For your carpet, try contacting a company specializing in restorations. (Such as post-fire, flood, etc.) They should be set up to remove some really nasty crud. I would re-paint the room. Remove everything possible, from fixtures to curtain rods and outlet covers. Wash those. Clean the walls with whatever you choose. Use a HIGH quality primer-sealer, then top coat.
Ken- I was going to try the vinegar and water routine to "wash" the walls down. I will see what happens then. I really dont want to paint the walls again unless I have to. As far as the carpet. Well I know it is at least 10yrs old, so my thought on that is rip it out and replace it. That way I know it is gone from the carpet. Besides, I have been wanting to do it anyway. I guess now is a good time. Ryan
I agree with all the washing and repainting but would also suggest cleaning the heat registers. They can collect a lot of crude inside there. Out of site usually means out of mind but not the air.
Ask her about the new carpet first. Some people have bad reactions to the chemicals in new carpet, but they do make a carpet that is made without the chemicals. Probably costs a bit more though......Mike
Ryan, then you'll be good. The wife has 2 cats and I have my dog, even with clean litter boxes you won't smell the paint anymore in my place.....LOL
Worked on the house a little bit this weekend. I ended up starting in the bedroom. I took everything out of the room, with the exception of the dresser. I then made a mix of Simple Green and some Bleach dilluted with water. I used this to wash the walls down. After I wiped all the walls down then I proceeded to vacuum and steam clean the carpets. Then I assembled my bedroom back together and let the carpets dry. I then proceeded to do the same process in the train room. One thing I noticed in the train room was that the solution I made actually was taking some of the paint off the walls. Not too much but enough that I could see it on the rag. This is good since if there was a slight film of paint residue on the walls, it tells me that some would be removed in the process. I once again then proceeded to steam clean the carpets. My fiancee came over last night and stayed for a couple hours. She said there is no signs of anything giving her problems. I guess that is good. But I am not finished yet. I figured if I have gone through this much trouble, I may as well wipe the walls down in the rest of the house. All of the other rooms will go quickly compared to what I did this weekend, with the exception of my sons bedroom.
Yes it is Ken, I was aprehensive at first not knowing if the chemicals I used would have an affect on her or not. Once she came over it was a big relief when she told me she was not bothered by anything. However, that doesn't give me an excuse to stop now. The rest of the house will go quickly. You should have seen some of the junk that came out of the carpets though! YIKES!!!!!
I used to do steam carpet cleaning as part of my duties as a construction clean-up guy. Even "clean" carpet gives off a disgusting amount of yuck. It put me off carpet pretty much for life - that and my dust mite allergy, which is hard to avoid in a house full of carpet. My house is almost entirely hardwood, vinyl, and tile floor.
Ken, Who knows what was in the carpets. It could have been bits and pieces here and there of models, who knows. All I do know is that it was YUCKY whant came out of it. Lori and I are talking about maybe ripping the carpet out of at least the master bedroom and putting either laminate or hardwood flooring down. I will leave the train room like it is for the time being, providing that I have cured the problem. Ryan
Well not entirely licked. I am curious how she will react when she stays over for say 2-3 days in a row. If she is okay after that, then I will consider it licked.
Ryan, I recommend hardwood flooring over laminate. We installed laminate in our new house based on the 30-year warranty/guarantee, and the variety of shades/colors. We now regret that decision after only five years. Laminate still looks like new under normal walking and living conditions. HOWEVER, it gets badly damaged and scraped wherever a furniture leg/foot slides on it, even slightly. Makes no diffference if it was a chair, table, dresser, bed, or any other item that was slid without lifting. Of course the warranty is void because we caused the damage. We placed Teflon slider pads under every leg/foot as soon as we realized what was happening, and they seem to have solved the problem. But we have covered and live with, i.e. ignore, the damage.
Seems like a typical scenario. I looked into putting new windows in my house a few years ago. When it came to reading the fine print I basically threw the salesman out of my house. If I, or anyone else for that matter had to re-caulk the windows for ANY reason the warranty was void. If I painted the house and got paint on the caulk, the warranty was void! I was hotter than a $2 pistol when I read that!
