Toilet overflowed - how do I get water out of the carpet?
Question:I live in an older home. Since we moved in I have always wanted to remove the carpeting from the bathrooms for the very reason of what happened today. The toilet overflowed and left the carpeting in the bathroom soaked. It goes swish-swish when you walk on it. We just had not gotten around to replacing the carpeting with tile yet! I am using damp rid and keeping fans on it, but what else can I do? It does not seem like there has been any progress with my methods in over 12 hours. HELP! (Thanks!)
Answers:
You need to put towels over the wet areas and step on the towels so that the wet absorbs into them. When the towela are wet, put more dry towels over the wet area and you need to keep doing this until all wetness is absorbed. I hope you have enuf towels. Once the wetness is out of the rug area , take all towels and put in washer so you dont have them smelling from dampness later. Now just leave the rug to dry naturally and continue using the fan to help it dry. good luck. bettyk
borrow a bissel rug vac, and suck the water up, or use a shop vac fot the same thing.
I would go rent a steam cleaner.(they are about $20 here for 24 hours..) it will suck the water out of the carpet, and in a couple of hours it will be dry.
The longer you leave the damp carpet there, the more likely you will cause the floor underneath to rot. Remove it NOW.
Put down something absorbent like clean catbox litter or sawdust. After 2 hours or so, sweep it ALL up. If you use a vacuum, make sure it's a SHOP VAC (which can handle water), not an ordinary vacuum. Then put the fans on again.
Drying may take days. If you never get the floor really dry you will have to replace the floor boards.
Good luck.
If you can't afford the tile right away, and you can dry out the floor boards, consider linoleum-type carpet.
You need to get a carpet cleaner and suck the water out of the carpet. The fans are not enough. If it does not dry right it will mildew.
the best bet is to pull up the carpet. chances are it will take to long to dry and the padding will start mildewing and then your problem becomes worse. if the sub floor is wood the dampness could start rotting it. if it concrete it will be all right.
the next thing is the items on the carpet like vanity, closets, and base boards. the could also be affected.
Good Luck.
p.s. If the damage is large $ enough area some homeowners insurances cover water damage. (different from flood insurances).
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