Question about stinky carpet....

[Julpost]

I have a dog, a cat, and 5 kiddos. My living room carpet is disgusting. So, Saturday morning, I enthusiastically begin shampooing the carpet w/ my Bissell machine. Hours later, the carpet is still pretty wet. I can't get it clean...the rinse water is consistently dark brown and gross. This carpet is dirtier than I even imagined. That night, I continue to clean it, but this point, I'm just trying to rinse all the soap residue out and pick up as much water as possible. I stop because I can barely keep my eyes open.

 

The next morning, the carpet is still wet! So we walk on towels all over it and leave it for the day. It was over 90 degrees and our a/c wasn't installed yet. We come home in the afternoon and the house reeks!!!!! It smells like a cats litterbox. The carpet is beginning to dry and the a/c is on now but I am scared of this carpeting. I know how nasty it is and I don't know what to do. Worse, is this how my house is going to smell? We won't be able to replace this carpeting until at least late fall, maybe even next spring.

 

What do I do????

[newbie]

Can you get it professionally cleaned. That will help with smell, but make sure it is a dry clean, you dont want to add any more water to pad.

 

Jeannette

[In The Great White North]

If it's still that wet, it doesn't sound like it was sucking properly. Check all the filters and lines to make sure they aren't clogged.

 

Are you still getting any suds or just yucky water? Even without the dogs and cats, I had to go over the carpet several times and still didn't get "clean" rinse water. Especially if it had been awhile. You may never get it entirely clean but you do have to get all the suds out or it will smell.

 

If it smells like a cat's litter box, it probably has been used as a cat's litter box. Mix some Borax in the water and redo. Or use Nature's Miracle where the smell is strongest, if you can tell. Do a small section at a time, so you can go over it til you aren't sucking up any more water. That will help it dry and there won't be as much humidity in the whole house.

 

 

Failing that, you can tear out the carpeting and pad, make sure the plywood underneath is dry , and paint it. I've seen in painted in black and white squares (soda fountain style), with flowers and borders like an oriental rug, with kid designs (race tracks, Little Mermaid, etc). Make it an art project and let each dc deocrate their room! Have fun with it. You don't have to worry about messing it up because you're planning on carpeting over it anyway.

[Mandamom]

>>>Failing that, you can tear out the carpeting and pad,>>>>>>>

 

We did this to our entire house and we are s-l-o-w-l-y working toward getting laminate flooring into the entire house -- about 1/2 is done so far. It made a HUGE difference to eliminate the carpet and padding -- 20 years old and 2 big dogs, 4 cats and 5 kids over the past 7 years we've lived here.

 

So, if you chose to do it you won't be the only one.

[Once]

A friend of mine has taken up the carpet in her house and painted the plywood a brown color like hardwood floor. It actually looks nice. She rented a machine to sand down the rough edges first before she painted. If it would gross me out beyond words then I would seriously consider this option myself. The black and white tiles idea sound like fun too.

 

Sorry to hear you have had sooo much work so far. I hope things start looking up for you soon.

[nancypants]

A friend of mine has taken up the carpet in her house and painted the plywood a brown color like hardwood floor. It actually looks nice. She rented a machine to sand down the rough edges first before she painted. If it would gross me out beyond words then I would seriously consider this option myself. The black and white tiles idea sound like fun too.

 

Sorry to hear you have had sooo much work so far. I hope things start looking up for you soon.

 

If carpeting can happen in a few months I think I would also choose this as a temporary solution.

[Julpost]

Dh says we don't have plywood under the carpeting....it's particleboard!!

 

I'm thinking of maxing out the Home Depot card and buying carpet squares.

[sweetfeet]

I wonder if something is wrong with your machine. We have a bissell as well and I'll steam and go run errands for 3 hours and come back to dry carpet. But yeah I'd plan on ripping it up. I have 2 fairly neat kids and no pets and my carpet still gets nasty quickly. We rent or I'd have torn it all up by now.

[Julpost]

I found some Simple Solutions Stain and Odor Remover in the laundry room!! It sounds like it works the same way as Natures Miracle, so I think I'm going to try it tomorrow. Should I wait until the floor is dry or just do it asap? It says it needs to soak through to the pad underneath the carpeting, so I don't see that I would need to wait for the floor to dry.

 

My dh will not be happy to come home tomorrow to yet another wet floor! I'll check for clogs to make sure the machine is pulling up as much water as possible.

 

I am so excited!! There's hope! There's hope!!

[In The Great White North]

Particle board is not as "pretty" but a coat or two of polyurethane could make it livable too.

 

Good luck with the Simple Solutions stuff.

[Lolly]

If you remove the carpeting only to find that the subfloor is stained with urine you will need to deal with that. You can try treating it with special pet stain enzymes or paint over it with something like Kilz, but the only way to be sure it is gone is to replace the subfloor. (btdt) If you don't treat it there, you have a good chance of coming up with the same odor when you clean the new carpet. :eek:

[Soph the vet]

If you remove the carpeting only to find that the subfloor is stained with urine you will need to deal with that. You can try treating it with special pet stain enzymes or paint over it with something like Kilz, but the only way to be sure it is gone is to replace the subfloor. (btdt) If you don't treat it there, you have a good chance of coming up with the same odor when you clean the new carpet. :eek:

:iagree: Cat pee is the worst thing for flooring. Get rid of the carpet.

We had to replace all the carpet in this house. It took 3 years and much expense but the health benefit was worth it.

[newbie]

>>>Failing that, you can tear out the carpeting and pad,>>>>>>>

 

We did this to our entire house and we are s-l-o-w-l-y working toward getting laminate flooring into the entire house -- about 1/2 is done so far. It made a HUGE difference to eliminate the carpet and padding -- 20 years old and 2 big dogs, 4 cats and 5 kids over the past 7 years we've lived here.

 

So, if you chose to do it you won't be the only one.

 

In the new house, we had all carpet pulled up and they sprayed natures miracle. But I think was concrete. Than placed laminate. NO more carpets. Especially with kid and animals.

 

Jet(getting tired of writin out long name.)