is or else I would check what it says about emergencies like this. Apparently every single tenant that has lived here has asked him to put screens on the windows and he hasn't. Yay.
Get a dehumidifier.
Get some temporary screens and open the windows or you'll have a bigger mess -- mold! You can get screens at home depot or any home improvement center.
Get a wet-dry vac and suck the water out of the carpet. That's the only way.
LBC
Can you lift that part of the carpet? And prop it up. Blow the fans right at it.
Do you have a wet/dry vac that can suck more of the water out of the carpet?
Do you have a dehumidifier or can you borrow O.?
If your dad has homeowners insurance, a restoration company can come out and dry it out, and maybe replace all of the carpeting....
Take out the carpet completely. In my experience that smell will NEVER go away- and mildew and mold will row under it, no matter if the top dries out. Sorry, but take out the carpet and throw away anything you can that got saturated with water. I was going to say get dehumidifiers too- hope you can find them in UT!! Good Luck!
I would rent one of those rug doctor steamer vacs from the grocery store. Then you can remove most of the water.
You may also want to open the windows in the heat of the day when critters aren't so active just to get some fresh air in.
I've had to deal with this so many times!!! Very first thing on the list is to get a wet vac. You can rent them, but I'm guessing there will be a neighbor somewhere that has one. Ask around. It will help TONS. If you can't find one, call your landlord. Tell him it's from the water heater (which is also his responsibility) and he needs to take care of it before it gets completely moldy and has to be replaced. You've been doing everything you can and it's his turn. But really he needs to be notified anyway.
The smell is because of the carpet padding. It gets gross after a few years and it will always smell, especially if the water isn't taken care of immediately.
After you get all the water up and it's mostly dry, buy a thing of baking soda and sprinkle it heavily on the affected area. Let it sit till you can't smell anything and then vacuum it up. You can repeat the process a few times if you think it's needed. Also, Febreze for carpet (or for furniture, at least) will help with any smell left over.
Before you clean it with a Rug Doctor thing, get a hold of a wet/dry vac, take the filter out and suck that carpet dry. The rug cleaners will not get all of the water out and will just add soap to the mess - I've been there done that. We had a HUGE flood in our basement when we lived in MN and ended up having to hire a professional to come and spray some anti-mold and fungus stuff in the walls and carpets. Since this was a water heater issue I think the landlord should pony up the money to remedy the situation. We rent out our house in MN and if anything happened to our house I would definitely pay to have the issue taken care of professionally so that my house didn't end up with a huge mold problem, regardless of the tenants.
Anyway, the wet/dry vacs are pretty inexpensive if you get a smaller one and you can find them at home improvement stores like home depot or lowe's and maybe even Walmart. Good luck!!!
Until dad comes home, with more money or ideas,, can you get a carpet cleaner from a grocery store and clean it yourself? It can suck up some water, not as well as a professional carpet cleaner, but for the price it might stop some of the moldy smell. Can you open windows during the day for a short time and let some air in? Pick the time there are the least bugs. Stand guard to keep out small critters. You need to circulate the air better.
You probably need to buy a dehumidifier or use a wet dry vacuum to suck up the water. Also you could rent a steam cleaner and just use it like a vacuum. You really need to get all the water out soon though or you will get black mold which is a much bigger problem.
You don't want a space heater, you want a de-humidifier. See if you can borrow one from a friend or neighbor. And a wet-vac would help suck up the water better than towels.
