Rugs, Carpets and Carpeting - Do It yourself Carpet cleaning gone wrong

I used a rental carpet cleaning device to do a carpet job on my last place before I moved out. Did a good job on the cleaning end but now a mildew smell has shown up.
Ive read that it often has to do with the appliance.

How can I get rid of it.

Help ASAP ... old landlord on my case.

Thanks

Sometimes the smell can come from the machine itself, but unfortunately when cleaning a carpet can bring other odors that were 'buried' up. The previous owner of our house always used a shampooer on the carpets, but I use a steam cleaner. Using the water (steam) on the carpet brought up the old musty smells in the carpets. This same thing happened, however, on the carpets in my apartment when the management gave me a free cleaning when I renewed my lease. It brought up odors that weren't there before.

I know that it isn't my steam cleaner since after using it I take it apart (per mfgr instructions) and thoroughly clean it out and dry it before reassembling it. I always smell the containers on my machine before the next use to make sure that I did do a good cleaning/drying job before.

I know this doesn't help with your problem, but just wanted you to know that you're not alone. This has happened to me twice now.

Kay

Those rental units are a carpets worst nightmare!

You don't know who has previously used it and what they used it for.

They over wet the carpet and don't have enough power to suck it back up. Now you have mold and mildew starting, that could have been growning in that machine, to begin with.

Beware: People use those machines to try to dye their carpets a different color. Rarely do they get rinsed out. Now the next unsuspecting renter uses it and they have color streaks everywhere and basically ruins their carpets. Or the previous renters run a bleach mixture through it and now you have bleach runs appear later, after your cleaning is done and the machine is returned.

Good Luck!

Another case of cheap, not being the least expensive.

Sorry to hear about your troubles. Your not alone.

That is so true. I forgot to mention that I'm on my second steam cleaner now. I loaned mine to my sister in law. She never vacuumed the floor before using it. Not only did it have cat litter and feces clogging it up, it also reeked of alcohol (heavy drinkers) from where they would clean the floor after spilling a drink or three. They never cleaned it out, just dumped the tank when it was full. Took me 6 months to get it back. I didn't even try to clean it up. Just wrote it off and bought a new one.

*Yes, she can borrow it again - with a $300 rental fee.

Kay