Something stinks in your house. The sniff test is having trouble identifying where that stench is coming from. It’s not the trash, the refrigerator is clean, and nothing has died under the house as far as you know, yet there’s that smell again. It’s horrible and it’s coming from somewhere but you just can’t pinpoint where.
Chances are, it’s your carpet. So bend down and take a whiff. If that’s the culprit, then you could be dealing with a range of problems from excess moisture developing under the padding beneath to the quality of your carpet and the condition it’s in at the moment.
What ever the reason, the carpet smells. Bad. Even worse, the odor is going to continue to linger in your home until you do something about it. You may be lucky and find that Winston Salem carpet cleaning will do the trick. But in some cases, you’re looking at a potential carpet replacement in your future.
The problem is that, no matter what is causing the stench, it’s going to stay in the carpet until you take action because carpet fibers are excellent at trapping and maintaining odors until a deodorizer is applied or the carpet ripped up and removed. Here are some of the most common sources of odors in carpet:
Mold and Mildew
Although it may seem difficult to understand, excessive levels of moisture can get under your carpet and the padding you laid beneath it. Sometimes that moisture is a result of a flood or repeated spills or drips from a source on or above the carpeting. Even homes that are in regions that see heavy rainstorms can start to develop smelly carpets from the moisture underneath.
But what you’re smelling isn’t the moisture but mold and mildew that has been allowed to grow in these moist environments. Mold is a serious problem that needs to be addressed immediately otherwise it can pose a significant health risk to you, your family, anyone living in the home. Besides, leaving the mold there will only increase the odor coming from the carpet.
Pet Messes
When your pet pees or poops on the carpet, it’s often a one-time thing that you clean up and train your dog or cat not to do again. However, not cleaning up the area completely can leave behind a faint odor that you may not yet detect but your pet senses rather strongly, signaling to them that the area of your carpet where they went to the bathroom before is a place where they can do so again.
If that happens and your pet returns to the same place and repeatedly uses the carpet as a rest area, the smell can get trapped in the fibers and under the backing material. When the happens, you’re going to need to have a professional carpet cleaning company come in and try to eradicate the odor.
Unfortunately this isn’t always effective and, if it gets too bad, you may need to tear up the carpet and have it taken out of the home.
Old Carpet
Sometimes your carpet has just seen better days. All of those years of heavy foot traffic, stains and soiling as a result of everything from food and drink spills to cigarette smoke and dust and grime that can accumulate over time will just take it’s toll on the carpet. Eventually the fibers will break down and you have little choice left but to replace it entirely.
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