Is It Necessary To Replace My Carpet?

11/8/2022 (Permalink)

Carpet water damage

Do I Need to Replace My Water-Damaged Carpet?

If you’re like most people, you have dealt with flooding in some capacity before. You might’ve had to deal with it in your own Montclair, NJ home. If so, you might have asked yourself whether or not it's necessary to replace your carpet if it gets wet. 

We get this question all the time at SERVPRO of Montclair/West Orange. In most cases, though, replacing your carpet is not necessary if your water was clean—that is, it hasn't been contaminated by sewage or chemicals or other contaminants that could damage it over time. The first step in determining whether or not replacing your carpet is necessary depends on how much water was involved and how long it stood there before being cleaned up or dried out completely.

Act Quickly

It is important to act quickly and get the standing water cleaned up. Once you've removed as much water as possible, it is time to prevent mold growth on your carpet. The first step for preventing mold growth is to use a wet vac or towel to extract any remaining water from your carpet. If you don't have a wet vac available, make sure that the room where you are cleaning has good ventilation so that any moisture in the air can evaporate quickly enough before releasing its moisture onto your carpet fibers.

Once all of the standing liquid has been extracted from your carpet, use an anti-fungal agent to cleanse and sanitize both sides of each fiber in order to kill off any potential microscopic organisms living there.

Extract Water

You will want to extract as much water as possible as well. If you have access to a professional steam cleaner, this is definitely your best option. But if you don't have that luxury, you can use a wet vac or shop vac, carpet cleaner and/or even professional services such as SERVPRO of Montclair/ West Orange.

If the liquid that made your carpet wet was dirty or harmful in any way—for example, an overflowing sewer system—you should replace it since these contaminants will cause permanent damage if they are not removed properly. Your best bet is to call the experts at SERVPRO. 

If your carpet is wet, you do not need to replace it as long as the water was clean. The key to this is acting quickly! If you are able to extract all of the standing water and get rid of any debris that may have gotten into the fibers, your carpet should be fine. It might take some time for the carpet to dry out completely, but once it does, you will be left with a soft and fluffy surface!