Washed the carpet

[James Earl Cash]

I picked up one of those Ryobi electric pressure washers fairly recently . Only $100 at the box store and I am amazed how well it works. Not as good as the big has models but a lot easier to use. I am going to remember your using a pressure washer on carpet. That is a handy trick.

My buddy got one of those and it works great. I used a craftsman with a Briggs & Stratton motor. Just remember to use the nozzle with a wide stream and let the cleaner you use soak in for a while then scrub the whole thing then use the pressure washer. Then repeat, i did that three times. the last time i kept hitting it with the water until the water coming off the carpet was reasonably clear. There’s gonna be some nasty looking run off at first.

 

[someotherguy]

Hell I used to take really bad carpet throw it in the bed of the truck then run it down to the car wash. Attack it with some carpet cleaner, scrub, let it stand a while, then blast it with the car wash pressure wand. Works pretty damn good. The only rough part is the time I did the carpet in my '98 crew cab; getting that big piece back up into the bed of that tall truck was not fun once it was soaking wet and HEAVY.

Get it home and drape it across some barrels, saw horses, etc. or your hood if your paint was already toast like that truck's was.. and let it drip dry.

Richard

 

[James Earl Cash]

Hell I used to take really bad carpet throw it in the bed of the truck then run it down to the car wash. Attack it with some carpet cleaner, scrub, let it stand a while, then blast it with the car wash pressure wand. Works pretty damn good. The only rough part is the time I did the carpet in my '98 crew cab; getting that big piece back up into the bed of that tall truck was not fun once it was soaking wet and HEAVY.

Get it home and drape it across some barrels, saw horses, etc. or your hood if your paint was already toast like that truck's was.. and let it drip dry.

Richard

Yeah i bet that was a ***** lol. Luckily i have the pressure washer at home. I draped the carpet over a picnic table i have so it was off the ground. The table is plastic over a metal frame so I’m not worried about it getting wet. When i was done i dragged it into the sun, it’s almost fully dry, hopefully by tomorrow. I spent some time today vacuuming out the floor and wrestling with the striped and rusted screws holding in the plastic trim on the floor where you open the door. It took a lot of hammering and slowly unscrewing each one. There was so much dirt hidden there I’m glad i was able to get it all out. Tomorrow I’ll be using some soapy water and degreaser to clean up the floor before i put the carpet back in.

 

[someotherguy]

It sounds like you already got the door sill plate screws out but just in case, or for others reading, they protrude through the bottom of the cab floor so you can hit 'em with some PB Blaster from underneath.

In the past I've replaced them with the stainless (or plated?) torx screws typically used on 88-93 park lamps.

Richard

 

[James Earl Cash]

It sounds like you already got the door sill plate screws out but just in case, or for others reading, they protrude through the bottom of the cab floor so you can hit 'em with some PB Blaster from underneath.

In the past I've replaced them with the stainless (or plated?) torx screws typically used on 88-93 park lamps.

Richard

That’sa great idea to replace them, mine were all stripped so I’m definitely not going to reuse them. I was going to go to Home Depot and find something to use instead.

 

[Dariusz Salomon]

From what I see you used a lots of water on the xarpet so I assume the underlay(them rugs on the itger side of carpet) got wet too. From personal experience I would replace them with new underlay-even cheap stuff for hone carpeting-foam ones. This thing smells after it gets wet-even when you dry it. I've just replaced my trunk carpet underlay as the water got under(it was all wet)-I left it to dry for many months and even tho it dried it smelled. Not even surgical spirit kills all fungi and bacteria in it. Same thing happened to volvo c70 I used to have. So replace it if you can-or you will eventually start smelling it.

 

[someotherguy]

From what I see you used a lots of water on the xarpet so I assume the underlay(them rugs on the itger side of carpet) got wet too. From personal experience I would replace them with new underlay-even cheap stuff for hone carpeting-foam ones. This thing smells after it gets wet-even when you dry it. I've just replaced my trunk carpet underlay as the water got under(it was all wet)-I left it to dry for many months and even tho it dried it smelled. Not even surgical spirit kills all fungi and bacteria in it. Same thing happened to volvo c70 I used to have. So replace it if you can-or you will eventually start smelling it.

Excellent point; you don't want the padding underneath to get wet. However, it does easily separate from the carpet. Usually the carpet comes up and the jute pad stays partially stuck to the floorboards, at least on the ones I've pulled.

Richard

 

[Dariusz Salomon]

Not the one on me tahoe-it was a pain to get rid of entirely(majority would come off easily but bits stayed with the carpet) and glue they use is stickiest substence on earth-took me a while to take all bits off.

 

[James Earl Cash]

From what I see you used a lots of water on the xarpet so I assume the underlay(them rugs on the itger side of carpet) got wet too. From personal experience I would replace them with new underlay-even cheap stuff for hone carpeting-foam ones. This thing smells after it gets wet-even when you dry it. I've just replaced my trunk carpet underlay as the water got under(it was all wet)-I left it to dry for many months and even tho it dried it smelled. Not even surgical spirit kills all fungi and bacteria in it. Same thing happened to volvo c70 I used to have. So replace it if you can-or you will eventually start smelling it.

My buddy washed his carpet at the car wash and let it dry a few days before reinstalling it and he hasn't complained about any smells. That was more than two years ago. I'll take my chances with it but if i do start smelling mold I'll pull it back out and replace the padding like you suggest. It'll be easier than last time since I'm not going to be putting in the rear seat again.

 

[Dariusz Salomon]

My buddy washed his carpet at the car wash and let it dry a few days before reinstalling it and he hasn't complained about any smells. That was more than two years ago. I'll take my chances with it but if i do start smelling mold I'll pull it back out and replace the padding like you suggest. It'll be easier than last time since I'm not going to be putting in the rear seat again.

Some noses are less sensitive-some more. Of course it's your choice entirely. Let's hope it works for you.