I have a finished room in a shop that has carpet glued to the floor and about 5 ft of it got soaked (twice) this past winter. Due to the weather it took longer than normal for it to dry so the problem I had afterward was a lingering musty odor. I didn't want to add more moisture to clean it so the only thing I could think of that would remove odor was some NaturesMiracle that I keep around for use with my pets. I misted the whole area of the carpet that got wet and the odor disappeared, and has yet to return.

Continue blotting the area with towels to make sure the seepage isn't continuing and keep the ventilation going until it's dried. I doubt you'll have any problems with the carpet itself once it's dry, but if it continues to stay damp, then you'll have a problem with mold.

That musty odor is mold. Carpet is very easy to dry as itâÂÂs very porous. If it is only the carpet that's wet and this is done right after the water infiltration, extract as much water as you can from the carpet by renting a water extractor or a high powered shop vac.

"I would be my bottom dollar that the framing sill plate behind the wall (if wood) has wicked up water and is also wet." If that's the case, you will need to get air movement behind the wall and dry that area.

Get some fans going with the air movement directly at the wet areas and reposition every day to make sure all areas are dry. The carpet should be dry after 72 hours.

Clean the concrete and carpet after the drying and then reposition the fans to make sure the cleaning solutions have dried.

If you donâÂÂt have a moisture problem, you wonâÂÂt have a mold problem and you wonâÂÂt likely have that musty smell.

Use a shop vac with a wet head to pull as much of the water out as quickly as you can.

If it smells, mold has already started to grow.

You might be able to 'steam clean' the smell out, but it rarely seems to work completely.

My carpet guys recommendation for regular carpet is call him right away.

He will take the carpet up, trash the pad, and try to dry the carpet out.

It works sometimes, but not always.

Letting it 'dry in place (especially with a foam pad underneath) just about never works.
Mold starts in the pad before it can dry.
Even more so on a non-absorbent surface.

This post was edited by brickeyee on Fri, Apr 19, 13 at 13:04

I soaked my hall with fresh water from bathroom pipe leak. It was soppy, I got heavy towels & tromped on them until they were soaked, had to do this several times so had to wash & dry towels to have enough towels to get it done. It did make the carpet smell, nylon backed because of my allergies instead of jute as most carpet was at the time. so surprised it smelled but got 2 fans 1 at each end of hall going right away. After I could stomp on the towels & they were barely damp. I quit & it finished drying & smell was gone. Poster said little water so towels and fans should be all she needs. I had 50 oz foam pad underneath so it was really wet for awhile.

Thanks all!
I'm going to stick with the plan we have in place.

Lots of fans directed at the area - plus the dehumidifier.

I've taken some paper towels and stepped on the area that is damp, and it just barely makes the towel damp. So, my hope is that it is very little water.

Just want to rephrase what I said........I shouldn't have said 'musty' since that would indicate mold, but instead should have said 'sour'. Like the OP, I have industrial indoor/outdoor loop carpet, all nylon.
What I needed at the time was a dehumidifier!

Didn't think about it until now. They had problem with water getting in basement of building we used at times, they went outside & dug out all along that wall about 50 ft long & went down about 3-4 ft & let it dry out & sealed it with something like Thompson Water Seal, I think there is something better than that now but think it was all that was available at the time. After the wall was very dry gave it 2 coats waited couple of days & shoveled dirt back in. They never had a problem after that. You may need a gutter along building edge ,need to extend gutter out from bottom of building or need to put a drain in if you get very heavy rains. Good Luck!