A clean carpet is a healthy carpet. But sometimes, things happen that affect the condition of your carpet and you can be left with a floor covering that is less than healthy and definitely not clean. Excessive moisture is one of your carpet’s mortal enemies because introducing one to the other can lead to the growth of mold and mildew.
Living with mold in your carpet is very bad and depending on the extent of the growth, you can take care of the problem on your own. More severe issues might require professional carpet cleaning in Richmond to get the mold removed and if the problem is overwhelmingly bad, the carpet may need to be ripped up and removed from your home entirely.
So how bad is your mold problem? Maybe you’re not even sure what you’re dealing with yet. Here are some helpful tips for removing mold from your carpet:
Identify the Source
The first thing you must do is find the source of your mold. Simply cleaning what you can see at the surface level is not going to get the job done. You’ll just have to do the same work over and over again without actually eliminating the problem. If you don’t get the mold at the source, you’re not actually removing it. You’re only extending and exacerbating the issue.
If you find mold in your carpet, it’s one thing to clean it out of the fibers and the backing material. But that won’t remove the mold for good. You must eradicate it at the source so you need to explore where the mold is coming from. One place to check first is beneath your carpet. If there is a carpet pad laid below that, you’ll need to lift the pad to see what’s doing under there. Mold typically originates in these areas and you need to dig deep to find out if it’s there.
The Sniff Test
Explore your carpet closely with more than just your eyesight. See if you can detect any foul scent or musty odor coming from the carpet. A smell is a major sign of a serious problem and the stronger the odor, the worse the problem might be.
If you can walk into the room and detect a strong musty aroma before you even kneel down to sniff the surface of your carpeting, you may be looking at a replacement job for the entire carpet.
Taking Steps to Remove the Mold
If your mold problem isn’t so bad that your carpet needs to be torn up from the floor, you can take the following actions to eliminate the mold that has grown in or under your carpeting.
Sprinkle Some Baking Soda
Basic indicators of mold growth can be removed by applying baking soda to the affected area of the carpet and letting it sit there for 24 hours. Once you sprinkle the baking soda on top of the mold, be careful not to disturb the area. Let the baking soda get into the mold to help lift and remove it.
Once the 24-hour period has ended, vacuum up all of your baking soda and you should see the mold get sucked up with it.
Scrub with White Vinegar
If the baking soda didn’t work or the mold is a little more spread out across the carpet, mix some white vinegar with warm water and put the mixture into a spray bottle. Start spraying all of the areas of the carpet that have been affected by the mold. Allow the mixture to soak into the carpet fibers for about 5 or 10 minutes.
Then grab a brush to start scrubbing away at the surface of the fibers. Before you do that, however, be sure to wear a mask, goggles, and gloves because your scrubbing will upset the mold and release spores that can be ingested or inhaled without proper protection.
The white vinegar option is a stronger and more effective method for clearing out more concentrated mold and mildew growth.
Purchasing A Store-Bought Option
You may not be getting much luck from the milder, homemade options. The next step is trying something a little more stringent and abrasive to remove the mold. These store shelf alternatives will usually contain harsh chemicals that are formulated to kill the mold in your carpet and keeping it from coming back.
Using these cleansers is typically simple to do, you can follow the directions on the label and many of them work to help improve the smell of the carpet while killing the harmful mold that has grown inside of it.
