Spilled a lot of water on the carpet, saw Internet suggestion to put baking soda on it to absorb the moisture, which I did. Was told to vacuum it up…but it’s past 1 AM and there are neighbors downstairs. Is it OK to leave the damp baking soda on the carpet overnight?
Ooh, I don’t know. I think it’ll be ok til morning. It may harden a bit. You make have to brush it up before vac-ing. Good luck.
Sure, it’s fine. Don’t know if it’ll absorb liquid, but it’ll absorb odors.
Next time use an absorbent towel and press it into the carpet, to dry up as much liquid as you can. Then put a fan blowing on it.
Yep. It can stay on for up to 24 hours.Let us know how it works.
Baking soda is essentially harmless on fibers. Yes, it is an absorbant, but the problem I foresee is that area will be “shedding” white powder for ages.
Beckdawrek’s idea is probably best, if the spill was plain water. If you have any microfiber towels (remember the Sham-Wow commercials?), those would do a better job of soaking up the wet. After you have soaked up as much as you can, put down a thick pad of towels and then place something HEAVY on top. Let sit overnight.
If you ever spill oil on carpet (EGAD!) then baking soda is perfect. Use you fingers and massage the baking soda deep into the carpet fibers. When the baking soda has absorbed as much as it can, vacuum completely. The spot can then be shampooed. Voila! The baking soda plus the oil combine to make soap!
~VOW
I have left baking soda on carpet overnight to absorb smells and moisture. It’ll be fine. In fact, you want to let it sit for a little while at least so it has time to work. You will probably have to vacuum it a couple times, though, to really get it all out. It settles.