Carpet And salt water

[Treefer32]

My first time setting up the tank I had a couple floods that went under 2x4s wall frames and into carpeted areas. I've since dried everything out, shampooed the carpets, and done my best to clean things up. However, I've got one spot where salt water kept showing through the carpet. I pulled up the carpet today and the entire pad is soaked, probably has been for a while. The carpet is complete dry. Pad I could probably ring water out of.

It's a large basement family room with concrete under, do I need to replace all the padding or find where the pad is dry and cut it out from there?

Also, will salt water mold? There's salt stains in the carpet....

Lastly, how do I know if something is slowly leaking into the carpet? I can't find any leaks from the tank or the sump. Everywhere I look it's dry, not damp. It's a 350 gallon system, so, if there was a slow drip somewhere, I wouldn't even know. It takes me two months to go through 55 gallons of top off water. I'm second guessing everything now. How long would a pad stay wet? If the carpet is dry? And would it mold?

 

[mfinn]

I would just cut out the wet pad. It would probably mold if left under a carpet.
If you plan on reusing the carpet, I would do some extra rug cleaning to try and remove the stains.
I had several leaks onto my carpet over a 12-15 year period and never saw mold.

 

[Flippers4pups]

My first time setting up the tank I had a couple floods that went under 2x4s wall frames and into carpeted areas. I've since dried everything out, shampooed the carpets, and done my best to clean things up. However, I've got one spot where salt water kept showing through the carpet. I pulled up the carpet today and the entire pad is soaked, probably has been for a while. The carpet is complete dry. Pad I could probably ring water out of.

It's a large basement family room with concrete under, do I need to replace all the padding or find where the pad is dry and cut it out from there?

Also, will salt water mold? There's salt stains in the carpet....

Lastly, how do I know if something is slowly leaking into the carpet? I can't find any leaks from the tank or the sump. Everywhere I look it's dry, not damp. It's a 350 gallon system, so, if there was a slow drip somewhere, I wouldn't even know. It takes me two months to go through 55 gallons of top off water. I'm second guessing everything now. How long would a pad stay wet? If the carpet is dry? And would it mold?

A carpet shampooer as well as a shop vac will pull most of the water up. Yes, wet saltwater will cause mold if left wet for long periods of time.

Running fans over the area will help "wick" the moisture out, maybe not all, but overtime it will help.

If there is a small leak, with some very close inspection, you should be able to find it.

 

[Treefer32]

I've had fans on it before 24 /7 for months, and wet vacced and shampooed the carpet.

 

[mfinn]

I've had fans on it before 24 /7 for months, and wet vacced and shampooed the carpet.

On my dark colored carpet I had while salt stains and really nothing you could see on light colored carpet.

 

[Treefer32]

On my dark colored carpet I had while salt stains and really nothing you could see on light colored carpet.

Nice. I'm thinking of replacing the carpet with tile in front of the tank and replacing the padding under a larger section of the carpet. Depending on cost. My wife will kill me if I have to spend $1000 to fix this. Best case scenerio is probably to just replace the pad and restretch the carpet, then clean the carepet. It comes out pretty clean if it had a dry pad under it.

 

[TriggerFinger]

It sounds like you might have a leak if the pad is soaking wet and you run fans all the time. Personally, I would find the leak before ripping up and replacing the pad. You may notice salt creep in odd places. Check your plumbing for salt creep and around all the tank seals.

 

[mfinn]

Nice. I'm thinking of replacing the carpet with tile in front of the tank and replacing the padding under a larger section of the carpet. Depending on cost. My wife will kill me if I have to spend $1000 to fix this. Best case scenerio is probably to just replace the pad and restretch the carpet, then clean the carepet. It comes out pretty clean if it had a dry pad under it.

First before replacing anything, make absolutely sure there is no leak.
Then if you do replace anything in front of the tank, make sure it is a waterproof application.