Burst pipes. Drying the carpet and padding?

[SparkyJJO]

Sucked 15+ gallons of water out of my bedroom carpet with a shop vac. It is still pretty damp back there, but the shop vac isn't pulling much more out of it.

I have a space heater in the room blowing across the floor to help dry the carpet, and I want to pick up a dehumidifier tomorrow to try to help out the drying process. Any other tips/tricks to getting the water out of the carpet and padding underneath? The landlord and I realize we might just have to rip it up and replace it all, but I thought I'd ask first.

Thankfully nothing in the bedroom got ruined. I don't leave anything on the floor aside from shoes. My new "bedroom" for now is the living room until the place dries out completely.

 

[sandorski]

Sucked 15+ gallons of water out of my bedroom carpet with a shop vac. It is still pretty damp back there, but the shop vac isn't pulling much more out of it.

I have a space heater in the room blowing across the floor to help dry the carpet, and I want to pick up a dehumidifier tomorrow to try to help out the drying process. Any other tips/tricks to getting the water out of the carpet and padding underneath? The landlord and I realize we might just have to rip it up and replace it all, but I thought I'd ask first.

Thankfully nothing in the bedroom got ruined. I don't leave anything on the floor aside from shoes. My new "bedroom" for now is the living room until the place dries out completely.

Pretty much that. Adding more fans will help. About a year ago I had a similar issue. A carpet cleaner was called in to deal with it and they used an Industrial fan and dehumidifier on the carpet for a couple days. Worked great.


Your space heater is probably not enough. Heat isn't as important as Air movement.

 

[SparkyJJO]

I don't have a fan but I'll grab one tomorrow along with the dehumidifier.

 

[sandorski]

I don't have a fan but I'll grab one tomorrow along with the dehumidifier.

Try to get the biggest you can. The fan that was used on mine was a big assed fan that definitely wasn't a house fan. It was deafening loud and designed just for that purpose.

I wonder if such a thing might be available for Rent at a equipment rental place?

 

[SparkyJJO]

Oh yeah, I've seen those. Basically semi-portable centrifugal blowers. I'll check around and see what I can find.

 

[sandorski]

Oh yeah, I've seen those. Basically semi-portable centrifugal blowers. I'll check around and see what I can find.

Yup, IIRC it even vented the air at floor level through a port.

 

[tortillasoup]

Carpet cleaner and when I say carpet cleaner I mean something like a Bissell. Don't get a POS Hoover or "rug doctor" like @ the grocery store. However if it's between than and nothing, then yeah it's better than nothing. A shop vac is weak sauce and the worst option of them all. Obviously don't add water to the carpet cleaner when using it to suck up the water.

 

[Meghan54]

If you want the best job done, contact Stanley Steemer. Their machines outdo any Bissell or Hoover. And since you're obviously renting, the landlord is on the hook for doing the job correctly, which Stanley Steemer would provide. They'll get the carpet and pad dry, something the Bissell and Hoover consumer carpet cleaners won't do nearly as well, esp. on the pad.

BTW....there are a couple of consumer Hoover carpet cleaner machines that very much outperform the consumer Bissells, the Hoover Dual V Steam Vac and the Hoover Steam Vac. Both outperform the best consumer Bissell, the ProHeat 2X9200, at least at removing moisture. They're all about equal at cleaning, at least from the testing I've read.

And as said, avoid the Rug Doctor stuff. Horrible in all respects.

 

[ConradGoodmanIT]

You need an industrial dehumidifier really.

 

[tortillasoup]

BTW....there are a couple of consumer Hoover carpet cleaner machines that very much outperform the consumer Bissells, the Hoover Dual V Steam Vac and the Hoover Steam Vac. Both outperform the best consumer Bissell, the ProHeat 2X9200, at least at removing moisture. They're all about equal at cleaning, at least from the testing I've read.

And as said, avoid the Rug Doctor stuff. Horrible in all respects.

I don't know about that... For one thing I've had the opposite experience with Hoover and Stanley Steemer. My neighbor had this: http://hoover.com/products/details/fh50220/max-extract-60-pressure-pro-carpet-deep-cleaner/ Hoover carpet cleaner for about 3 months after replacing her cheaper Bissell which she liked but broke due to her stupidly putting the carpet cleaner on the mattress and burning out the brush motor. So during that time I got a refurbished Bissell replacement of the one she broke and I offered her the refurb model if she would return the Hoover model she bought. Well she returned the Hoover and is happy again with the refurb Bissell model I gave her because that Hoover just had very weak suction power compared with the Bissell.

Now as for Stanley Steemer, I've hired them to come out to my house to do some cleaning and I've found their work to be less than satisfactory at least compared to the Job I did with a 10 year old Bissell carpet cleaner I used (It was a new carpet cleaner at the time). After realizing I could do a better job cleaning carpets with a cheap Bissell, I stopped hiring Stanley Steemer to do the carpets.

 

[kitkat22]

If you can, pull the carpet and get it out in the sun. Unless, of course there are several inches of snow and sub-freezing temps.

We had this happen to us a few years back. Ripped out the carpet and placed it in the backyard. Sadly, because we were late in noticing the leak, the padding couldn't be saved and it got replaced. The problem comes from getting the padding completely dry before mold sets in. Any carpet place will get you new pad and re-stretch the carpet.

 

[NetWareHead]

What you want is one of these: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ventamat...-Air-Mover-Floor-Dryer-HVCF-4000UPS/203069674

You can rent a few from home depot and they excel at moving air close to the floor to accelerate drying. Also get a dehumidifier. And a rug cleaner but use it to suck the water out, not to add more. Bring these suggestions to your landlord.

