When Can Carpet Be Saved After a Water Damage or Flood?

12/24/2020 (Permalink)

In this case the pad needed to be removed and we floated the carpet in order to dry it faster with our air movers.

Many Wichita homes have finished basements; they are a great place to escape the heat of summer and watch a movie. These finished basements often have carpet and pad which is very cozy but can be an issue if your basement floods. Many of our customers are surprised to learn that most of the time we can save your carpet after water damage and it most often is the cheaper solution compared to tearing it out and replacing your carpet and pad. What are the situations where carpet can and cannot be saved?

Water Cleanliness and Carpet

In other blogs we have discussed how and why different types of water are categorized. Check that our here for more information. To summarize, water is classified as being category 1, 2 or 3. Water from a drinkable source like the supply line to your sink or ice maker is category 1, category 2 water can be clean water which has sat stagnant for 48 hours or came from outside or your drain. Category 3 water is grossly unsanitary and often is raw sewage or water stagnant for a long period of time.

Typically, when it comes to saving carpet category 1 or 2 water is easy enough to clean and the carpet can be saved. Pad is the big difference because with category 1 water if the pad does not have a vapor barrier, we can save it and dry everything in place. If it has a vapor barrier or category 2 water, we need to remove the pad but can still dry and save the carpet. We typically recommend a carpet cleaning at the end of the process especially for category 2 water. Category 3 water however always means carpet and pad needs to be removed because the water is grossly unsanitary.

Extenuating Circumstances

Sometimes carpet can be removed even in category 1 or 2 water circumstances. If the affected carpet has been significantly damaged by the water loss it may justify removing the carpet. The back of the carpet could be delaminated which means the backing is peeling off the back of the carpet. Sometimes the age of your carpet would justify removing it especially if the water damaged your carpet. Of course, this is your home and property and if you would prefer we will remove the carpet.

Whenever we remove anything such as pad, carpet or even drywall we always haul it away for our customers. Most of the time when we save carpet and pad it is much cheaper than removing and replacing so before you file a claim or start cutting up your carpet and give us a call for a free inspection and estimate! Our 24/7 emergency line is – 316-684-6700.