How to Keep Wet Carpet From Molding

Once water has made it into your home and gotten your floors and carpet wet you need to deal with it quickly. You don’t have time to sit around and figure out what to do – if you act quickly you can potentially save a lot of time and money.

The steps that you need to take go in order of most water removal to least. Obviously, you start with removing large amounts of water through towels and buckets and move down to dehumidifying and air drying.

If done correctly, and quickly, you may be able to salvage your carpeting and stop the room or area from growing mold:

How to Keep Wet Carpet From Molding | Home Guides | SF Gate Wet carpet can be a perfect breeding ground for mold, especially if the air is humid and the water remains in place longer than 48 hours. It’s important to act quickly in removing moisture from the carpet fibers. Smaller areas drenched by a dropped cup of water can be dried quickly with an absorbent towel, but large or entire sections of a room require multiple drying methods. Removing as much water as possible on the first day of the incident will reduce the chances that mold spores will grow.

Soak up excess water with towels. Open the towels completely, and lay them around the wet sections of the carpeting. Press down with your hands or feet to absorb the water. Replace the towels as they become saturated with water. Keep a bucket nearby to store the towels or to wring the water out so you don’t drip water around other areas of the room.

Make sure your hands are dry and plug in the wet-dry vacuum. Set it to “Dry,” and move it around the wet carpeting. Go over the damp carpeting multiple times in slow, straight lines. Empty the vacuum’s canister as needed.

Open windows throughout the floor and in the room with the wet carpeting to provide a cross breeze. If the air outside is humid, keep the windows closed and run a window air conditioner, if one is in the room, or turn on the central air to reduce the humidity.

Open windows throughout the floor and in the room with the wet carpeting to provide a cross breeze. If the air outside is humid, keep the windows closed and run a window air conditioner, if one is in the room, or turn on the central air to reduce the humidity.

Plug in fans and position them in the doorway of the room or on dry areas of the floor in the direction of the wet carpet. Plug in a dehumidifier to suck in the moisture from the room. Empty the dehumidifier’s water-collection canister as needed.

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