When it comes to water, however, what’s the big deal? It’s just water, so it’ll evaporate. Besides, water is colourless and odourless, so out of sight, out of mind. Unfortunately, water can be one of the most damaging types of stain your carpet can endure, and the fact that water stains can be colourless and odourless (for the moment) can make it hard to remove before real damage can take place.

The Danger of Water Stains

In many cases, water stains leave behind no colour or odour at first, but sometimes they will in the case of grey water flooding (i.e. backflow). In either case, it’s urgent that action be taken immediately. Water stains can embed themselves deep within the carpet’s piling and attract bacteria and mould. Not only are these unhealthy and dangerous for respiratory reasons, but they’ll also begin to smell foul and become larger as more moisture enters the home.

The DIY Method

Cleaning up water stains doesn’t need to be difficult, but in order to do so effectively you are constrained by:

1. Time: how long has the water been permitted to remain in the carpet?
2. Severity: is the stain only in a spot or corner of the carpet or has a large section (or the entirety) of the carpet been stained?

If less than a day has passed since sustaining damage and the stain is of a manageable size, look for a clean and dry towel, cleaning solution (detergent and dish soap can work), white vinegar, and clean water.

Blot up as much moisture as possible with the cloth. Avoid scrubbing harshly as this can damage the fibres. Instead, apply pressure on and around the stain to ‘lift’ up the piling. 

In a small container, mix in a teaspoon of cleaning solution to water and mix well. Soak the towel, rinse, and remove residue. Next, gently scrub around and on the affected area in a dabbing motion. This should remove most stains effectively.

For tougher stains, add just a pinch of white vinegar to a container of water and either spray the solution directly onto the stain or dab at the stain with the cloth dipped in the solution. Vinegar’s pH should help to lift and neutralise the stain.

Allow ventilation to air dry. Fans and dehumidifiers can help if left around the affected area.

Advanced Carpet Remediation Solutions

Whenever the extent of the stain is more than you can handle, and/or the stain has been permitted to sit for a day or longer, mould and bacterial growth become inevitable without immediate professional assistance.

It is possible that sections of the carpet will need to be removed entirely, or simply the carpet’s backing needs replacing. Either way, complete carpet replacement is often the last resort and as such water damaged carpet remediation experts should be contacted to save time, money, and bring your carpet back to life.

Electrovac

The friendly experts at Electrovac have the equipment and expertise to solve water damaged carpet problems of all sizes, so endeavour to get in touch and learn more about how we can help save your carpet after a flood.

• Install Air Quality Monitors

One particular threat to the respiratory system of everyone in your home is the presence of carbon monoxide. Install a carbon monoxide detector within your home to monitor and alert the owner if carbon monoxide levels are too high. These relatively inexpensive devices can be a life-saver.

Another test that you may wish to perform is radon testing. Active and passive testing are available, with the former being the more practical. Passive radon detection can be impractical for homeowners, but active testing can help identify problems that may exist due to radon.

What is radon? It’s a radioactive gas that seeps into the home, naturally, from the decay of soils underneath the home. It’s colourless and odourless as well as a source of lung cancer, which is all the more reason to have a radon test performed if you’re ever in doubt.

• Maintain Appropriate Humidity Levels

Too much humidity is unbearable, but it’s also an ideal breeding ground for dust mites and mould. Simply keeping windows open won’t necessarily help, either. Excessive humidity can be controlled with a dehumidifier on particularly humid days, and providing better airflow with open windows can help during less humid days.

Aim for humidity levels between 30-50 per cent. Dust mites and allergens won’t tolerate such humidity, so you’ll be keeping your home safer and cleaner by lowering humidity to these levels. Any more introduces the opportunity for dust mites and allergens to settle and to create problems later on such as mould and respiratory problems.

• Keep Carpets Squeaky Clean

One of the most practical steps to improving air quality within the home is to keep carpets clean at all times. It’s true that carpets provide excellent comfort and warmth in a home, but they’re also especially prone to accumulating dust, dirt, and bacteria deep inside the piling.

