If it smells from the carpet, or even the first traces of mold on the carpet itself, you should act immediately. In this article you will find out what can be done in individual cases and what should not be done.
Type of carpet
Carpets can be designed in different ways:
- as a fully taped carpet in a room
- as a loosely laid carpet in a room
- as an exposed carpet in part of the room
Depending on the carpet, there are different requirements for mold control. Therefore, these are briefly discussed below.
Fully taped carpet
If you notice signs of mold on such a floor covering, you basically only have to remove the carpeting. The cause of mold is always moisture - and if you already notice signs of mold on the top of the carpet, you can safely assume that there is much more moisture and therefore mold on the underside of the carpet.
Loose carpeting
If the carpet is laid so that you can lift it up, you may be able to look for the source of moisture and mold on the underside and determine if it is a limited area. You may then be able to renovate the subsurface in this area and replace this part of the carpet. This works particularly well with carpet tiles.
Free carpets
If a carpet is exposed and covers only part of the room (for example, a runner), you may still be able to save it. The prerequisite for this is that you find the cause of the moisture and remedy it. After that, the following measures are useful.
Fight mold with the exposed carpet
To remove the mold from a carpet, you have to think of several things.
Dry out the carpet thoroughly
Before you start fighting mold, the carpet must dry out thoroughly. On hot summer days, you can expose the carpet to the sun for one to three days. This will not only dry the carpet completely, it will also attack the mold. When the humidity drops below 60%, mold starts to die.
Anti-mold measures
You can either use home remedies or professional mold cleaners. However, these can have some side effects, such as the release of harmful substances into the air for a long time. In addition, many of these products have a bleaching effect - which can severely damage the colors of the carpet.
Vacuum the carpet
This will remove any remaining mold spores so that no new mold can spread. You should only do this if you have a vacuum cleaner equipped with a HEPA filter - otherwise the mold can spread throughout the entire apartment!
Not at all
Under no circumstances should you wash moldy carpets in the washing machine, dry them in a dryer, store them in damp places, or simply ignore them. This can lead to massive mold pollution in the entire house (or the entire apartment).