I let the wife borrow the car last night to get some milk. She left the windows open all night. Just my luck..it was pouring this morning. Both door panels were soaked on the inside. No water anywhere near the middle of the car, but the carpet around the doors are soaked.

Any suggestions besides trying to soak up the water with a towel for the interior? I'm afraid of mold/mildew in the long run.

 

Wet Vac the carpet and use fans to dry it out. If the carpet is soaked, you may have to take it out to dry as the padding will hold water.

 

Yeah... you got yourself quite a mess but do as Bill F said and use a wet vac to take the majority of the water out and take out the carpet and check the padding underneath.

 

Wet/dry vac to suck out as much water as possible. Then a hair-dryer and a lot of patience. Alternatively, lock it in the garage with the doors open and a de-humidifier. But if you had a garage, I guess you would not have the problem.

 

after you use a wet vac & towel to get it good & dry stick a dehumidifier in the car & let it run til it stops collecting water should be ok then !!! Oh yea dont let the wife use the car for a long time !!!!!

 

Sounds like you have been given great advice. Only thing I would add is call one of those companies that do house restoration after water damage in houses. They do rent stuff to help dry out a house and may have some other tricks.

On the lighter side have you considered moving to AZ, NM, CO etc. We have only a couple of inches of rain each year and snow but you can drive to play in if you want to ski, etc.

 

If you have used a vac cleaner you can also use silica gel desiccant packs to dry down the rest humidity.

 

This reminded me that they also a product for dog crates/kennels that absorbs smells and is reuseable forever. You just put in the sun and it self cleans. It is some type of rock. So if you need to remove odor this might be great.

I put one in my cars when I store them for the winter. Works great.

 

I once had a cooler fool of dead trout leak water on the back carpet of my Expedition. I took the carpet and pad out and covered them in the Arm and Hammer Baking stuff and left them out in the son for a couple of days. I then vacuumed them and repeated. It got the smell out, no fishy smell even on the hottest days.

Mike

 

I had the same problem. Water got in through my doors when it flash flooded my parking lot. I had about 3" of water under the carpet. You need to lift the carpet up and get the water out. Squeeze the padding also as it is a sponge for water. Leave the carpet up and doors open to let it dry out. Here in Florida that took about an hour