Wet Carpet Drying in Hull

Can it be saved?

• Clean water, caught within a day or two: the carpet can usually be dried and kept. The underlay is often replaced because it holds water like a sponge.
• Grey water from appliances: sometimes, with cleaning, but underlay is replaced and older carpets often aren't worth it.
• Sewage or flood water: no. In Hull most flood water comes through the combined sewers, so carpets and underlay it soaked should be removed.

How we dry carpet

1. Extract as much water as possible, which removes far more than air drying can.
2. Lift the carpet back and take out wet underlay.
3. Check the floor underneath. Timber boards and concrete screeds hold water long after the carpet feels dry.
4. Dry the floor and the carpet with air movers and dehumidifiers, then relay once both are dry.

Drying a carpet on top of a wet floor is the common mistake. The carpet dries, the floor doesn't, and the smell and mould come back from underneath.

What you can do now

Take photos, including a close-up of the carpet edge and the underlay if you can see it. Lift furniture off the wet carpet onto blocks or foil so the legs don't stain it. Don't use a household vacuum on standing water, and don't lay towels down and leave them.

Insurance

Carpets are usually part of contents cover, though some policies treat fitted carpets as buildings. If a carpet has to go, photograph it and keep a sample until the loss adjuster says otherwise. Our claim pack has a room-by-room list for this.

For what drying and the repairs after it usually cost, and what insurance tends to pay, see our water damage cost guide.