Carpet Mold

jhunter46

My wife and I both have asthma and it's usually in check, but the last week or so it's been acting up.

Prior to that we had a small aquarium leak. Our filter ran over and about a gallon of water leaked onto the carpet a drop at a time over night. When I caught it I moved the aquaruim and laid down some towels and got up all the water I could. Once it was dry I moved the aquarium back into place.

Well, the problem reoccurred last night, but I caught it before it got bad. I moved the aquarium again and found a patch of black, which I can only believe is mold. The patch isn't huge, maybe a foot by six inches and it's splotchy, not solid.

I want to try and take care of it on my own, because we have cats and didn't pay the pet deposit and there is only six month left on our lease.

I'm going to try and get a steam cleaner and clean the area really well, maybe use a water and vinegar solution as well. I'm just worried it the mold is down in the padding it might resurface. I'm also changing aquaruim filters, Hang on back filters ftl.

Has anyone had any experience in cleaning carpet, or any advice they can offer?

Ruckus

Unfortunately the problem is probably down in the padding. The best way to take care of it is to pull up the carpet in that area (hopefully a corner) and replace the affected padding. Once you replace the padding you should be able to get away with steamcleaning the carpet.

Also, repair or replace your aquarium.

jhunter46

That's something I never thought of. I've never pulled up carpet before, but it shouldn't be to hard, this is right in a corner. I bet I could just cut away at the pad and replace that area and then put the carpet back down.

Ruckus

jhunter46 wrote:

That's something I never thought of. I've never pulled up carpet before, but it shouldn't be to hard, this is right in a corner. I bet I could just cut away at the pad and replace that area and then put the carpet back down.

ya, the only trick is that new padding might be a little bit thicker than the existing padding, and you need a special tool to push the carpet down into the corner under the trim when you're done.

ALocksly

http://www.toxic-black-mold-info.com/

you get on that

Lemming

Yeah, you're gonna want to remove it all. Edit: Uh, I meant just the section with the mold, not the entire carpet :P

Make sure you wear a mask or respirator of some sort, because you don't want to breathe it. Once you're done, definitely wash the clothes you're wearing very well. Also, when you remove the carpet, put it straight into a plastic bag of some sort, if it'll fit.

Make sure to clean the area around it really well so the mold spores don't regrow.

Also, make sure it didn't get into the walls or anything. If you have drywall, and the mold is near the wall, there's a good chance that it may have, and you're going to want to remove it and repatch it.

SatanIsMyMotor

You either need to replace the carpet or get a professional in to clean it. It's not the sort of thing you can just rub out.

jhunter46

I took up that corner of the carpet when I got home. The black came up pretty well from this morning. The padding under the carpet was wet, but not moldy so I cut away the wet portion and I'm going to let it dry.

I think I'll steam clean it later this week and then let it dry again and then replace the pad and put the carpet back down.