Carpets after flood

[urbs22]

I live in a basement apartment and four days ago my apartment flooded. It is in our lease that the apartment could flood and the landlord is not responsible for my personal belonging and I understand that. We called our landlord and he came over the next day. He told us that our carpets were special flood carpets that absorb the water. He wet vacuumed our apartment then cleaned it with a carpet cleaner. It is now four days later and our carpets are still wet and smells really bad.

My question is, did my landlord do the right thing our should he have hired a company to come and remove the carpets? Also is it safe for us to still live in the apartment with wet carpets?

 

[mightymoose]

Are there pads underneath the carpets? If so, they are probably still full of water.
I have never heard of flood carpets... ANY carpet is going to soak up water.
The landlord might just be trying to minimize the damages so he doesn't have to replace the carpet... maybe. Keep in contact with him and discuss the pads beneath the carpet and see if he will come vacuum again or take some other action.
In the mean time, do what you can to maximize ventilation and help the floor dry out.

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

?Flood carpets? Is he kidding?

The water is likely to be absorbed in any carpet (and padding) but that doesn't mean they dry out without something like an attempt to actually dry out the carpet and padding.

A wet vacuum will get some of the surface water but will not touch the wet pad. For that, carpet typically needs to be loosened/partially pulled up and dried out with high volume fans. In many cases this takes care of the issue and carpet replacement is not required.

Gail