Regular vacuum cleaning with a HEPA filter and occasional steam cleaning can keep a carpet in good condition as well as improving air quality within the home. By keeping bacterial growth under control with regular cleaning, your air quality will significantly improve.

This problem is exacerbated if your carpet has sustained water damage. Water, humidity, and time are all that are necessary for all sorts of bacterial growth that you’d rather not have to deal with. Unfortunately, depending on the scale of the damage and the duration of exposure, carpets may either need to be replaced in sections or entirely.

If this should occur, it’s crucial that you contact a water damage carpet repair expert as soon as possible. Not only are water-damaged carpets unsightly, but they’re also a potential health hazard that will greatly affect the air quality within the home.

Electrovac

If ever your carpet sustains water damage, don’t delay. Contact the carpet restoration experts at Electrovac to have your carpet professionally cleaned and refreshed.

• Use a Good Knife

Specialised carpet cutting knives are the best option for cutting through carpets thanks to their robust handles and sharp blades designed for cutting through thick carpet. These are relatively inexpensive and are great to have around the home, but what can you do if you don’t have one on hand?

In a pinch, sharp X-Acto knives and razors can also get the job done with care and caution. No matter which knife you choose, ensure that it’s sharp before starting to cut. Dull knives are a recipe for disaster and will make the job a lot sloppier, so choose a sharp knife to ensure that you’re getting a clean cut.

• Start With a Clean Cut

The first cut into the carpet should never be done with the point of the blade penetrating into the carpet and being dragged across the floor. The reason is because the blade’s edge will get dragged across the floor, which can leave scratches, but more importantly will dull the blade to the point of wearing it out before the job is even done with.

Instead, cut a small section carefully without worrying too much about penetrating through the carpet’s base. Once the slit is wide enough to raise up by hand, use one hand to hold that section of carpet whilst cutting along with the knife. Doing it this way should preserve the blade’s sharpness by preventing the edge from scratching against the subfloor.

• Plan Out Sections

The initial cut (using the above method) should proceed from somewhere in the middle of the carpet on the frontiers of the damaged area towards the floorboards along the wall. Slice along the slit, raise that section, then continue until a straight line reaches towards the wall.

After reaching the wall, raise up the carpet from the backing and begin cutting again away from the wall so that you end up with a rectangular section that can be cleanly removed and replaced.

• Disposal of Removed Carpet Sections

If you’re removing a single section of carpet, cutting a rectangle is an efficient way of not only disposing of the old carpet but it’s also ideal for cutting replacement carpet as the dimensions are easy to measure and cut.

Multiple sections, however, should be cut in relatively similar sizes so that each removed piece of carpet can be stacked atop another for easy disposal. Furthermore, rectangular carpet segments can be rolled up for more compact transport.

Electrovac

Cutting out water damaged carpet sections can be a lot of work, but it’s also an important job to prevent mould and bacteria from spreading deep in the carpet and on the floor beneath. Contact Electrovac to have your water damaged carpet repaired and replaced efficiently. Our team of water damage experts can deal with all sorts of damage, from backed-up home water supply to flooding.

1. What Type of Carpet You Have

One of the most important things you need to consider in achieving a dry carpet is the type of carpet it is. Carpets obviously come in all different sizes and lengths but you’ll also want to bear in mind the density. Measured in fibres per square inch/cm, denser, thicker carpets won’t dry as fast as less thick carpets.

Furthermore, longer carpet lengths can also obstruct the free flow of air and restrict the suction ability of many vacuum dryers, so don’t be surprised if it takes longer for these types of carpets to dry.

In general, short carpets that aren’t too dense and have excellent airflow via air gaps can dry in less than an hour, all other things held constant. If it takes longer than 10 hours, there may be other problems present that will require the assistance of a carpet cleaning professional.

2. Outside Temperature

When heavy-duty hoses and equipment are required to thoroughly clean a carpet, outdoor temperatures begin to matter a lot more. Often, these devices are portable and as such need to be run from the carpet cleaner’s vehicle all the way into the home. If outdoor temperatures are low, such as less than 10 degrees, then even if the machine is pumping hot water much of the heat will be dissipated depending on the distance from which the hose needs to run.

