Fish tank leaked and new to cc'ing please help

Shane,

Those stains should clean out without any permanent damage. First you have to make sure the carpet and pad are completely dry. A lot of guys would tell you to make this more complicated, but once everything is dry just prespray and clean as you normally would. If they come back you can post spray with a mild acetic acid such as Restore by DSC. There are numerous products made by different companies that are the similar and will work just the same.

save the fish

Shane, forget the carpet, Hows the tank??? The Fish? Saltwater or Fresh?

Honestly, do as others said, dry it out then clean it, I too would use a debrowning agent.

Mark

Shane, not sure what flood lines are. But just as important as the carpet being dry make sure the pad underneath is dry too. If you can, pull up a corner of the carpet somewhere and make sure the pad is dry.

"Debrowning" agents (brown out, acid rinse, etc) are just like the name implies, they control stains exactly like the one you have. Like I said earlier, I use Restore from DSC, but there are tons of others on the market. Heck, white vinegar would work too. Ask whoever you are buying chemical from and they can steer you in the right direction, then just read the instructions on the bottle. This should be a pretty easy deal.

Be sure to ask most anybody here if you have any other questions!

dont hang around to clean the carpets get outta there, looks to be a scarry one, have a friend close to galviston and it is bad, they just left..........

be careful out there

If you have 150 gal of water on the floor, you should check to see how much wicked up the walls., how clean was the water? If this was an insurance job I would toss the carpet and pad, and open the walls and dry everything.+++++

yea, me too. I was thinking about him when I was watching the news reports last night....They got hit pretty hard.

Mark

I hope so as well. powere is out there and to a ton of people it will probably be a bit before he chimes in

With that much water in the underpad, you need to get airmovers blowing UNDER the carpet and simultaneously run dehumidifiers and dry it out. IF you try to dry it out without pulling up the carpet it will take weeks to dry if it dries at all. You need to move everything out of the room including your big fish tank to do this. Sorry! Once its dry, underpad and all, you can then clean it with your machine and the water marks should come out, they are mostly just wicking residue. If you have a huge hurricane headed your way, you will not be able to do this, for starters you may not have power to run the fans. Wait till things "blow over".

Shane, first, I'm glad you & yours made it through ok. As for your cleaning questions.....ask away, also do searches. Your procedures so far sound about accurate, except for the airmovers I would suggest using them during the HWE not necessarly the prespray. However, I also dont use airmovers on cleaning carpets so others will have much better info on that than I. You may also consider while doing the extract, add a dry pass.
Hope this helps,


Mark

Basically the procedure is OK. But two comments on your procedure may help.
1. The deodorizer or air feshener can be added to the prespray. Deodorizers contain some oils. SO if used after extraction the resiude can contribute to premature resoiling. Also some folks simply don't like a fragrance. They may be sensitive to chemicals and associated any odor with causing a problem. Don't automatically use a deodorizer without discussing with your customer.
Also keep in mind that a simple deodorizer as part of your cleaning will not cure every odor problem. It just freshens things up. Real odor problems call for a variety of specialized options.
2. Do not use air movers until after extraction. If you run them the whole time, they can dry out your prespray and make cleaning more difficult. Put an air mover in each room as you finish cleaning that room.

Water lines - such as from your fish tank leak can be cleaned effectively while still damp. They contain soil washed from under the carpet and pad along with various products that may be in the carpet or in the water. Easier to clean them or at least remove some of that soilbefore it sets.

While extracting the spill, simply spray some of your prespray on the dark line and brush it in. Then extract. It will make the evenutal over all cleaning much easier.

Feel free to send me an email whenever I can help.

Scott Warrington

Shane, you are correct about the dry-pass (vacuum only). I dont use pre-sprays (I use a 175 swing machine for all traffic and soiled areas) but from what I understand about the pre-spray method, I would say your right about that too.

BTW not sure if I asked before about the tank but is/was it salt or fresh. I have a 180 salt in my living room. I also have a 75 salt setup that is currently waitting for me to set up a shop. So I can provide it a new home.

Also I want to commend you on asking the questions. Better to ask then go blind and really mess it up. But at the same time I have found when in a bind, Think it Through, Read ALL Instructions, and in the novice stage...ALWAYS test first.

Mark