HELP! Big spill on carpet

[ecotoxlady]

Hi everyone! I need help figuring out the best way to clean up a big saltwater spill on a carpet. My husband and I are renting and for reasons unbeknownst to me, my 50 gallon trash can which was holding freshly made up saltwater for water changes fell over and spilled all over the carpet. Being that the tank is 50G and on a stand that would not easily be moved I am loathe to try to move everything out of the room. Has anyone here had experience with a saltwater spill on carpet? I have read mixed things online some recommending saltwater (I'm assuming just plain NaCl in water) for cleaning stains and odors and others describing the horrible and long lasting smell a saltwater spill can cause. What can I do? No place nearby is open this time of night to rent a wet vac and though we have our dehumidifier running and some small fans we really don't know what else to do other than mopping water up with towels. Any suggestions would be extremely appreciated!

 

[143gadgets]

Wish I had some advice for you. These situations can be a pain. I let my RODI overflow and it ruined my kitchen ceiling. Cost me an arm and two legs to fix, but it had to be done. Good luck!

 

[Pazazz]

Buy a wet shop vac and set it up for wet vac... It will take a while to suck up that much water...

 

[IBMGeek]

Never happened to me but if it would i guess i would try those vaccums you rent that work with water, and maybe even add some regular water over it after vacuuming and then vaccum again.

Just an idea no experience with this.

 

[rackyrane]

If there is a Walmart near, it may be open 24 hours. You could probably buy a wet dry vacuum there. You can buy something called odo ban which will help with the smell after you get it up. Good luck.

 

[edwing206]

Never happened to me but if it would i guess i would try those vaccums you rent that work with water, and maybe even add some regular water over it after vacuuming and then vaccum again.

Just an idea no experience with this.

I think this is a good idea, to get the salt out.

 

[killingseed2000]

Pointing fans on the carpet after you get the water up will help it dry the carpet quicker and prevent odor. at most you can replace the padding in that area.

 

[ecotoxlady]

Thanks guys The closest 24 hour walmart is over an hour away from us so we're going to run to Target in the morning and buy one there. They seem to be pretty reasonable in price (about $48 for an 8 gallon one). Hopefully leaving it over night won't cause too much damage.

 

[IBMGeek]

Well actually now that i recall i did have a similiar experience but not with saltwater but on a much bigger scale. Since i live in south florida a few years back our house got flooded from a hurricane. About 1+ feet inside the house. We had to tear out the carpets and everthing. I know you have a dehumidifier running but might also want to add a bunch of containers with damp-rid.

 

[ecotoxlady]

We've got the dehumidifier running full blast and two fans running as well so I'm hoping that should help. Luckily if we do need to replace the padding under the carpet it's quite cheap but hopefully we won't have to worry about that until we move out.

 

[ecotoxlady]

Hmmm, damp-rid. I'll look to see if I can find that in any local stores. Thank you for the suggestion!

 

[SilverSurfer]

If that spilt near the tank u are definatly going to want to move that tank to get under there.

Just on my FW i was doing a WC dozed off (was really late at nite) woke up to waterfall sound the tank overflowed while filling back up, i cleaned most of it up with a towel and fan but came time to move the tank just a 30g discovered mold under it. We hired a carpet cleaner crew to come out to clean the apt. they got it pretty dang good.

Just some advice from my experience on this.

Good luck

 

[IBMGeek]

The damp rid is basically a dehumidifier. You put some of the granules into a container and it extracts the moisture from the air.

 

[Deepwater]

how bout the nearest Homedepot and rent a carpet cleaner ,it will cost you around 40 buck for the day and youll get the soap and other cleaning thing you need. it will clean as well suck up all the water in the carpet
HTH

 

[ecotoxlady]

Well we bought a wet-vac this morning and tried using it but after soaking much of the water up with towels last night, the wet-vac didn't pick up any water. The carpet is definitely still damp but I guess not wet enough for a wet-vac to make a difference. I will try to get some damp-rid before tonight and will continue running the dehumidifier and the fans. There are two open spaces under the stand I should be able to get damp-rid to but there is one middle section that lies flat on the floor. Not sure how I'll get to that. Thank you guys again for all the helpful advise and if you have any other suggestions please let me know

 

[edwing206]

Hair drier?

 

[IBMGeek]

The damp rid will help get the moisture out of the air but i think you should just rent the carpet cleaner vacuum.

 

[jonbar1]

You're in luck, water damage is what I do for a living...along with mold, fire, trauma, and wind damage.

Here's the explanation for the confusion you found: Saltwater (salt and water) can be used to clean some things up, BUT aquarium salt water in our business is classified as black water just like a sewage spill. This is because of all the micro-organisms that live in the water...and they are what will cause a smell in many situations.

In the affected room, what is under the carpet and pad? Hopefully it is concrete. If it is, this is what I would do:

1. Go to the corner of the room with pliers, an awl, or whatever and pull up the corner of the carpet.

2. Go to an equipment rental place and rent a large centrifugal air mover (looks like a big whistle and will cost $20-$50 a day)

3. Cut out the wet pad. Spray a cleaning solution on the concrete under it like bleach and water or microban etc. (mix bleach 1 part to 10 parts water)

4. Stick the air mover in the corner blowing towards the center of the room and turn it on.

5. This will make the carpet 'float' and it will be dry in about a day.

6.TURN ON YOUR AIR CONDITIONING!! Your air conditioner will pull out MUCH more humidity than any dehumidifier you can buy at a retail store...and 50 gallons of water in the air will be very humid!

If you are on a wood floor, or the water wicked into the walls/base plate you will want to focus a lot of attention on them.

Hope this helps, if you have any questions, please ask.

Jon

 

[ecotoxlady]

Hi Jon, Thank you very much for the information. The floor underneath is concrete but the tank and stand are over top off the largest area of the flooding. I would love to avoid moving the tank unless there is no other option because it has finally settled in and the corals are happily growing in there Will there be less of a risk of micro-organisms growing in it since the water was from an RO-DI unit and freshly made? Some of the water did get absorbed by some plywood boards that divide that room from the laundry room. Is there anything we can do to avoid those suffering from water damage? We do have our airconditioning on but the house is always very warm. Luckily the basement is the coolest area of the house so hopefully the dehumidifier will aide in drying the area out. I can say that the 10 gallon holding compartment for the dehumidifier was completely full after running overnight. Any other advise would be really wonderful and thank you very much for chiming in. I definitely think I can't be the only one who has ever faced an issue like this so hopefully others can share their experience or learn from mine

 

[reefermadness]

I dumped about that in RO/DI water when my pressure gauge popped when I was out of the house. Thank the Lord my neighbor is a cool guy, and let his insurance handle things. He did not even get mad. I used a shop vac at first. Then a few hours later I rented a carpet cleaner vacuum. I just sucked the water out with that. Make sure you dry under the padding, otherwise it will smell. Large fans or one of those floor driers works best. Myt house is back to normal, and I replaced some of my molding. I will not fill RO upstairs unless I am home anymore. The best thing is to get it done fast and not let the water sit.