Carpet cleaning (and drying) - effect on chipboard?

RainbowLaura

Hi everyone,

We had our upstairs carpets professionally cleaned this afternoon - about 8 hours ago. They still feel very damp. This has made me a bit concerned about the chipboard underneath - surely getting the carpets that wet could damage the sub-floor? Of course I understand that the carpets needed wetting in order to be cleaned, but I was expecting them to be dry again within three or four hours Is this normal?

Thanks,

Laura

Furts

On building sites countless folks will have spilt water on chipboard with no ill effects. Also wet plaster being left on it, mopping and sloshing of finished floors and such like. However I ponder over your question, because it raises a couple of concerns. Depending on when your home was built it may have water resistant chipboard (good) or ordinary (not so good ).

There is also the issue of modern underlays. I suspect the 11mm foam will retain water like a sponge.

All round a bit of a worry, but you cannot turn back the clock. The bottom line is cross your fingers, air off the rooms, put heaters in there and next time do not run a risk by getting the carpets cleaned.

RainbowLaura

Thank you Furts. When we've replaced carpets in other rooms the chipboard was the green type, so fingers crossed it's that throughout.

If the underlay has trapped water, are we likely to get problems with mould? Or should it be OK if it's not damp for a prolonged period (seems to be drying nicely now - 24 hours later)?

Furts

I don't think it will be wet for anywhere near long enough to cause a mould problem. Chipboard is quite robust. Wet boards are soft, but when it dries back it is still reasonably strong. The only risk I picture is if wet for a while the boards could start to distort, or loose there flat surface. Here if you keep off the floors til dry (fingers crossed!)you should be OK.

firefox1956

Contact the company that cleaned the carpets.
They will tell you what to expect in terms of drying times depending on what method they have used to clean the carpets.

Jonesya

If the carpet cleaner is anything like a VAX then I can't imagine the water would be left in the carpet long enough to soak through into the boards below.

In a VAX carpet cleaner the cleaning solution is sprayed out with the vacuum running, so it's sprayed into the carpet and drawn through the fibres and back up the suction hoze, so it doesn't sit or soak into the carpet, just wets and washes the fibres.