So last fall I had this awful smell in my car and so I decided to clean it out. I scrubbed the seats the carpet in the floor, put a baking soda container under the seat, febreezed it and left the windows open all day. IT was much better... for a few days. Then winter came and it was bearable. Now the warmer weather is coming back and my car smells horrid. I cleaned it out again (no scrubbing this time, just got all the kid clutter out) and there is mold in the carpet on my son's side (he's almost 2) where's he's thrown his cup ...
Any suggestions??
My sister-in-law had the same problem. She used a bowl of vinegar to absorb the smell. She put a bowl of vinegar on the floor of the backseat and it worked! Good Luck!
I once had a bottle of milk break on my floorboard and once had a carton of chicken broth leak into my floorboard. Both times, no matter what else I tried (and I tried a lot of cleaners, vinegar, baking soda, etc.), there was only one product that absolutely and easily got the odor of decay out of the carpet. It was Odoban. You can sometimes find it in places like Home Depot or Sam's, but I've never been able to find it in other discount, grocery, or department stores. I would definitely Google 'Odoban' to find a local retail outlet or a phone number you can call to find one. Let your fingers do the walking!
I don't know how environmentally safe Odoban is. That is why I tried so many natural ideas first. I sprayed the area and waited a day. Then I poured club soda onto the carpet and mopped it up with a towel several times so that no chemical residues were left. That did the job beautifully.
If I had known about it at the time, I would have first tried to clean it with a product that is sold through Young Living Essential Oils called Thieves Houshold Cleaner. I have found it to be remarkably effective on anything I've used it on over the last two years and it is perfectly safe. I just haven't needed to try it on the situation you described.
Good Luck!
I recommend a product called Sol-U-Mel.
If it were me I would google it....lol. But that is the very reason my daughter is not allowed milk in the car, she spills it, or we overlook a cup of it for a couple days, {{gag}}. Its just a lose lose situation. I only give her water in the car and promise her milk later. I have always been able to scrub it and air it out and it went away. I think I used a type of cleaner made for the car carpet and stuff. Good luck, I hope you get it out!
I'd use a carpet shampooer with some bleach added in. That should take care of your problem.
Mold is terrible to get out of fabrics! You might try steam cleaning the carpet. Many car washes have steam cleaners for your auto carpets. I can't testify as to whether it will get rid of the smell, but they do get the dirt and stains out. I've never found Febreeze to be effective. There is this stuff called Odor-cide that I picked up at Wal Mart for $3. It works very well. I've never used it for mold. A friend had a really nice Broyhill sofa and put it out in her garage when she got a new one. It was out there about a year and her dogs slept on it. She decided to sell it but couldn't get the dog smell out of it. She washed the seat covers, used Resolve fabric/apolstry cleaner on it, and Febreezed the heck out it. It looked brand new, but smelled like a wet dog that had rolled in orchids! Nothing she tried could get rid of the dog smell. We picked up a bottle of the Odor-cide one afternoon and tried it. After the Odor-cide fog lifted, the couch had no odor. Not only did the dog smell go away, you couldn't even smell the citris odor of the Odor-cide! Maybe it will work for you, too. Good luck.
Go to your local car wash like Green Lantern, they may be able to help. They clean the inside as well as the outside. Just a thought. Good luck and God Bless.
Pour Baking soda on your carpet followed by a can of club soda .It will foam up the carpet so after 15 minutes remove excess with a sponge .Then Vacumn with water prof shop vac. Good Luck!!1