Ideally, ensure that the carpet cleaner can park on your property as close to the home’s entrances as possible to reduce the loss of heat and to ensure that sufficient heat treatment can be applied.

3. Air Flow

Once all of the carpet cleaning work has been completed, you’ll want to ensure that the room in which the carpet is found has plenty of dry air flowing throughout. Hot, humid air won’t help and can promote moisture and bacterial growth, so instead let in dry air and allow it to circulate fully through the room.

Dehumidifiers and fans used in tandem can do an excellent job in humid climates and also in dry climates when a little extra dehumidification is required.

4. Type of Stain or Damage Sustained

Water can seem harmless enough elsewhere in the home, but water can be devastating to carpets due to its ability to accelerate mould and bacterial growth if left untreated. Other stains such as urine can also create foul odours and be difficult to remove if left to set, so it’s worthwhile noting what type of damage has been sustained and how bad the situation is. Naturally, completely soaked carpets will take a lot longer to dry than ones that have only partially been exposed to water.

Contact Electrovac Today

Carpet repairs and replacement don’t need to be a hassle, but they should be done properly to promote good quality air in the home and to last a long time as well. That’s why, if you’re in Melbourne you should endeavour to contact Electrovac at the first sign of water damage or if you feel that your carpet needs to be replaced.

Here are some quick tips to vacuum carpets the proper way:

• Avoid Quick Back-and-Forth Movements

Most people are in the habit of performing quick, abrupt back and forth movements. Not only is this using a lot more energy than necessary to get the job done, but it’s also quite ineffective at removing dirt and debris. Instead, start at the door or entrance to the room and go slowly and gently against the wall in one long line. This will not only keep your job consistent but it will also allow you to thoroughly vacuum every centimetre of carpet.

• Go Against the Grain

The nap of the carpet often falls in one direction. If your carpet has a tendency to ‘fall’ to one side, start by going in the opposite direction. This will lift up the carpet a little and expose some of the deeper parts that are otherwise simply passed over. Not only does the deep part of the carpet attract more serious buildups of mould and bacteria, but it’s also prone to accumulating more if improper vacuum cleaning fails to remove topical dust and dirt on a routine basis.

Once a long strip has been cleaned against the grain, pass the vacuum over the same strip again, this time going with the nap’s direction. A second pass over a lifted carpet will pick up a lot more than simply passing over it lightly. Once the first strip is completed, continue vacuuming parallel strips whilst always overlapping with the previous strip a little.

The reason this is important is because a vacuum cleaner doesn’t clean across the full width of the head. A few centimetres on either end are simply plastic bezels that don’t provide any suction at all.

• Create a Cross Pattern

If vacuum cleaning is a fortnightly chore, try to get into the habit of cleaning rooms in a perpendicular direction every time. This means that if your first cleaning was in north-south strips, the next clean should be done in east-west strips. Mixing up the direction ensures that at least once a month, the entire surface of the carpet is being cleaned thoroughly.

Alternatively, this can be completed in one clean in order to aggressively pick up as much dirt and debris as possible. Surely this will take twice as long, but it will also yield great results.

• Dealing with Water Damage

If some water has been spilt on the carpet, it can be absorbed easily with a cloth without much to worry about. More serious damage, however, such as sustained water damage for prolonged periods of time, will not be as easy to remove. Firstly, a traditional household vacuum cleaner is not normally equipped to deal with water. An industrial vacuum cleaner used specifically for removing water will need to be used. If your carpet has sustained water damage, leave it to an expert to assess and deal with the situation. This can be far safer and less costly than trying to do it yourself.

Come to Electrovac When Cleaning Just Won’t Do

Carpet cleaning doesn’t need to be a big challenge, but it’s something that can be done more efficiently with a few simple techniques. If water has damaged your carpet, however, simple cleaning won’t get the job done. Contact the experts at Electrovac to have your carpet repaired or replaced safely and efficiently.

