Bad Order in Basement

Hi T.! I also heard the viniger thing but a little differently. I was told to soak an old kitchen towl or hand towel in viniger. Then hang it some way in the room. (Either by a hanger or clothes pins...) Then the viniger pulls the smell to the towel and you can just throw it away. I don't know if it works with just a cup of viniger. It seems easier so I'd try it first... Good luck!

Before I quit my job to stay home with my girls, I worked as an insurance claims adjustor. I handled LOTS of water in the basement claims. I don't really know what to tell you about how to get rid of the smell, but it sounds to me like it is still wet down there. I would put a few fans down there to help with the drying. If it doesn't get dry, you could be looking at a mold problem so you want to get it dry ASAP. Once it's dry, the smell should go away. Good luck.

First, is there padding under your carpet? If so than you need to replace your padding. If not there is a product called order exit. It will get rid of the smell. If the smell is in the air you should get the powered kind. The only place you can get it is the Colerain Big Bobs. So if you live in the area it is the best product out there for bad odors. Good luck.

I use to work for a fire and water restoration company and let me tell you that more then likely it IS your carpet. IF it doesn't dry completely it will start to smell after 24 hours and that is mold growing. Just because it was "rain water" doesn't mean it wasn't black water. There is a lot that the water can bring in with it. The only "clean" water spill would be if a hose in your house or a pipe with fresh water leaks. From what I read my guess would be that it time to pull the carpet and anything else that has been sitting in water for any amount of time. There are perfessional places that can help you. Such as Serv-pro. Contact me if you have any other questions.

Our basement flooded also due to the heavy rain. We started to develop an odor in our basement so we mopped the floor with Bleach. It immediatley got rid of the basement odor. Bleach is not a pleasant scent either but that went away after a few days.

Even though you used a wet vac, you may not have removed all of the water. Mold can grow very fast in a wet basement. The smell is probably mildew or mold. You need to get that carpet up and check the padding underneath. If it is still wet, depending on how long it has been, you may need to pull it up. Mold is not something to screw around with. Get some fans down there and air dry the floor. The drywall may have also been wet and could be molding. I have a construction background and am now a realtor so I have had much experience in dealing with this in many aspects. It is so hard finding trustworthy help from contractors especially being a single woman, so if you need additional help or info please contact me. I would be glad to share any advice.

If you have pets, no matter how you clean the carpet or cement floor, if they've peed on it, the smell will linger. I found out the hard way that every time it rained in our house, and then the furnace or AC ran, the house would stink like cat urine, because our cat had started peeing in the corner of the basement. My mother-in-law found a great cleaning product on-line, so I bought it for our basement, and I think it really works! It's called Just Rite Cleaning Products, Inc, and the system consists of two or three bottles of product, depending on whether your using it for carpet or cement. I used it in our basement, and unless our cat urinated again, I couldn't tell that we'd had an odor problem, even when it rained! If you want more info, just go to the website at www.justrite.com. There's also a customer service line to call, and the gentleman who owns the company is very knowledgeable. Maybe he can help you with your situation, too! Good luck!

Have you tried a product called ORDERXIT. I understand it can be ordered online plus I recently heard that Big Bob's the used carpet people sell it.
I have never used it so I don't know how well it does but they do have a money back policy and I have heard it does work very well.
Good luck.

You can try an air purifier, but if you are going to go to the cost of that, you might as well get the carpet cleaned. A wet vac doesn't pull up nearly as much water as a carpet cleaner does and you should really get the carpet off the floor so air can circulate under it to dry it out. I'm sure the order is mold - we have the same problem, you can see mold growing on the walls:(

Hi, this is D. from liberty flooring. You probally have mold in your padding, we see this all the time. You can try the vinegar solution first but if that doesn't work have your concrete sprayed with a mold spray and replace your padding with new. Then have your carpet proffesionally cleaned.

T.,

Do you have carpet in the basement that got wet? If so, you might have a mildew/mold problem. We had a flood 4 years ago back in Ohio and we had to rip out all of our carpet and replace it because of mildew/mold.

Good luck!

Also have your sump pump inspected, as it probably is not working correctly. (And same thing will happen next time we get a heavy rain)

Dear T.,
Vinegar is great for getting out odors. It even gets out the smell of a dead mouse. I would place bowls of vinegar in your basement(full strength)in different areas of your basement.

L. M.

You really need to call a professional company to get that cleaned up properly. They like to have everything cleaned up and dried out within the first 72 hours, or else you will have a mold issue. I hope you are still in that window of time. The company (Chem-Dry, Service Master, etc.) will come out, get the water off your carpet, pull up and pad under the carpet that got wet, and leave dehumidifiers and blowers in your basement for a while until everything is completely dried out. (A big problem is that pad under the carpet, because it is just like a sponge and can really hold the water.) Then they will come pick up their equipment. After that is all done, they replace the pad with new pad and clean your carpets. It is so important that you do this or you will have an issue with MOLD.
Good luck!

My husband is a home inspecter along with a mold inspector and you might have some mold growing behind somewhere which could give off an oder but on top of giving off an oder it could be could make you and your grandkids very sick depending on the mold it is...so you might what it check out pretty quickly.

Hard to accept the idea but it probably mold and mildew growing under the carpet etc because the wet vac can't get under it and get it all dry. Vinegar will help, but it can't stop the stuff from growing. You are probably going to have to pull up the carpet, get the underside dry and mop down the area with bleach water.
It is a lot of work, a pain in the neck and other areas of your body too, but I am speaking from the horrid and sad world of experience. I lost two lovely antique oriental rugs from a similiar situation and they were large ones my grandparents had in their home when I was growing up.

Sounds like you also may need some basement waterproofing done.

It's probably the carpet and padding. Unless you can pick up the carpet or turn it over and air it out...there is probably still moisture under there that's causing the odor.

Good luck.

We had the same issues. I didn't even try to save my carpet because the water was muddy, and the amount....it was obvious that the carpet was mildewing....we couldn't get rid of the water fast enough. Even after the carpet was gone, there was still an odor, so I kept looking and found other areas where water had gotten in and soaked other items....upon removal of the items, the smell eventually disapated. Hope you can get rid of it, mildew leads to mold, which you don't want to mess around with. If you can't find any additional water/damage, I would either clean the carpet, or tear it up and start over. It's not worth the health hazard to try to salvage it, IMHO. BTW, we are putting down tile this time and using throw rugs, so that we don't have to face this again! Best Wishes!

I know that putting cups of vinegar around will help with the odors. It is wonderful stuff. There is a product Odo-Ban, sold at Home Depot that will help, too. I have also used Damp Rid to help along with the dehumidifier. Best of luck!

Unfortunately, the odor is probably from the carpet. It doesn't matter that the initial water was clean. The carpet may still be damp or if it was even for 24 hours or more, there is probably mold growing and the mold won't go away. You could try shampooing it with a antifungal soap but I personally would take up the carpet because black mold could grow there and it is very hazardous.