Flooded Cars

[Danny]

I recently received an email which said this:-

[Danny]

I have been informed that if you hire a carpet cleaning machine or wet vac, make sure that is what you are actually getting!
It doesn't have to be a carpet cleaner, as long as it can wet vac... however, many of them are close to useless for doing this kind of thing. You can buy the 'carpet doctor' type of thing in B&Q, but you would be better off hireing something more powerful and with bigger capacity.

[Anna]

I have added Biobrisk to Valetshop, with a (rather rushed) description of how best to use it. http://www.valetshop.co.uk/categories/odour/autosmart-biobrisk.htm
I'll add some more info over the next few days, I'm also trying to get in some other stuff useful for flooded cars.

[Paul Elton]

Hi There

I've recently purchased a failry new car off a private seller. It seemed a little dodgy as the car had been off the road for a year and then a considerable amount of work was put in by the seller (nearly a grand on MOT and dealer service) two months ago.

Anyway, to the point when i arrived (in the rain) the chap had the wondow open, when quizzed he stated that he's just washed the upholstry and it smelt a bit muggy so was trying to get rid of the smell. Fair enough, he seemed geniune, all paperwork great and i got the car for a grand less than it's book value.

Now then we have the problem, the interior, specifically the seats are SOAKED beyond belief and it smells BAD!

I dont think it's been flooded, no sign of water marks, electrical problems or rust, so im hoping there was just some bad stains and he went OTT with washing it to get the best price he could for the car.

Ive not attempted any sort of drying yet wihtout gaining professional help!

The question is now where do I start, i've read the guides in the post but a more step by step what to do and which products to buy from valet shop and on which stages to use them would be very helpful.

Thanks in advance!

Paul

[Danny]

This is a tricky one, the smell will be mould and mildew. It will need washing out again with something that will kill it. Just drying it out unfortunately won't be enough because the spores will remain in there... the slightest bit of condensation and it will come back again.

So you could try treating it with something like Bio-Brisk, and then drying the car... which is the tricky part. I would recommend parking it in your garage, or finding somebody who will allow you to park it in their garage for 2-3 days, and then hiring a dehumidifier from a tool hire shop and putting it in the garage with the car. The car should have the doors open, or at the very least the windows fully open. This should dry the car out, but really, how long it takes will depend on how wet the car is. If it really is sopping wet, then you are best off removing the interior and drying it outside the car, especially the carpets.

[stewea99]

Hi, I went through a flood last week in my mk5 golf and it looks like some water came in through the engine bay to the footwells.

Now I managed to suck most of the water out using a wet vac and the car appears dry. But a couple of days later a musty smell appeared.

Will this BioBrisk do the job?

And how should I use it?

Cheers,

Steve

[Danny]

It most certainly will.

How do you use it? As soon as possible!!! I cannot stress this enough. Speed is of the essence. The musty smell is bacteria, you smell it because it's in the air, and if it's in the air, it will spread to the rest of the car.

In this case, I'd put some in a trigger spray bottle and spray it on the area neat, and then cover with a damp towel overnight. Next day towel dry the area and see if it's worked. As it's cold at the moment and it works best when it's warm you may just wish to leave for a day or so, so that it gets a chance to work while the car is warm (when you are using it).

You get enough in a bottle to treat several cars, so you can be liberal with it. If you find that the smell has spread, you can mist it over the whole car including the headlining.

good luck!

[stewea99]

Hi Danny, you said:

[Danny]

Biobrisk shouldn't effect the carpets... infact, I can't think of a cleaning product that will. Seats can suffer from watermarks, but if you are applying this product with a trigger-spray, you are only laying a mist on, enough to make it damp, not wet. You can be more generous in areas that are already wet due to the flooding. Enzymes are alive, they will effectively swim around in anything wet, (although I'm sure a microbiologist would pick me up on my terminology) and they thrive at body temperature -- same as the bacteria mold and mildew.

This product is safe to use on all areas of your car, and your house for that matter. If you have any left over (which you will) you can use it in the kitchen... in fact, I hear it's wonderful on smelly drains.

You can wipe down all your interior surfaces, it will do them no harm at all. Most smells actually come from the hard surfaces (surprisingly) as these are more exposed, but a wipe down with any kind of cleaner will sort these out. The thing about BioBrisk is that it will get right into those carpets and underlay and find every area where bacteria is hiding. It eats up what they do, thus starving them, and when the bacteria dies, it eats them too - clearing the area of all organic matter that causes smells.

If you do end up with watermark on your seats at the end of this, I'm just about to write something up on it. So check back here as I'll post a link on how to get rid of them.

[stewea99]

Hi,

Thanks for the info.

I have used that TurtleWax Interior foam cleaner before now on my carpets and seats and it has easily removed watermarks.

I just need to get an atomizer spray bottle and I'm away.

I will post back with my results.

[Danny]

I don't know about your case, but my missus has dozens of bottles under the kitchen sink, usually there are a few that are almost empty. Any old bottle with a trigger spray will do the job, just as long as you wash it out properly.