Basement flooded.....should carpet be removed??

19 years ago

All night sunday We had a heavy storm in Boston. Monday morning we noticed that a section of our basement (which has wall to wall carpet) was really wet. We later realised that our gutter pipe fell off at the end casuing the water to get below the foundation instead of away from the house. We fixed the pipe. But what should I do with the carpet.

I immediately bought a dehumidifier and then sucked out majority of the water using a wet vac. There is still water collecting in the vac but very little. I did many rounds of this and my body hurts.

Anyway my real concern is will the carpet catch mold. What else should I do? I turned the heat on in the basement to 70 degrees.

Any information is much appreciated.

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Comments (6)

fnmroberts
19 years ago
The big problem is getting water from any padding under the carpet. Put as many fans blowing across as possible and hope it drys. Otherwise new carpet is probably the only corrective measure left. If it is wet, it will most likely be too heavy to remove in one piece. Good luck.
barbobgyn
19 years ago
We have experienced this problem many times over the past 20 years. We have indoor/outdoor carpet glued down to the the basement floor. We used the wet dry vac to get as much water out as possible and then fans for several days. The only problem is that in the summer, if you don't keep the dehumidifiers running, the basement will smell. I too have worried about mold and in two weeks we are having the carpet store come take out all the carpet (what a job that will be - it is glued down!). Good luck.
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brickeyee
19 years ago
Remove the carpet as quickly as you can.
In some cases you may have to replace the pad, but if you can get the carpet up and out and dry it quickly enough it can be salvaged sometimes.
Call a carpet company if you need help/advice on removing and replacing.
jannie
19 years ago
We've had wet carpets in our basement several times.Due to floods from rain and a broken washing machine hose. You said the problem with the pipe is fixed. And you sucked the carpet dry with a wet-dry vac. Is there padding below it? We have indoor-outdoor carpeting. After you've sucked out the water, blow an ordinary table fan across the carpet to get it totally dry. It should be fine in about 24 hours or less. If it remains damp after that, I would tear it up and replace it. Your homeowners insurance may cover it.
subywu
19 years ago
If your carpet has foam pad, you are best to remove it. No way any amount of vacuuming, dehumidifying, or air movement will suck out the moisture from there any time soon.
puc13
19 years ago
Amav31 - You haven't provided an update - wha'd ya do?

Sorry I didn't catch this earlier; I would have suggested calling either s3rv-pr0 or st@nl3y-st33mer - professionals at this clean up type (that I wish I called after the mother's day fiasco) but apparently nothing can be saved after 72 hours of moisture-damage.

We've had a tough time 'round here in the past 12 months with flooding haven't we?
How'd you fare last May? We lost some family heirlooms in the lower level - though some of our neighbors fared worse (8 feet of water across the street! - we only had 2)

Take care and hope there wasn't too much damage.