The before and after on this basement carpet rescue blew my mind

Had a job last month in Evanston, Illinois. Basement carpet looked like a dog lived down there for 10 years. Stains, smells, the works. Client wanted to rip it all out. I told her to let me try a hot water extraction with a truck mount first. 45 minutes later it looked brand new. She almost cried. Has anyone else saved a carpet that looked completely doomed?

3 comments

3 Comments

allen.charlie12d ago

Water extraction won't fix the mold growing underneath that carpet.

hollyc9211d ago

Oh man, you're so right about that. I mean, I had basically the same thing happen in my own house a couple years back. We thought we had it all dried out but the smell just kept getting worse. Lifted the carpet and the pad was literally disintegrating in spots. Had to cut out three sections of subfloor where it had rotted through. Total nightmare. If you're dealing with this, definitely get a good dehumidifier running under there for at least a week after you pull the carpet up, and don't skip testing the subfloor with a moisture meter before you put anything new down.

kelly_west7411d ago

Has anyone actually pulled up a corner of that carpet to see what's underneath? Because I swear, @allen.charlie, you're spot on about the mold being the real problem. I had this exact same thing happen with a rental property I owned back in 2017. We did all the water extraction, ran dehumidifiers for days, but the smell never really went away. Finally got curious and lifted the carpet edge near the wall, and there it was - black mold creeping along the tack strip and padding. Finding that stuff early is the only reason we didn't have to rip out the whole subfloor. So yeah, no amount of extraction is going to fix what's already growing down there.