Water leaks - how to clean - condition carpet. Help - suggestions please....

[Roadster90]

Two of my cars developed water leaks that soaked the carpets and jute - one cars floor soaked on the drivers side and one soaked on the passengers side. I suppose I need to remove the seats on the effected sides and dry out. I am sure there is more that I should do especially to check any mold or mildew that might occur (may have already started). Can I get some suggestions on how to go about retarding mold and mildew groath, and drying procedures please?

Thanks,

Nic

Edited March 23, 2013 by nic walker (see edit history)

[handmedownreatta]

on my camaro i use a shop vac to remove as much water as possible and then let it air dry.

[Ronnie]

Nic, this is just my opinion but I think you should use a shopvac to remove all the water/moisture that you can and then open the doors up and use large fans to dry out the carpet completely. If you have water puddled in the bottom of the carpet you may have to remove the seats and get under the carpet to get the water out of the channels the wires run through.

[zoltanb]

Unfortunately you have to take the seats and carpeting out. The best way to get rid of mold is to dry it all out in full sun other wise the smell comes back. Do not for get to check the connections in the black protector between the seats. Did the leak come from the window seals?

[SeanR]

I had this problem in my Acura. The remote key fob has this "feature" that if you press and hold the unlock button in your pants, all windows and sunroof roll down and open. I had two days of Seattle rain to deal with. I "thought" I had wicked up all the water until I took the car for a drive and could hear a pond of water sloshing back and forth from front to back in the side rails and tub. I ended up taking my Bissell steamer and sucking out over 4 gallons of water!!! Luckily, no long term damage. You need to take out the interior to assess the damage. The interior door skins are also made of cardboard material. Letting water sit on those will make them bubble up.

[Guest 89 Maui]

Nic -

Having owned a carpet cleaning company, use a wet/dry vac and suction the water out but the key is to suction in layers. 1st remove the seats, then suction water out of the carpet first without the carpeting lying on the jute insulation. Suction both sides of the carpeting, this allows air to suction the most water out of the carpeting, but do not suction the carpeting while the carpeting is laying on the padding, this will try pulling water out of the padding and along with it the color of the padding and will stain the carpeting. Then fold the carpeting out of the way to allow you to suction the water out of the padding and suction both sides of the padding to get maximum water out of the padding. While you have the padding raised off of the floor pan, suction excess water off of the floor pan.

Drying process must be in layers - place plastic or glass bottles on the floor pan to allow the padding from laying on the floor pan. then devise a means of supporting the carpet from laying on the padding. Then get a couple of high air movement fans to blow air in between the layers. It might take a couple of days to dry the carpeting and padding. But in this process - blowing air between the layers will dry faster and help prevent mold from setting in.

Since this is late March, humidity is low and this benefits in drying the carpet and padding in layers. During the summer the sun helps but moving air still dries it faster.

But the main key is to NOT suction the water from the carpet while the carpet is laying on the padding. The color of the padding will bleed into the carpet and cause a darkening staining effect. If that has happened then you have to obtain a stain removal product, you can buy at Home Depot, and treat the carpet as if you were "steam cleaning". This will get the majority of the stain out of the carpet.

Good Luck

[Roadster90]

Wow ...... Thanks all for your replies......... I have a lot of Work cut out for me. I kind of thought there was a little more to water removal and keeping mold from setting in than just vacuuming, but darn ..... this is complicated and labor intensive. Thanks Maui for the tip on not vacuuming water through the carpet from the jute as I was definitely going to go that route.

I was going to purchase smothing like spray disinfectant from the $ Store to spray heavily on both the carpet backing and jute - is this a good idea or not please or should I treat with some other substance?

I don't look forward to this

Thanks again folks,

Nic

[Ronnie]

Nic, Don't forget there is a time factor involved in getting the job done. It's much easier to prevent mold and mildew than it is to get rid of it once it starts to grow. It grows much quicker in warm, damp, dark places but it can grow almost anywhere there is moisture.