How can you get mold out of carpet? If you think you have mold in the carpet, one of the first things to determine is if there is a serious water leak in your floors or nearby walls. There is no reason to treat mold in carpet now if there is a slow leak seeping into carpets that will allow any other mold to colonize and spread. If there is no obvious leak, you can move on with treating the mold – and if it reoccurs in the same spot, pull up the carpet and carpet pad to see if there is a leaking water or sewer pipe under it, tell the kids to stop drinking their drinks right there or put a puppy pad where the critters keep peeing if you can’t get them house trained.
Always lift up both the carpet and the carpet pad to see how far the mold goes. If the mold has spread through much of the carpet pad, cleaning one carpet spot isn’t enough – and replacing the carpet pad is essential. If there is only mold in the top layer of the carpet or only a small underlying section of the pad, you can get the mold out of the carpet.
What should you avoid if you have mold in carpet? First and foremost, do not steam clean it. You’ll pump high pressure moisture through the carpet and leave it damp at all levels and guarantee the mold will spread. Don’t pour standard bleach on it, either, as you might to kill mold in your dishwasher or washing machine – bleach will ruin the coloring of most carpets.
What then should you do to get mold out of your carpet? A simple and painless easy start is to try to sweep the affect area to break loose the mold. Then you can try to vacuum it up. Make sure that you soak the broom in bleach water so you don’t spread the mold. The vacuum bag will need to be replaced, and you may want to clean the vacuum brushes so that your next vacuum cleaner pass doesn’t spread the mold where it can take root in any other damps spots.
Let’s assume vacuuming hasn’t worked and applying a broom brush won’t make much difference. Now you need to kill the mold. The best mixture to treat mold in carpet is to mix one part hydrogen peroxide with five parts water. Dip a rag in it. You can rub the mixture into the carpet working from the outside in so that you don’t accidentally spread the mold to new areas. Press the damp cloth into the carpet so the mixture can get into the carpet as you try to rub out the mold. After you’ve rubbed the mixture in and wiped up the worst of the mold, throw out the rag so you don’t accidentally spread the mold wherever you put the cloth next. Let the cleaned area dry out on its own. Don’t use a fan to blow the area dry, since this can spread mold spores. If necessary, repeat this process.
If you have other stains along with the mold, you can mix one cup of Lysol and water in a carpet cleaning machine and run it over the stain. Dish-washing detergent in place of the standard rug shampoo and water can be tried, but this risks leaving residue behind that will leave the carpet crunchy. After using the carpet cleaning machine, apply a liberal amount of baking soda on the carpet and let it soak up the moisture and fight the mold that remains.
Come back after at least an hour and vacuum up the baking soda. Baking soda can be reapplied to the area repeatedly without harming the carpet fibers, and as a side benefit, it will absorb bad odors as it sits there. It is also safe to leave the baking soda on the moldy area overnight to soak up the moisture before you try treating it with a hydrogen peroxide/water mixture and lessen the potential allergic reaction to the mold.
Sometimes bleach is the best policy in very low doses. Mix one cup of bleach with a bucket of water, then run this mix over the moldy spot. This technique should not be used on brightly colored carpets and rugs, though, or you risk its colors fading.
If you are dealing with mold in an area rug, there is a very simple solution – take it outside and leave it in the sun. This will help dry out the rug, while the sunlight will help kill the mold. After it has dried over several hours, you can apply a water / hydrogen peroxide mix to kill the remaining mold. Then leave the area rug outside in sunlight so that it dries and sterilizes.