My toilet overflowed into the hallway. Now my house stinks so bad. I need ideas of how to get rid of the smell without having to rip the carpet up.
Thanks a bunch!
Thank you all for the suggestions. So far, I have put down baking soda. I let it sit overnight and haven't vacuumed it up yet. I don't smell anything offensive anymore. I am hoping this solved it. I did scrub the carpet pretty well before I posted my question. I am thankful for all the responses.
In the case of a toilet, I'd recommend calling a professional carpet cleaning service so they can use the appropriate products on it to clean and pull all the liquid out of the carpet/pad.
Good luck.
Fabreeze makes a carpet spray that works wonders. You may have to repeat the process twice, but the odors will be eliminated. We had some spring seepage in our basement and this product took the damp smell right out.
I second the baking powder comment... good luck!
about once a year, i rent a RUG DOCTOR from my local grocery store. It is a heavy duty carpet cleaning machine. You can still treat your rug with baking soda and oxy clean, but this machine will do the washing and scrubbing for you. Check out your local grocery stores and see if they carry them. It was less than 30 dollars to rent for 24 hours.
in addition to the other good suggestions, you want to make sure the flooring underneath the carpet/sub-flooring (especially if the sub-flooring is wood), has no water damage... or that it too can dry out... otherwise, perhaps it will just stink as well and not dry and perhaps mildew can grow.
Do you have a portable space heater or something? Maybe using that to dry out the carpet/sub-flooring too...
good luck,
Susan
We got rid of really bad dog pee smell by using baking powder. Cover the wet area until it is completely white from the baking soda. Let sit as long as possible (8 hours recommended) then vacuum. We had to repeat the process but it worked. We also kept the window in that room open as much as possible for a couple of days.
SOL-U-MEL is a miracle cleaner. It can be mixed with water and sprayed on as an air freshener and odor remover. I spray it on our carpet to get out dog accidents. Its also a stain remover if used in its concentrated form.
Other than the cleaners others have suggested, I would set up a dehumidifier for a few days to suck up all the moisture. However, I tend to think that carpet is easily ruined and you may very well have to replace it. :-(
There is a product called Odoban. Works great. You may need to search online to find the stores that carry it.
If it has molded, however, you may need a mold killer as well. Lowe's or Home Depot should have that for you.
I would get down and scrub with soap and water using a brush don't worry about getting it to soaked if you have a shop vac soak up the excess water then let dry sprinkle baking soda let it set in for a few hrs or better yet over nite vacuum in the morning
I've dealt with pet urine in rentals and at my own house, and the best solution--if you want to keep the carpet--is to carefully pull it up; cut out all of the offending pad underneath; and get the smell out of the sub floor (cleaners or priming the floor with paint). You will need to replace the pad with new that's the same thickness as the rest of your carpet. And once you know the smell is completely out of the carpet and sub floor, which isn't that tough to do once the smelly pad is gone, have the carpet re-laid. I know it sounds like a lot of trouble, but the pad is what holds the smell. Home Depot or Lowe's has access to sub contractors (carpet layers) that you can contact directly to get a price for replacing the pad and re-laying the carpet. I'm guessing a minimum charge from a carpet layer would be $150, and the pad is cheap... much cheaper than new carpet.
Anyone know where to find Sol-U-Mel?
Thanks!
