[Brendan (chem2clean)]

hi,customer just called me,carpet i cleaned on Wednesday  is stinking,thing is i cleaned this carpet two years ago for different tenant that was living there at the time and the same thing happened,actually my last call back. Its a polypropylene,first time i put it down to bad ventilation,obviously not.Then i re cleaned it a left dryers.I have to do the same again.Im thinking its the carpet backing.Its oldish carpet .Any ideas .

[Gary Longley]

This could be a number of things but why o why don't landlords just replace carpet when a new tenant goes in if it's in a bad way.

1. Old animal/human urine smell re-ocurring.
2. Over wetting backing.
3. Backing rotting due to over wetting in the past.
4. Smell could be coming from sub-floor, underlay or carpet again possibly from a urine spillage or sim..

I would take the carpet up slightly and have a look whats going on underneath. If the backing is black (mouldy looking) the smell would probably be coming from that and the carpet would need to be replaced. If the backing is 'clean' looking then the smell would be in the fibre somewhere poss urine smell or simular. If that is the case I would re-clean, using bacteria deodoriser, urine eliminator etc but tell the customer the smell may never go.

 Is it 100% polyprop or a mix? Is the carpet stained in anyway?

[Brendan (chem2clean)]

its 100% for what i can remember,Thing is its defo a damp smell for what i remember from the last time.carpets are not too bad ,bedrooms.Maybe cleaned before and overwetted causing damage to backing.I cleaned four rooms and the two that smell are same two as last time.

[Craigp]

Probably mould, each time it gets wet it's going to smell (musty) with each clean it will get worse as it's feeding it. Anti microbial will kill it.

Is it a basement flat or poorly ventilated? people need to learn to open windows, they shut them up and close the vents so there's no air exchange, then their house starts to smell and they don't notice cus they are used to it.

[Brendan (chem2clean)]

its two bedrooms upstairs,you might be right about ventilation,its a old house and they have these perspex sliding windows inside the normal windows for insulation.

[Jim_77]

Craig, why would an anti-microbial kill a fungus?

With a 100% polyprop pile, an odour issue is almost certainly not within the pile.  I would concur with over-wetting being the most likely cause of the problem.  Another cause might be the latex used in the construction of the carpet, in which case it might take a week or two to die down but the more you wet it to try and fix it the longer you prolong the problem.

Working on the basis it is caused by over-wetting, I would treat the carpet very heavily with a product that will deal with both microbial and fungal issues, advise plenty of aeration for a few days and see how it goes.

[peter maybury]

Advising landlords to replace carpets when new tenants go into properties is going to be a fantastic boost for our industry, what a fantastic idea.
I myself have undertaken a lot of training and dedicated a lot of time and effort into finding solutions for my customer's problems.  What an idiot I am!
Peter
www.carpetcleanercardiff.com

[Gary Longley]

Advising landlords to replace carpets when new tenants go into properties is going to be a fantastic boost for our industry, what a fantastic idea.
I myself have undertaken a lot of training and dedicated a lot of time and effort into finding solutions for my customer's problems.  What an idiot I am!
Peter
www.carpetcleanercardiff.com

Re-read. I would advise landlords to replace a carpet when they are beyond cleaning, mouldy, smelly, thread bear, knackered, black etc, but they don't replace they just keep on getting them 'cleaned' so they become even more knackered.

[Gary Longley]

With a 100% polyprop pile, an odour issue is almost certainly not within the pile. 

Umm, why not? If you urinate on any fibre its going to stink whether its wool or nylon. 100% nylon is no different to wool in that respect, although wool would smell alot worse.

[Jim_77]

Because if you've cleaned a polyprop and there's still an odour issue in the pile afterwards you're not a very good carpet cleaner!

[Brendan (chem2clean)]

left two air movers in gaff this morning,latex backing rotten.

[Gary Longley]

Because if you've cleaned a polyprop and there's still an odour issue in the pile afterwards you're not a very good carpet cleaner!

True, maybe he isn't 

[Susan Dean (1stclean)]

Because if you've cleaned a polyprop and there's still an odour issue in the pile afterwards you're not a very good carpet cleaner!

yes got to agree you can even get these clean with a porty so he must be doing something wrong 

[Gary Longley]

left two air movers in gaff this morning,latex backing rotten.

When you say latex backing, are you talking about the breakdown of the latex between carpet & hessian? If so how do you know that?

Or, are you talking about a carpet that has an impervious backing that has gone moldy? Any picture would help  

[Brendan (chem2clean)]

now now,i talked to the landlord on the phone today,asked him some questions,told me he use to clean the carpets all the time but stopped cause they smelt terrible for weeks after......problem solved

[Brendan (chem2clean)]

pulled carpet back,even the hessian breaking away.

[Gary Longley]

now now,i talked to the landlord on the phone today,asked him some questions,told me he use to clean the carpets all the time but stopped cause they smelt terrible for weeks after......problem solved

 I wouldn't have cleaned them then, recommended replacement FULL STOP, problem solved. Feckin landlords!!