[Akumulator]

Okay. I have a problem with my car. I had a leak in the seal of the sunroof and apparently it's been there for a while. I didn't notice until last week when I backed out and water poured from the ceiling. Anyway, the leak's been fixed but the back floorboard is wet underneath. The carpet is pretty much dry, but when I push on the floorboard there's a squish. It's like a damn waterbed back there. I've searched all around and tried to find a good way to get the carpet up, but I can't find one......

So, there are two small holes under the front seat where I think I'll feed a small hose hooked to a small pump to try and pump the water out. What do you guys recommend at getting out the water and moisture if that doesn't work? I going to go later and buy some DampRid and see if that does anything. My car's really starting to smell mildewy.

The sooner I can get this dry and smelling better, the sooner I can trade it in. Any suggestions?

Btw, it's a 2000 VW... nothing but problems..don't get one.

[_Ω_]

Things which spring to mind are a wet and dry vacuum cleaner or maybe one of those damp rid contraptions (as stated, but may take awhile). Also have you thought about the hair dryer technique?

[Windswept]

Originally Posted by Akumulator Okay. I have a problem with my car. I had a leak in the seal of the sunroof and apparently it's been there for a while. I didn't notice until last week when I backed out and water poured from the ceiling. Anyway, the leak's been fixed but the back floorboard is wet underneath. The carpet is pretty much dry, but when I push on the floorboard there's a squish. It's like a damn waterbed back there. I've searched all around and tried to find a good way to get the carpet up, but I can't find one...... So, there are two small holes under the front seat where I think I'll feed a small hose hooked to a small pump to try and pump the water out. What do you guys recommend at getting out the water and moisture if that doesn't work? I going to go later and buy some DampRid and see if that does anything. My car's really starting to smell mildewy. The sooner I can get this dry and smelling better, the sooner I can trade it in. Any suggestions? Btw, it's a 2000 VW... nothing but problems..don't get one.

During one bad rainstorm, my condo roof developed a leak. Water came down through the wall, flooding part of the carpeted floor in the master bedroom walk-in closet.

I took a full box of table salt, sprinkled the entire contents onto the wet carpet, and worked the salt in as well as I could with my fingers. I had a good half inch of salt on top the carpet.

Well, the salt absorbed the water, even from under the carpet, apparently. And since I did it right away, I didn't have any mildew. However, I live in a generally dry climate, so that helps. (Later, when everything was completely dry, I just vacuumed up the now-dry salt.)

It would be worth a try. You could also open all the car doors and windows, and position a floor fan to blast air on the wet carpet, after you put the salt on. I think I used a fan on the bedroom-closet carpet to speed up the salt drying-process. Avoid closing the car up tightly while the carpet is still sodden.

You could go to a place that specializes in detailing/waxing cars and have them take their shop-vac to the carpet, before you try the salt & fan. Their shop-vac should have really strong suction to get most of that water up.

Whaddaya think?

Good luck.

[murbot]

Carol giving advice on how to suck moisture out of things... in a backseat. Eerily similar to a chat topic the other night, eh Carol?



I KID BECAUSE I LOVE.

[Kickaha]

I knew I left chat too early.

Grab a wet/dry vac first, then after you've gotten out what you can that way, scatter some silica gel beads in there. That'll suck out any remaining moisture. You can gather them up, cook them, and reuse them, or just toss them.

Better, make a mesh baggie full of them. Don't have to pick them up that way. You can get silica gel at crafts stores, it's used to desiccate flowers for arrangements.

[Akumulator]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I knew a wet/dry vac would have little or no effect because the water was too far below the surface. I also couldn't find silica gel in Michael's today so I went to Home Depot instead..... I bought a syphon, some small tubing and an attachment to hook the small tubing to the larger syphon. I cut a few small holes in the floorboard and fed the tubing through..... I pumped almost all the water out and put a DampRid bucket and some Arm & Hammer in the car. Hopefully within the next few days the remaining moisture will be all gone and I can clean the car and trade it in. What a pain in the ass.