Dealing with carpets in humid environments requires an approach that differs from what would be done in drier climates. In other words, dealing with a damaged carpet in Melbourne will pose unique challenges that may be less difficult to deal with if it were to happen somewhere like Alice Springs that experiences a much drier climate. Here are some carpet care tips to help when dealing with humidity in the warmer seasons.

Humidity in Melbourne

Over such a vast landmass, Australia is subject to wide climatic variation. Melbourne is no different and has its own distinct climate. Melbourne has an average year-round humidity of 52 per cent, with the months between April and September having the highest humidity rates (peaking in at over 60 per cent in June and July). Humidity over 50 per cent is fairly high, but over 55 per cent is an ideal breeding point for mould. Melbourne also tends to experience high humidity after experiencing hot weather.

Dealing with Humidity

Humidity is not, in itself, a problem. People around the world choose to live in humid environments, and many will still have carpeted areas in their properties. What is problematic, however, is the mismanagement of space in the home. Humid environments require proper ventilation and dehumidification to prevent the growth of mould and bacteria. Whenever humid air is trapped within the home, mould will inevitably grow. Don’t neglect that our own bodies give off plenty of humidity, too. If you spend a lot of time indoors, ensure that your home is properly ventilated to release the moisture given off by your own body.

Dehumidification and Fans

Water-damaged carpet can often be brought back to a healthy condition if the water’s been soaked up properly and in a timely manner. That won’t remove moisture trapped deep down in the roots of the carpet, however. That’s when dehumidifiers and fans should be placed in the room, furniture removed, and allowed to operate day and night to thoroughly remove all moisture from the carpet as best as possible. In humid environments, keep doors and windows closed during the daytime to reduce the introduction of humid air into the room.

Dehumidifiers are ideal to have on hand in any case, but they’re particularly useful for removing moisture from carpets during humid periods. Always ensure that the moisture trap is dumped frequently. Place the dehumidifier in the same room as the moisture and allow it to do its work.

When The Best Still Isn’t Good Enough

Running fans and dehumidifiers day and night can work miracles on your carpet’s health, but there are times when it just won’t do. Water-damaged carpet that’s been allowed to set and to grow mould in its early stages will need more than cleaning and airing out; carpet replacement may be necessary in cases of serious damage. Whenever your carpet has sustained prolonged exposure to water damage, the chances of ending up with a ruined carpet – whether in parts or in whole – is greatly increased. 

Electrovac Carpet Replacement Solutions

When your carpet’s sustained water damage, don’t delay. Contact a qualified professional such as Electrovac to bring your beautiful carpet back to life.

Here are some things to consider when evaluating the safety of carpet cleaning products:

• Does the Product Contain Dangerous Chemicals?

Since carpet cleaning products are sold over the counter at most major retailers and hardware shops, surely they don’t contain any harmful chemicals? That’s not always the case. Bleach and drain cleaning products, for example, are potentially lethal if used improperly, so it always pays to ensure that you’re using the product as directed.

In terms of chemicals, most carpet cleaning products are generally safe. By safe, that means that they don’t pose a serious health hazard after they’ve been applied. The following chemicals should be avoided:

• Perchloroethylene: this popular cleaning chemical may lead to nausea and dizziness if inhaled. It may also cause liver and kidney damage. Always use as directed, but avoid it and opt for a product without perchloroethylene if possible.
• Naphthalene: this derivative product is created from coal tar and is particularly efficient at removing dirt and grime as well as being used as a pesticide. Exposure to this chemical may cause nausea, nervous system damage, vomiting, and liver damage.
• Butyloxy ethanol: breathing in or coming into contact with this chemical can lead to nerve, liver, and kidney damage.

It should be noted that these chemicals appear in trace amounts when they are used and may thus not pose a serious threat. Still, for those looking for safer alternatives, there are many that are available that do not use these chemicals.

• Does the Product Dry Quickly?

