The rain in Seattle is no joke and, if you’re like most people in the PNW, you might have to deal with flooding at some point in your life. It’s a stressful situation to get caught up in, but if you act quickly, you can rectify the situation. It’s important to act fast because it doesn’t take much water to cause mold. Moisture plus power outages put homeowners in a particularly susceptible mold situation. If you follow the next 6 steps, you should be able to quickly and efficiently dry out your flooded carpet.
1. Move Furniture Off the Carpet
Begin by moving all the furniture out of the way. You don’t want to have heavy furniture weighing down the carpet, as the extra pressure will contribute to trapping water beneath the carpet. cause even more water to be trapped beneath. If you can get the furniture to another room or a garage, try that method.
It is best to clear out the entire room if the carpet is completely flooded. If it’s only partially flooded, move everything over to the dry side.
2. Spread Towels Over the Wet Carpet
Gather up all the towels you can spare and begin soaking up the excess moisture. Put pressure on the towels so they soak up as much as possible and then take them outside or to a bathtub or shower and ring them out to be used again. Repeat this step until you’ve mopped up as much as you can.
3. Vacuum the Wet Carpet
For this step, do not use a regular house vacuum. You will need a heavy-duty wet/dry vacuum for this job. If you don’t have one of your own, these vacuums are available to rent. Take care to cover each part of the carpet so you can suck up as much water as possible.
4. Check Underneath the Carpet
Once you’ve dried the carpet to the best of your abilities using the above methods, it is time to check underneath the carpet to see how much work is left to do. It’s possible the pad underneath could be ruined, but if you got it quickly enough, it might be salvageable. Start at a corner of the room and pull back. You will need to use a pair of pliers to pull up the carpet. There may be sharp metal tacks in the carpet, so be sure to wear heavy duty gloves to protect your hands. Fold over the carpet so you can assess the pad beneath. If it is still damp, try the next step.
5. Help Evaporation with Fans and Dehumidifiers
Gather as many fans and dehumidifiers as you can and set them up strategically around the room. Ask friends if you can borrow theirs if you don’t have any (or just don’t have enough) and turn them on full blast! Your goal here is to suck up any remaining water and encourage the evaporation process as much as possible. This process may take a few hours to a few days, so be patient.
6. Call a Professional
It is possible that after all this hard work you still weren’t able to salvage the carpet. There are carpet retail stores that can set you up with new carpeting at great prices, or carpet remnants that can help save a lot of money as well.
If you have had this issue and need to replace your carpet, look no further than Carpet-to-Go. For a free estimate and in-home consultation,
contact us here.
