I agree, rent yourself an industrial dehumidifier. IF you can’t find one, try asking the fire department. I’d suggest you at least get rid of the carpet padding. That’s where most of your water will sit and mildew. The carpet itself will dry alot faster, too.
Good luck!
Baloo, sorry to here about your trouble. I had almost the same thing happen to me about 10 years ago. A pipe under the kitchen sink burst while we were at work and the kids were in school. My house is on a slab too, but I had a wood floor in the den so I had to get the insurance company involved.
The first thing the guy that came out to do the clean up did was pull up the carpet and throw away all the pad that was wet. Then dry up all the water off the concrete with a wet/dry vac. Then got 2 big fans and left them blowing across the carpet for 2 or 3 days.
I’d go to WalMart and pick up a couple of cheap box fans and just let them blow on it for a while. But get rid of the pad.
Good luck,
Jim
Baloo-
I talked to my dad just now, and he pretty much said what I posted earlier. Since you plan to eventually replace the carpet and pad anyway, I won’t post what he said about drying it. Check to make sure you got all the water, though, especially under the heavier pieces of furniture.
He also said this: if you do pull up your carpet to let it dry underneath, be careful-- the carpet will probably shrink a little as it dries. Not a problem, really, since you plan to replace it, but it’s worth keeping in mind.
Good luck to you.
Baloo, if you still have squishy carpets, you might try renting a carpet cleaner from the local grocery or hardware store. They are designed to vacuum water from carpeting. You could put the bleach/water mix in the spray tank, but I think it would have to be down on the carpet longer than what the cleaner would normally leave it there, for it to do any good.
Also, even if you can’t afford the deductable now, file a claim with the insurance company today, or at least notify them. They need to know about this now. Put yourself in their shoes - if someone walked in the door today and said, “my carpet was ruined 5 months ago, and I’d like you to replace it now”, would you believe them? This way, an adjuster can see the damage now, document and report it, and then it’s on file, even if they don’t cut the check for 5 months.
So do we hold a bake sale now to raise funds for Baloo’s carpeting?
I’ll be mostly incommunicado for the next few days. Sympathetic relatives (well, one anyway) sent money to assist with geting over the $500 deductible hurdle.
There is no carpet anywhere in the house (d*mn! There’s linoleum under there!), and the master bedroom, Son’s BR, and the computer room have all the stuff in the center, with fans and dehumidifiers running. They’re gonna replace the carpet. When it comes time to select a color for the replacement, I think I’ll go in the back yard and get a handful of dirt & tell 'em “Match this.”
~~Baloo