How did the pipe burst? Was it a heating pipe for hot water radiator?

 

[bignateyk]

What's underneath the carpet? Concrete? Wood subfloor? If there's wood underneath, you probably need to pull up the carpet so it doesn't mold.

 

[SparkyJJO]

If you can, pull the carpet and get it out in the sun. Unless, of course there are several inches of snow and sub-freezing temps.

We had this happen to us a few years back. Ripped out the carpet and placed it in the backyard. Sadly, because we were late in noticing the leak, the padding couldn't be saved and it got replaced. The problem comes from getting the padding completely dry before mold sets in. Any carpet place will get you new pad and re-stretch the carpet.

Bolded the problem. A good 6-8 inches out there right now

What's underneath the carpet? Concrete? Wood subfloor? If there's wood underneath, you probably need to pull up the carpet so it doesn't mold.

Wood sub floor.

What you want is one of these: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ventamat...-Air-Mover-Floor-Dryer-HVCF-4000UPS/203069674

You can rent a few from home depot and they excel at moving air close to the floor to accelerate drying. Also get a dehumidifier. And a rug cleaner but use it to suck the water out, not to add more. Bring these suggestions to your landlord.

How did the pipe burst? Was it a heating pipe for hot water radiator?

Good idea.

I think the pipe froze. Cold water line.

 

[ThinClient]

What you want is one of these: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ventamat...-Air-Mover-Floor-Dryer-HVCF-4000UPS/203069674

You can rent a few from home depot and they excel at moving air close to the floor to accelerate drying. Also get a dehumidifier. And a rug cleaner but use it to suck the water out, not to add more. Bring these suggestions to your landlord.

How did the pipe burst? Was it a heating pipe for hot water radiator?

This. You can rent them. It is STRONGLY suggested to get one. They work very well but some dumb box fan isn't going to do shit and you're almost guaranteed to come out with water damage.

Rent one or two as soon as you can. You'll be running them for a day or two.

 

[esquared]

You need an industrial dehumidifier really.

Last year, my upstairs neighbor had a pipe break and dropped water for 30-45 minutes until the building water main was shut off.

My entire carpet and linoleum had to be replaced. I had water getting sucked up into my sheet rock from the floor and a lot of my ceiling had to be replaced. I had a restoration company in within an hour after the water was shut off.

Probably 100-200 gallons of water and it caused nearly 20K in damages. And the subfloor was concrete. With a wood subfloor, you may possibly have worse damage depending on how much total water was out there

There were probably 15 industrial strength fans and 3 or 4 professional dehumidifiers to remove all the water over a course of 5 days.

 

[SparkyJJO]

I'm not sure how long it was spraying. I was gone from Friday night to Sunday night.

Obligatory pic of the primary busted pipe (there is still another one with what seems a pinhole leak we have to track down yet).

 

[NetWareHead]

Wood sub floor? That carpet is going to need to be pulled up and and discarded, unless you can somehow dry it and reinstall it... (really a long shot) What is paramount is to prevent the subfloor and joists from warping as well as leaking water down into ceiling underneath you.

How long has the floor been wet? If you started sucking water out immediately, you may have a chance where the carpet may not need to be ripped out and the wood subfloor may avoid damage. but if it has been wet for a day or so, I would think that carpet has to come out so the subfloor can be exposed and allowed to dry. Any longer and I think it would begin to warp...

How did the pipe break?

 

[NetWareHead]

I'm not sure how long it was spraying. I was gone from Friday night to Sunday night.

Obligatory pic of the primary busted pipe (there is still another one with what seems a pinhole leak we have to track down yet).

That looks like freeze damage judging by the way the ends of the break are forced out.

 

[mmntech]

We had a pipe burst at work a couple weeks ago. They had this big industrial dehumidifier running to dry the carpets, as well as the blower fan.

If it's a small bedroom, a consumer grade unit will probably work, with the blower fan. Bigger room, you may need to rent the industrial one. Personally, I'd rip up the carpet and replace the underpadding. That stuff is like a sponge. It takes forever to dry and is a breeding ground for mould. Especially if it's been left soaking for a while. Then just lay the old carpet back down and give it a good steam clean.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Yup, go rent like three blowers.

 

[surfsatwerk]

Better off replacing the pad. You might be able to save the carpet, but the pad is almost impossible to dry before mold sets in.

 

[schmuckley]

What you want is one of these: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ventamat...-Air-Mover-Floor-Dryer-HVCF-4000UPS/203069674

You can rent a few from home depot and they excel at moving air close to the floor to accelerate drying. Also get a dehumidifier. And a rug cleaner but use it to suck the water out, not to add more. Bring these suggestions to your landlord.

How did the pipe burst? Was it a heating pipe for hot water radiator?

^This;It's how the pros do it.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Update:

Carpet and pad have been yanked and tossed. Blow drying the sub floor along with having a dehumidifier in the room. I can't help but wonder what is underneath that sub floor...

Plumbers should be here tomorrow morning to fix the hot line to the bathroom. For some strange reason the cold water at the tub stopped working so I guess I'll need them to figure that out too.

Fingers crossed nothing else goes wrong.

*edit: update*

Seems the fan and dehumidifier are working. The plywood is drying out. I looked at the plywood seams and it is held down with screws and not nails, so I'm tempted to pull the screws on one of the plywood sheets and look underneath to see if there is any water below there or not.