Carpet Help

[Zoom-boing]

Ok, so the freakin sump pump got whacky on Saturday and, despite me and the hubs both checking on it constantly, it didn't come on twice and the second time we got a bunch of water in the basement, including the finished part. The worst of it was in the part where the tv is and after 4 hours of sucking out as much water as we could w/a shop vac and a steam vac we pulled up the w2w carpet. The padding was soaked but after two days of dehumidifiers, heaters and fans (did you know that you can't buy a bloody fan in the winter? Anywhere??) the padding is dry and the carpet is laid back down and is finishing drying. I have to rent a knee kicker to get the carpet back under the surbase and attached to the tack strip. Has anyone ever used one? If so, do I also need to rent a carpet stretcher? The info I found said it was the same as a knee kicker just longer so I was wondering if I could just get away w/the kicker. Thanks for any info any can provide.

Oh and I just picked up a Zoeller pump and we are replacing the back up pump system as well. I've been telling the hubs for the past 3 years to fix the damn thing because one of these days we were going to get caught. Had the backup been working it would have beeped and we would have known that the main pump didn't come on and the back up would have kicked on as well. Maybe next time he'll listen . . . .

 

[Si modo]

*eyes glazing over* When tools are discussed, I am lost.

But I am impressed that you know so much. I am envious of handy people.

 

[keee keee]

Go to a rental store get the knee strecher and carpet fan and try using a carpet cleaner just suck up mosture then clean it once water is sucked up!!!!

 

[slackjawed]

You can put the carpet back with the knee kicker. With a new carpet it's a little harder to do, but since yours was previously installed, it should not be that hard to do, unless it got shrunk during the drying.
The stretcher lets you stretch from the middle, and then fasten both sides. with the knee kicker, fasten one side and work your way around the other sides.

 

[Ringel05]

Carpet? What's that? Oh I remember, it's the stuff you pull off the floor to replace with hardwood or Pergo.
The knee kicker should work fine but the big trick is to make sure your carpet and padding were COMPLETELY dry before putting them back down!!!!!!! Especially over concrete in a basement!

 

[Samson]

*eyes glazing over* When tools are discussed, I am lost.

But I am impressed that you know so much. I am envious of handy people.

Yeah..........

..... I'm thinking my advice would be to buy another house.

 

[Zoom-boing]

You can put the carpet back with the knee kicker. With a new carpet it's a little harder to do, but since yours was previously installed, it should not be that hard to do, unless it got shrunk during the drying.
The stretcher lets you stretch from the middle, and then fasten both sides. with the knee kicker, fasten one side and work your way around the other sides.

Thanks so much for this, I was thinking the same thing. The carpet didn't shrink and all I need to do it fasten it onto the tack strips and I was hoping that just the kicker would do the trick. The knee kicker is only $10 for day rental; the carpet stretcher is $35. Anything to save a buck!

 

[Zoom-boing]

Carpet? What's that? Oh I remember, it's the stuff you pull off the floor to replace with hardwood or Pergo.
The knee kicker should work fine but the big trick is to make sure your carpet and padding were COMPLETELY dry before putting them back down!!!!!!! Especially over concrete in a basement!

Yeah, the padding was soaked. We pulled up lots of water w/the machines before pulling up the carpet. Fans helped but a space heater directly on the wet spots really dried it fast. The carpet is back down (not fastened, obviously) and the heater, two fans and a dehumidifier are all going. I just keep moving them around to the different wet/damp spots. If worse comes to worse and it does start to mold we'll just pull it up and trash it, paint the floor a fun color and throw some area rugs down.

And thank God we didn't have hardwood down . . . that would be history for sure.

 

[slackjawed]

I hope it's all dry and ready for you to have your new years celebration on, glad to be of help.

 

[mudwhistle]

How did I end up being subscribed to this thread?

 

[mudwhistle]

I thought this thread was about munching a rug.

 

[Ringel05]

Carpet? What's that? Oh I remember, it's the stuff you pull off the floor to replace with hardwood or Pergo.
The knee kicker should work fine but the big trick is to make sure your carpet and padding were COMPLETELY dry before putting them back down!!!!!!! Especially over concrete in a basement!

Yeah, the padding was soaked. We pulled up lots of water w/the machines before pulling up the carpet. Fans helped but a space heater directly on the wet spots really dried it fast. The carpet is back down (not fastened, obviously) and the heater, two fans and a dehumidifier are all going. I just keep moving them around to the different wet/damp spots. If worse comes to worse and it does start to mold we'll just pull it up and trash it, paint the floor a fun color and throw some area rugs down.

And thank God we didn't have hardwood down . . . that would be history for sure.

Thats why I prefer engineered flooring for the basement. Tape down the foam backing then lay the snap together boards, keep it "free floating" and it's easy to pull up in case of flooding. You can get it for around $1.35 (including shipping) a square foot at Lumber Liquidators or any online flooring merchant.

 

[mudwhistle]

Why does all of this technical shit make me so hot.

 

[Midnight Marauder]

You are far too wealthy. There shouldn't even BE a "finished part" of a basement.

Donate your house to ACORN so they can give it to worthy po' folk.

Now.