Carpet Cleaning and Care Tips from One of our Members

Tips for carpeting in flood restoration, carpet mold prevention and more

Carpet Cleaning, Mold in Carpets
Contributor: Carol Childress

Dear Mercia,

I really appreciated the carpet care newsletter and wanted to share a tip with you that other members might find useful.

You expressed some concern about “over wetting” of a carpet possibly leading to mold. I own an old Bissell steam cleaner similar to the TW300, and when I use it I now confidently soak my carpets to the point that it takes about 2 days to dry. This is of course a huge no-no according to all the experts, but I keep going until I get clean water back out and know the job is really done right.

I can do this without fear of mold because of a lesson I learned years ago from a flooded basement. While my neighbors threw all their basement carpet out, I decided to try a last-ditch effort to save it. I put hot water and liquid Lysol (the old brown stuff your Mom used) in my cleaner and ran it through the carpet over and over until I had gotten it completely soaked and then all sucked out again.

I have asthma and am violently allergic to mold, but nothing happened. We later pulled up the carpet to check and found no mold underneath at all. The flooding problem happened several more times over the next few years, and each time I was able to save the carpet using this method. (I also mixed water and Lysol in a gallon sprayer and blanketed all the concrete floors and walls, etc.)

The next time I cleaned the upstairs carpets, I tried doing the same thing as a second “rinse step” after using the regular cleaning solution. It worked very well. This gets all the mold spores AND the dust mites all the way down into the padding. Even though it may take quite a while for the carpet to dry, you don’t have the mold problem to worry about. There are some things to consider before using this method of course. If Lysol is a product that triggers your allergies, you can’t do this. I am sensitive more to the added fragrances in things, so the scented cleaners really bother me, but the old stinky brown Lysol in a bottle does not. (Bleach is another possibility for spraying concrete in a basement, but is obviously not workable on carpet.)

Another thing to check is the color-fastness of the carpet. I have been surprised to find that there has been no effect on any carpet I have tried this on. I often mix the solution double-strength to use in areas where things have been spilled, etc. If you test on a scrap or in a corner, you will know overnight if you are safe to try this.

Lastly, you need to know what kind of floor is underneath and if you might damage it by over wetting. Hardwood floors not coated with modern polyurethanes, and raw plywood sub floors could both soak up water and be damaged. You can still use the solution, just don’t soak the carpet as deeply.

I have tried many commercial carpet solutions over the years, most of which didn’t work and had chemicals or fragrances that made me sick. Nothing has ever worked as well as the Lysol. I can always see improvement in my breathing after doing this. OK, the house smells like Lysol for a week, but you know it’s really clean.

Another place people might not think about looking for mold is in their humidifier. If you have the kind with a paddle or wheel that runs through a pan of standing water, you will get all kinds of stuff growing in the water. Even cleaning it every week won’t stop this. I found that adding a capful of Lysol or bleach to the water after weekly cleaning of the pan kept the water clean. Once again, you’ve got the smell to deal with, but it was worth it for me. The water stayed clear and I noticed improvement in breathing right away. I have since changed to a flow through type unit, but many people still have those old ones.

I am looking forward to the next newsletter. As we all don masks, goggles, and gloves and wade into the fall cleaning battle, every new scrap of information is a valuable tool. While I would prefer to take a flame thrower to all the carpet and start over with tile, it just isn’t financially feasible right now. The stuff has got to be kept clean, and all your tips are really appreciated.

Carol Childress Webmaster
VCC Utility Customer Support Center

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