psittacus

About a week ago a beverage of some sort spilled onto the carpet in my apartment (probably a bit of Kool-Aid). This last weekend I noticed the stain for the first time. It was about a foot in diameter. I tried cleaning it using a lot of water and soap. The end result is this:

A much larger spot that's no longer a different color, just a different shade. When I smell the carpet it smells like there's a lot of soap in there. So I've thought about getting a wet vac to remove the extra soap, and once I do that the different shade will probably go away. But there's one additional problem I've noticed:

In the middle of the now much larger spot that's about three and a halt feet across there's a bubble where the flooring will press down when my foot is on it. The bubble is about a foot in diameter and it's in the center of the three and a half food circle spot.

So I feel confident about getting the carpet back to it's original color once I use a wet vac to remove the extra soap I poured on there. But what about this bubble.

This evening I pounded a nail (one of those leave no mark wall hanging nails) straight into the carpet to see if it would tack down the flooring under the carpet that's bubbled up. It didn't do it or it wasn't long enough.

Anyway I'm not sure what's under there, whether it's cork or what. But I'm wondering about options, such as a syringe with glue.

I think it's pretty well dried out by now, but having the bubble there in the middle of my living room is a bit annoying. And I don't want my landlord to notice it of course.

The bubble can be noticed just by walking across the carpet. When my foot hits the bubble I can feel that the carpet is slightly raised in that area. I can press the carpet down and the flooring underneath goes down a slight but noticeable amount.

What specific recommendations do you have, bearing in mind that I cannot replace the carpet, and I'm hoping to do something that will in the end not be noticeable by the owner.

rusty baker

Is it direct glue carpet or does it have a pad? You could have made the floor swell from too much moisture. Or the carpet backing could have delaminated. If it is direct glue, is it comercial type or does it have a rubber backing? There is more info we need to help you.

Mudd

My best guess without standing in the room myself is that the subfloor has delaminated or swelled up when wet and came loose. Really the best way to deal with it is peel back the carpet and pad and take a look at it and deal with it that way.

On the soap in the carpet... it will grab dirt and that spot will quickly become the dirtiest part of your floor. Get it out of there. Using one of those wet-vac cleaners with just plain, cold water is the best way. Since you don't want to get the subfloor wetter, you may want to do it lightly a few times with a day or so of drying in between.

Separately, the carpet in your place probably has a latex backing and the sheer amount of Kool Aid and water that has been on that spot has probably shot the backing...

psittacus

This evening I cleaned the carpet with a wet vac. The bubble is still there. The carpet is regular type room carpet (not the little tile sized pieces).

I can take a nail that's about an inch long and pound is straight down in the middle of the bubble. While the nail is down the bubble is still there. I could get a longer nail perhaps. At this point I don't know if a syringe would reach into where the gap is. Maybe if I put a nail down there, pull it out - then I could feed a syringe needle down into where the air space is and shoot some glue in there.

I don't know if the carpet has rubber backing since I'm in an apartment.
But the bubble is firm. It's like two boards next to each other. But I'm a little unclear as to how to nail it down without having the nail come back up. I suppose I could screw it down, but I don't want the screw head to be visible in the carpet. I could cut the carpet, but then I wouldn't want the cut to show. So maybe getting a nail large enough to penetrate into where the gap is would be good. And then feeding a syringe with glue down there. What do you think? Any better suggestions? Just leave it and hope the owner doesn't notice? I don't know how long I'll be in this apartment. Maybe a short time but maybe several years.

p.s. I just found a kit that I might buy: http://www.mcfeelys.com/docs/IS/SNM-3230.pdf

Mudd

Move out some furniture and peel back the carpet and find out what the problem is.

Beats a lot of guesswork.