Is a flooded mattress worth saving?

July 17, 2005 11:46 AM

Is a water soaked mattress worth saving?

Some water came from the second floor bathroom down through the ceiling fan flooding my room and soaking the mattress. Option A) Get a replacement mattress. B) Dry the mattress out, nothing wrong with it. Right now I would say just a mild, but noticable "wet dog" smell. No idea where the water was coming from. Not sure if a pipe burst, a shower or toliet drained, or what caused the water damage. I have renters insurance if that helps.

posted by brent to home & garden (8 comments total)

I don't know if you've ever seen that episode of CSI, but...my first step would be to figure out exactly what went on up there. :)
posted by trevyn at 11:55 AM on July 17, 2005

dry it and see if it's ok. if not, get another.
posted by andrew cooke at 12:29 PM on July 17, 2005

OK, I'm with trevyn, you need to know what happened up there, and get some assurance it isn't going to happen again. In the meantime, don't sleep under the fan. It could have been a small fire and the water came from the fire department while you were at work, but you need to know what's going on.

The renter's insurance is probably good for it. I don't know if that's like homeowner's insurance, whether they would raise your rates because you turned in a claim against it or not. Somebody will probably drop in who knows, that's the wonderful thing about Axme.

In the meantime, you could aim a large floor fan at it and hope, that will dry out anything that is going to dry, usually. (I've used that on wet carpets.) If this is clean water and it did not soak too deeply into the mattress, it might just do it.

Assuming you mean really soaked, then it's probably unsalvageable. That wet dog smell, over time, could turn into a really unmanageable odor of mildew and could turn into actual mildew, where you'd be spending 8 hours a night inhaling mold spores, which is likely to kick off allergies at best and could be a serious health hazard at worst.
posted by unrepentanthippie at 12:51 PM on July 17, 2005

So it could have been toilet water or someone's bath water that saturated your mattress? Wow. I just got the heebie jeebies.

Replace the mattress and the fan. But find why it happened as well, and get assurance it won't happen again if at all possible.
posted by jerseygirl at 2:04 PM on July 17, 2005

Having done a lot of IAQ - Indoor Air Quality - I'd say you'll be okay. That said, a few people have wild issues with mold spores, albeit outliers, but it does happen.

Basically, you have a great platform of growth there. Water, temperature, and food present. With it being summer you have the right temperature and humidity for excellent propagation. Do realize that most people are very tolerant of mold, it's in the air, it's outside, it's in your nose everyday. However, some people really complain when they interact with it.

Is it going to get in your drywall, your rug, your air ducts? Probably not, but maybe. You might be able to file a claim on water damage, however you won't be able to file a claim on mold. So if you're interested in indemnification, do it now, not later.

As for abatement - drop the humidty, remove the water, and minimize the medium. In this case I'd say put on a N95 mask, dry the matress out, turn your AC on, and scent to what you desire.

Good luck.
posted by sled at 2:47 PM on July 17, 2005

you could dry the mattress out and then wrap it in plastic. also, dry out the mattress ASAP.
posted by malp at 3:41 PM on July 17, 2005

Shouldn't the other renter's insurance cover it anyway?
posted by five fresh fish at 5:14 PM on July 17, 2005

something similar happened to me and I tried to just set it sit and dry out, only to have it mold right through. this was during winter, though, so it was considerably damp out. try getting a dehydrator and putting it in the room with the mattress, or setting it out in the sun, if you can.
posted by Hackworth at 11:14 PM on July 17, 2005