Watermelon explosion - how to get the smell out of my carpet?!

September 11, 2013 10:21 AM

I had a watermelon sitting on the desk. It was hot and humid, and the watermelon exploded landing watermelon gunk everywhere - on the desk, the walls, the carpet. I cleaned it all up immediately and washed part of the carpet that had the spills with soap and water. All seemed OK, until this morning when its begun smelling, really bad. What do I do?

Its a rented apartment and immediately after the watermelon exploded I mopped up the muck with paper towels and kinda scrubbed the carpet out with a sponge and mixture of dish-washing liquid (dawn) in water. It looked like it cleaned up OK except that the carpet was wet. I figured it would dry and be OK.

I woke up this morning and the living room smells yucky, the carpet of course is a little wet, and I've been drying it up with a fan since this morning. Its a small apartment, and the smell is just unbearable!

I can't figure what to do to eliminate the smell, will it stay forever or go away as the carpet dries? It kinda smells weird - a mixture of rotting watermelon and dampness, just yucky. Please please please help me get this smell out!!

posted by greta_01 to Home & Garden (12 answers total)

Its looks like this kind of carpet, if it helps...
posted by greta_01 at 10:25 AM on September 11, 2013

The smell will probably go away as the carpet dries. It's just watermelon. You could try sprinkling baking soda on it, and then vacuuming the carpet.

Febreze also works well (if not temporarily).
posted by KokuRyu at 10:25 AM on September 11, 2013

The smell will probably go away as the carpet dries. It's just watermelon.

Watermelons don't just explode because it's hot- they explode because they're rotting and building up gas pressure inside. It's not just watermelon. It's gross, rotten watermelon.

I'd try Oxyclean or something similar.
posted by showbiz_liz at 10:28 AM on September 11, 2013

Nah, it's just watermelon. The smell will go away. You could also try vinegar.
posted by KokuRyu at 10:34 AM on September 11, 2013

You could try something with borax, 20 mule team borax has worked well for me in the past to get out really stubborn cat spray smell. It's cheap, try it on a tiny part of carpet first.
posted by mareli at 10:44 AM on September 11, 2013

You can rent a Rug Doctor or other type of carpet steamer/vacuum for $40 ($25 for machine, $15 for liquid) at a Home Depot or local hardware store. I would do that, and take the opportunity to clean the rest of your carpets.
posted by Slinga at 10:51 AM on September 11, 2013

Call Stanley Steamer.

This could be moldering at this point.

You need to suck out all the liquid, sugars etc, kill everything with steam and then you won't have such a hassle.

Stanley Steamer has a $99 deal.

You'll never regret hiring the best.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 10:54 AM on September 11, 2013

I would absolutely pay to have it professionally and THOROUGHLY steam cleaned. Moldy carpet isn't something I'd ever risk.
posted by PuppetMcSockerson at 11:13 AM on September 11, 2013

Get some Biokleen Bac-Out Odor Eliminator.

It has live bacterial cultures which chase down and consume organic sources of odors.

I used it once in a house I'd moved into to completely eradicate the stink from an unfinished wooden window ledge where a male cat had sprayed for years whenever it saw another cat come into the yard.

Nothing else even touched that smell.

I recommend the spray bottle.
posted by jamjam at 11:20 AM on September 11, 2013

as an alternative to stanley steamer, maybe go to your local rite aid/etc drug store that rents carpet cleaners and just spend the $40(ish? or less? i haven't had to rent one in years) or so to rent one and get some soap and blast it out with that?

i've cleaned some pretty gnarly stuff out of carpet with one of those, or even with some elbow grease and extra passes with a home bissel carpet cleaner unit.

Make sure to do like 10 passes with it just on the "water" setting to really rinse it out.
posted by emptythought at 12:18 PM on September 11, 2013

Try some Fresh Wave first. It's cheaper than most of the other things, which you can still do, if the Fresh Wave doesn't work. This stuff is AMAZING - got the dog pee smell out of my car last month (full disclosure: used in conjunction with an enzymatic cleaner, which has a putrid floral smell. Use of both products left the car odor free) .
posted by sarajane at 4:17 AM on September 12, 2013

For anyone who goes through this again - The smell only increased over time so I had it professionally cleaned, but the smell did not go away - maybe the carpet cleaners did not do the job as well?

Ordered Fresh Wave and have a small jar sitting in the room now for a few hours, no trace (or sniff) of the horrid smell anymore. Wow!
posted by greta_01 at 3:52 PM on September 18, 2013