HELP! I think I messed up the wife's upholstery

[William_F]

This weekend, I used my wife's Bissel Little Green to try and clean her upholstery. It wasn't really dirty, but I know that visually clean isn't always clean.

Well, I was amazed at the amount of dirt that came out and the seats and carpet looked even better. From having used this maching on our house carpet, I knew it would leave the carpet a bit damp.

Well, I noticed yesterday that condensation had formed inside the glass. I opened up the truck, and felt the carpets and upholstery and they were mostly dry. The problem is there is now a musty smell that wasn't there before.

Prior to my attempt to clean the stuff, the car had the nice pleasant smell of #40 from the last time I detailed.

What can/should I do at this point?

[Underdawg736]

Re: HELP! I think I messed up the wife's upholstery

LGM isn't the very effective in getting ALL the water out of the carpets and upholstery. It may be dry on the surface but underneath may still be a little moist.
Folks here have had success following up with a wet/dry vac. I'd also use some air fresheners to tame the musky smell.

[Hemin8r]

Re: HELP! I think I messed up the wife's upholstery

LGM isn't the very effective in getting ALL the water out of the carpets and upholstery. It may be dry on the surface but underneath may still be a little moist.
Folks here have had success following up with a wet/dry vac. I'd also use some air fresheners to tame the musky smell.

I agree, I would say follow up with a dry/wet vac and if you have a fan open up both the driver and passenger doors and let the fan blow the air out in one direction for a few hours. This should help from trapping all the musty smell in the cab.

[Underdawg736]

Re: HELP! I think I messed up the wife's upholstery

I agree, I would say follow up with a dry/wet vac and if you have a fan open up both the driver and passenger doors and let the fan blow the air out in one direction for a few hours. This should help from trapping all the musty smell in the cab.

yeah I forgot.... keeping the windows open to allow the air to circulate is pretty important too!!

[3Fitty]

Re: HELP! I think I messed up the wife's upholstery

Wet/dry vac the hell out of that bad boy!!! If need be, even rent one of those hot water extractors with a hand attachment from the grocery store.

Sounds like you've got water under the carpet, but if that must smell has really set into the carpet, it might be tough to remove.

[tcope1]

Re: HELP! I think I messed up the wife's upholstery

Sprinkle baking soda all over the floor and then leave the windows down. I'd recommend leaving it like this over night or longer. The baking soda will help with the smell but it should also help in pulling up some of the moisture. You can then vacuum it all out with a wet vac or take it to a car wash and use one of theirs.

[cnfowler]

Re: HELP! I think I messed up the wife's upholstery

yeah I forgot.... keeping the windows open to allow the air to circulate is pretty important too!!

DING, DING, DING!! We have a winner!!

That was your mistake. You left the vehicle shut up after cleaning. You can't put moisture down and not give it a place to go. By leaving the windows up, the moisture had nowhere to go. So it got nice and warm in the car with losts of moisture. This is always a recipe for disaster.

That's why you don't ball your sweaty gym clothes up and throw them in your gym bag. There's nowhere for the moisture to go. Hence the reason you get knocked to the floor when you open that sucker up and catch a whif of the muskiness!!

Colin

[cnfowler]

Re: HELP! I think I messed up the wife's upholstery

Don't fret, though. You haven't ruined anything. Reclean the interior and allow it to dry properly. Leave the windows down or the doors open. This should take care of the smell.

Colin

[William_F]

Re: HELP! I think I messed up the wife's upholstery

Thanks, guys. I have a wet/dry I can use to help out, I'm just not sure if the motor is strong enough for this job. It's a 3.5 HP.

I guess I'll be stopping off for some Arm & Hammer on the way home tonight

[Murr1525]

Re: HELP! I think I messed up the wife's upholstery

And you can play with the new Odor Eliminator now...

I got my interior soaked with rain a couple years ago (while I stood indoors mocking anyone what would leave their windows open in the rain...). Leaving the windows open and some Odor Eliminator sprayed lightly on the seats/carpets seemed to do the trick.

[William_F]

Re: HELP! I think I messed up the wife's upholstery

Thanks to all of you for your input on this. I have had the windows cracked in the truck for a couple days now. Weds night I sprinkled a whole box of baking soda over everything.

I didn't feel like busting out the shop vac as it is burried in the back of a closet, so I decided to use a car wash vacuum to finish the job. I went yesterday before work to finish up, but the vac ***** (no pun intended) at the wash. While the suction itself is adequate, it only gives about a minute and half of vac time at 75 cents a pop. In the first two sessions, all I managed to get up was the drivers seat and some off the floor boards.

I'll be digging out the shop vac this weekend to finish the job. So far with just letting the baking soda sit a few days with the windows cracked, the musty odor is pretty much gone and I am able to catch a hint of the #40 again

I am quite pleased with that as I cannot tell you how annoyed my wife was when I explained to her what happened to her CRV!

You guys are life savers, for sure!