Hi,I am a tenant and had a leakage from a dishwasher. now carpet is wet and smelly.around 1 square meter is the carpet area affected. I told the landlord about it. My question is should I remove the carpet myself in the meantime just to prevent mould from building up?As long as I took pictures I am safe doing it if landlord does not send someone to fix within say 48 hours?Regardless, is it not the best thing to do anyway - remove the wet section and put in garbage until they come to install new carpet? is trying to dry and clean it instead an option?THANKS
If you have access to a wet dry vac, then there is no need to remove/replace carpet.
Get awet vacuum and dry it up
No, don't go tearing out carpet. What I would do is use a wet/dry vac or carpet shampooer and suck up all the moisture first, then go back over it with a hot, soapy, solution with just a small amount of bleach. The bleach shouldn't hurt the color of the carpet if you use trace amounts, but it will kill any mold or fungus that might start forming. The carpet shouldn't have to be torn up, if properly cleaned like the above poster stated.
Since you are a tenant, the carpet is the owner's property. You didn't mention if the wet spot smelled like mold so I am going to assume your answer would be yes. Since it has not been wet for very long from you, it may have gotten wet and moldy from a prior tenant and when it got wet from you, it reactivated the mold smell. The important thing is to get the water off the carpet from the top and under. If you have a wet/dry vac, vacuum as much as you can. You can also put towels down on the wet carpet and step on it. Keep doing that until you get up as much moisture as you can. What professionals do once that is done is they lift the carpet up and have a fan facing the wet carpet. The moving air will help dry it. You should not lift the carpet up yourself so you don't risk doing any damage to the carpet and have to pay for it yourself. As a tenant I would suggest you let the landlord take care of it. Make sure you put it in writing, depending on how responsive your landlord is. Date the letter and keep a copy for yourself. If the landlord does not take care of it within a reasonable period of time, you can call a professional and deduct it from your rent. If you do not have all of it in writing, you are not protected by tenant laws. I'm not sure what is considered a reasonable period of time for wet carpet.
