Water Damaged Carpet

In this article we will discuss the choices you have when dealing with water damaged carpet.If you have experienced a water leak or flooding in your residence you have a lot of issues to deal with. One of these is probably going to be water damaged carpet. What you will do depends partly on the source of the water. You goal is to restore it if you can. In some cases this is possible. This article will discuss these issues.

You have a water damaged carpet. The first thing you must figure out is the source of the water. This is really important. There is water that is considered sanitary and water that is considered unsanitary. If the water on the carpet comes from an overflowed toiled, ground water, or a back up of raw sewage it is unsanitary. If the carpet is exposed to this kind of water it is not going to be able to be restored. You need to get rid of this carpet.

Sanitary water comes from water pipes or rain. If this is the source of the water then you have a chance of restoring it.

Once you have determined the source of the water you have to take the step to make sure that it has stopped. Do not bother trying to restore the carpet until the source of water has stopped. If you are having problems deciding where it is coming from or stopping it you may want to consult a plumber. This is in cases where the water is coming from pipes.

You will need to locate the wet area and disinfect it. One method of doing this is using diluted bleach. Add some tablespoons of bleach per gallon of water. Wear old clothing and have proper ventilation in the room before you begin.

You will need to separate the wet carpet from its wet padding underneath. Cut out the wet padding. This definitely will have to be replaced. You can not restore the padding. You will want to raise the carpet of the wet spots off the floor if you can. Put it up on blocks. Remove all of the furniture from the room. You will want to keep the room off limits to foot traffic. This will help drying and keep the wet carpet from further damage

The next step is to dry the carpet. This can be done with large fans. Keep the cords of the large fans out of the water. Water conducts electricity and this could be dangerous. They need to be aimed right at the wet spot. You will need to run them for over a day. Check on the progress after a half of a day. If you cannot tell that there has been any progress you will want to start thinking about discarding the carpet. After this amount of time mold will possibly have started to grow. Mold can be unsightly as well as unhealthy for your family living in the house. You may also want to add a dehumidifier to absorb the moisture in the air and help drying.

Make sure you inform your insurance company of the occurrence. You may be covered for this kind of damage. If you feel you just can’t do this work yourself you can contact a service that specializes in restoring carpets and rooms that have been water damaged.