Commercial products that require soaking the carpet and scrubbing need to be able to dry quickly in order to prevent moisture and water from remaining in the carpet for too long. No matter how good the product is, if it takes days to dry, mould and mildew will have ample opportunity to set in, creating more problems than from the outset. Look for products that are capable of drying in a matter of hours rather than days.

• Enquire About Green Options

All-natural cleaning products are now widely available and often cost negligibly more than traditional, chemical-based cleaning products. Often, these non-toxic cleaning materials provide just the same (sometimes, even better) results, removing dirt and dust efficiently as they’re applied. Better yet, they won’t cause any harm to you or your family (including pets).

• Ask Your Carpet Cleaning Provider

Any reputable carpet cleaning service should be able to tell you which products they use. Transparency between carpet cleaners and their clients allows them to build trust with one another and to understand the needs of everyone involved. Quite often, professional cleaners use products that come from distributors and use compounds that may be unfamiliar to you. Regardless, ask if their products contain the above toxic chemicals, and if so, in what quantities? Do they provide “green” cleaning services? What is the company’s reputation? All of these questions will help you feel more comfortable hiring a professional carpet cleaner.

Contact Electrovac Today

Water damage wreaks havoc on carpets, and only the most rigorous replacement and cleaning solutions will be able to salvage a water damaged carpet. Trust the experts at Electrovac if your carpet has sustained water damage.

Mould is a Fungal Growth

Fungi are unique in that they prefer damp environments to sunny, well-ventilated ones. Fungal spores can be found both indoors and outdoors, but they tend to be found in poorly ventilated homes on the walls. Common places to find mould include kitchens and bathrooms (including in tile and grout) as well as in carpets and floors after flooding.

It’s easy to spot at times, such as when it’s a patchy black or green on the walls. Often, however, it isn’t easy to spot at all. Grey, brown, or even orange patches can sometimes be found in places you may not be looking at every day.

Mould is Dangerous

You’ve likely already heard about the dangers of mould, but it bears mentioning just how dangerous it really can be. For those suffering from chronic respiratory illnesses such as asthma, symptoms may be triggered and asthma attacks may happen more frequently. Furthermore, allergies may be felt more acutely with exposure to mould.

Since mould enters the respiratory system, it doesn’t matter if one touches it or not, it poses a threat no matter where it’s found in the home. The best way to improve health within the home is to eliminate the mould at its source.

Mould Needs to Breathe to Thrive

If mould is already in your home, it is going to grow and fester if it isn’t controlled. Moisture and damp will encourage spores to grow, so provide as dry and well-ventilated an environment as possible to discourage its growth.

The simplest method of controlling mould growth is to open windows and doors and to promote sufficient ventilation in the home. Dehumidifiers may also help to reduce moisture in the home. Of course, the best method is to eliminate the mould entirely.

Flooded Carpets Attract Mould

Whenever flooding occurs, it’s important to assess the situation carefully. Carpets and floors can sustain some damage from water, but prolonged exposure from grey water will most certainly result in plenty of mould growing deep within.

Although mould may not always be easy to identify in a carpet, it can be detected by a musky, foul odour emanating from the carpet. If your carpet has been subjected to flooding, it’s best to contact a flood damage specialist such as Electrovac to ensure that the carpet’s mould is under control and to repair or replace damaged carpet.

What About Bleach and Vinegar?

Chlorine bleach and white vinegar are often touted as solutions to mould. While effective, there are downsides as well. Bleach is best used on non-porous surfaces, such as walls and floors. This makes it ineffective at thoroughly killing mould that’s embedded deep in furniture or carpets. Moreover, bleach inhalation can also be dangerous and ineffective, especially if the bleach is old and has lost much of its chlorine content.

Similarly, vinegar can be effective at dealing with small mould patches around the home but it may not be the best option for dealing with flooded carpets. In these cases, it’s best to contact a professional.

Kick Out Mould with Electrovac

Don’t take your chances with mould around the home. Contact Electrovac to have your carpets repaired or replaced in the event of flooding. Our experts can safely remove and dispose of mouldy carpets and improve the air quality in your home with clean carpet.