My living room is DISGUSTING

[Phantaja]

Before my dog died last week he'd been sick for three days and made some pretty nasty messes on the living room carpet.

The day he died, I tried scrubbing the carpet with a brush and a bucket of hot water and pine sol and accidently kicked over the bucket. I didn't think it would hurt so I scrubbed up the mess and let it go. I got food poisoning two days later (McDonalds) and hadn't been back in the living room.

I felt better today and ventured out there and it's the nastiest mess I've ever seen. There's big brown spot where the bucket spilled, the dog stains have resurfaced, and the stink is unreal. I can't rent a steamer till next week, but is there anything that I can do until then?

[laohaire]

What is the stink exactly? Chemical stink of pine-sol? Or the organic stink of dog sickness?

I'm very sorry to hear about your dog, btw.

My first thought is get a few big boxes of baking soda and sprinkle them LIBERALLY all over the carpet, and just let it sit. Vacuum it up before you steam clean. It will soak up a lot of the smell.

[pauletoy]

I was thinking lots and lots of baking soda too.

[kittywitty]

Definitely baking soda. Why can you not get a steamer until next week? Do you know anyone who can lend you one even to just do a quick once over to keep stains from setting badly?

[Smocked]

some bottled spot carpet cleaner Like Resolve? I actually cleaned my entire living room carpet with a couple bottles when I couldn't afford to rent a cleaner and it actually worked really well.

[Phantaja]

Thank you so much. I really miss my dog. He was the best.

It smells like mildew and dog sickness. It's incredibly gross. I can't get the steamer for a few days because the car's in the shop till Friday and we have plans over the weekend for the holiday. I can't wait till it's over.

I put some baking soda down a few minutes ago. Hopefully it helps.

[Stone Fence]

Borax

When DS had a vomiting illness I poured Borax on the mess(on the carpet) and waited for it to dry. Then I vacuumed. No stain and no smell.

[fork]

The bucket of water you spilled was a normal sized cleaning bucket full? That is a lot of water to leave sit on your floor, and has probably penetrated through your sub floor where it will sit and continue to be mildew-y and gross.

How do you feel about getting rid of your living room carpet? Even if you just used the sub-floor for a while until you could get around to putting something new down. It would give it time for everything to dry out, and probably help the mildew smell. If you just had the pet stains, baking soda would work, but with the wet sub floor, it is always going to be gross in that spot unless you can get to the sub floor to clean it and dry it out.

[mommathea]

Originally Posted by fork

The bucket of water you spilled was a normal sized cleaning bucket full? That is a lot of water to leave sit on your floor, and has probably penetrated through your sub floor where it will sit and continue to be mildew-y and gross.

How do you feel about getting rid of your living room carpet? Even if you just used the sub-floor for a while until you could get around to putting something new down. It would give it time for everything to dry out, and probably help the mildew smell. If you just had the pet stains, baking soda would work, but with the wet sub floor, it is always going to be gross in that spot unless you can get to the sub floor to clean it and dry it out.

I have to agree- it may be the end of that carpet. Once you get mildew in the carpet and flooring- the carpet has to go. No real way to get rid of it.

[SuzyLee]

Your only chance of getting rid of the mildew smell would have been to steam clean it right after you spilled the bucket of water. I agree with the PP's whoe said you are going to have to rip the carpet up, or the room will always smell like mildew

[katiesk]

what a disaster! i'm so sorry about your dog - and that you have to deal with gross carpet now. cleaning carpet is the worst. for stains, we use peroxide. baking soda is a good idea too - but getting rid of the carpet is the best idea, i think.

[annekevdbroek]

Can you pull up that section of carpet. If it is wet under the carpet you need to pull it back so it can dry. This will also allow the sublfoor to be cleaned and dried.

It sounds really awful - I hope that you don't need to replace the carpet.

I am sorry for your loss. It is so hard to lose a pet, like losing a good friend.

[babycarrier]

I am so sorry about your dog.

I really think it gets to a point that you can't clean the carpet and have them really be clean. Dog sickness and a bucket of water would lead me to rip out the carpet.

I actually just pulled out the carpeting in one room as our dog is in failing health and the smell became unbearable - even after steaming and scrubbing and baking soda and borax and nature's miracle and a few other things.

Again, I am so sorry about your dog.

[rainyday]

I'm sorry about your dog.

Unfortunately I think everyone is right that the carpet probably needs to come out. It's really hard to get mildew smell out of carpet once it's there.

[flapjack]

Do you have home owners or renters insurance that would cover the carpet?

[ASusan]

I think the only way the carpet could be spared is if it is (a) on concrete or other non-wood subflooring; (b) does not have a pad; and (c) is made of entirely non-organic material like poly-something-or-other.

My mildewy, moldy, wet-for-a-few-weeks-because-I-was-out-of-town-when-the-neighbor's-pool-was-emptied-into-my-basement basement carpet met these criteria and the carpet cleaner people said it would be fine. They cleaned it with VERY hot water - no chemicals. It WAS fine, even now 6 years later. Basically, it had conditions where nothing would grow on it once the bugs wre gone. I was told by the cleaner people NOT to use baking soda and the like because it gave the buggies organic material to eat and grow on.

[AngelBee]

So sorry about your dog