How do you dry a carpet after pipe breaks?

[Ciddy]

Yep, get a Rug Doctor or something. Those are good at sucking out the moisture. I'd use one of those to get out as much as you can, then run some fans. I invested in one of those carpet cleaners a couple of years ago, and it's been really handy. I want to say it ran me something like $130. Fans/hair dryers alone aren't going to be near enough to properly get out that amount of water.

Either way, as others have said, whatever you do, you need to do it quickly. That will become a major problem (to the point where you might have more problems than just the carpet) if you let it sit too long.

[Ripster42]

No need. Just rent a machine and do it yourself. You will save quite a bit of money.

Oh, I thought you were talking about some chemical crap you spread on the carpet with the way you said it, my bad. ("Carpet cleaner" instead of "a carpet cleaner")

[Sunseeker]

Yeah, except that it's those 1-room giant type carpet on which the bed, a giant bookcase, a desk and a wardrobe sit, she lives in a 1-room appartment and has no place to dry it even if she could remove it from under all those things. So still looking for alternative sollutions

Does she own the apartment? If not, this is the duty of the landlord.

[Witchblade77]

Use a carpet shampooer. You can rent them if you don't own one.

this. they are designed to pull the water out of the carpets. its still going to be a little damp after she's done, but that's normal and should dry completely in couple of hours, tops, especially with open windows

where I am at least, both larger hardware stores and supermakerts usually have a small rental section for those. about $20 for 24 hours

P.S. as our house has wall to wall carpets and we didn't feel like replacing those just yet - we invested into our own, was about $150. worth it. but... like I said, full house wall to wall carpet. if its just every once in a while- rental as needed is likely better/cheaper

[Ayla]

You need High powered fans. If she has an insurance company she needs to call them asap. Hopefully she bought herself a tenants package.

Call the apartment caretaker, they may also have some of the fans you need.

Note these are not normal fans.

edit: Guy below me has written it better

[ChampionChains]

This happened to me once.

Is her carpet on concrete or wood subfloors? Either way, you absolutely have to pull up all of the wet carpet. There is no way around it. You have to move the furniture, no way around it. When mine broke, we had to remove the carpet and have it dried by a professional, then the guy brought in an industrial vet vac basically and sucked all of the concrete sub floors dry. Then industrial fans were set out to further dry the concrete. The carpet was later brought in and laid back down after it had been cleaned and dried. If you don't do this, you're going to have mold and mildew EVERYWHERE. Your furniture is going to be ruined by the moisture, it'll absorb it, swell and also mold and mildew. The house/apartment is going to turn into a dank, troll cave and lead to health problems if you don't fix it right.

[Orange Joe]

My best friend had one of her water pipes break and even if it lasted little, it went in the entire house. She stopped water and called a plumber but... she has a huge carpet in the entire room under every piece of furniture and stuff which she can't remove and it's soaked with water now.

I understood that if a carpet is not dried, it encourages mold to form so I ask for advice, how can she dry the carpet?

She has a hair dryer but it won't reach the room.

If you can get a carpet shampooer you can use that to suck up excess water. After that if it is normal carpet use fans and open door/window to dry it out.

[Ayla]

This isn't really a job for her to do. If she fucks it up she could be liable for damage to adjoining apartments

[Mistame]

Personally, I would also just get rid of the carpet to remove any chance of mold. You do not want mold... really.

This cannot be emphasized enough. While shampooing the carpet may get rid of most of the water, there will be spots that get missed. Call the owner/landlord and request/demand that the carpet be removed/replaced. Mold, in the best-case scenario, is unhealthy.

[Orange Joe]

This cannot be emphasized enough. While shampooing the carpet may get rid of most of the water, there will be spots that get missed. Call the owner/landlord and request/demand that the carpet be removed/replaced. Mold, in the best-case scenario, is unhealthy.

If I'm understanding this right. She(the friend) is the owner/landowner.

[Collegeguy]

Better hope your not unknowingly allergic to mold either. It can give massive migraines.

[Polyxo]

I think I would rent a deep carpet cleaner. It'll make the carpet 'wet again', but it'll pull up most of the water, and also lay down some nice smelling shampoo and stuff, and that should prevent mold from growing.

[Deathquoi]

You rent a couple of these.

[Ayla]

All the people talking about dryers are dead wrong.

You need to remove the damp material or you will get mold and mildew.

Actually that's not entirely true. You can save carpet and hardwood floors if you act quickly.
Assuming you are saying industrial fans

source:
I work in insurance
I live in an apartments what have had floods. They always bring in fans, even if material has been removed.

[Cyberowl]

Actually that's not entirely true. You can save carpet and hardwood floors if you act quickly.

source:
I work in insurance
I live in an apartments what have had floods. They always bring in fans, even if material has been removed.

However it should be hard to access a carpet under a heavy cabinet. :P You can't magically dry unreachable carpet.

[Ayla]

However it should be hard to access a carpet under a heavy cabinet. :P You can't magically dry unreachable carpet.

Well that's just common sense, but he said damp material, which in this case I took to mean walls, carpet, wood, subflooring.

Airflow ftw

[Kuntantee]

If it's wool, you need to clean it with a carpet shampoo, otherwise, it will stink like crap. Best way to do it is giving it to a cleaning service.

[Powell]

Well that's just common sense, but he said damp material, which in this case I took to mean walls, carpet, wood, subflooring.

Airflow ftw

From what i'm reading, it seems they're refusing to remove the carpet because its covered by all the furniture.
Wich is irrelevant, because they will need to move the furniture to dry it regardless, otherwise you will end up with mold even if you dry all the uncovered spots.

[TirielWoW]

Your friend is going to have to move the furniture.

Unless she likes mold.

Your friend is going to have to pull the carpet out.

Unless she likes mold.

Your friend is going to have to dry the subfloors (the fans linked above are good options).

Unless she likes mold.

There are no ways around this. The furniture must be moved, the carpet must be removed to be cleaned and dried, and the subfloors must be dried. Or else you'll get mold everywhere.

If your friend still won't, then it's on her head. She's going to be in a world of hurt when her mold problem affects the apartments around her.

[Shakadam]

A floor-covering carpet sounds very 1960's to me. This sounds like the perfect opportunity to get rid of that hideous thing and build a modern parquet floor or similar.