Carpet Cleaning and Gun Safes

[arrowshooter]

We're going to clean the carpet in the room with the safe, without moving the safe, and I am wondering if I should take any safe guards against moisture while the carpet is drying? My first thought is to tape the door gap, but not sure. Thanks

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[Stomper]

We're going to clean the carpet in the room with the safe, without moving the safe, and I am wondering if I should take any safe guards against moisture while the carpet is drying? My first thought is to tape the door gap, but not sure. Thanks

I'd be more concerned with moisture wicking underneath the safe via the adjacent carpet, and possibly creating a place for mold to grow.

If it were me, I'd use little to no water/solution on the carpet within 2-3" of the safe, don't use too much water/solution, nor allow the water to "soak" too deeply into the carpet pile.

Hope that helps.

 

[arrowshooter]

Good advice! I think I'll make it a foot JIC.

 

[jbett98]

Rent a dehumidifier for a day. It will dry out the whole room in no time.

 

[Stomper]

Good advice! I think I'll make it a foot JIC.

Get a "feel" for it, but a foot may be a tad over cautious, and the dehumidifier suggestion is a sound idea!

 

[Member 34319]

I've done it many times. No issues as long as you have good circulation afterwards to dry up the room faster. I usually do it in the warmer months though, windows open and few fans running. Clean the floors once a year usually. Living room is the only floor that gets cleaned 2-3 times a year.

I bought an industrial shampoo cleaner a few years ago, and it's been a nice addition to the cleaning fleet.

 

[arrowshooter]

Rent a dehumidifier for a day. It will dry out the whole room in no time.

There ya go! I have two portable AC units with dehumidifier functions.

 

[dangerranger60]

I would be more concerned that moisture would get under the safe and leave a rust mark on the carpet. I think the contents will be fine!

 

[titsonritz]

Rent a dehumidifier for a day. It will dry out the whole room in no time.

Buy one, they are cheap enough and come in handy.

 

[Phred]

I cleaned the safe room - once. I thought about the issues and concerns others have stated. I pried up and tilted one side of the safe and slipped a dehumidifier wand underneath in different places for a couple days. I don't know if I would have had issues, but this was kind of a piece of mind move.

 

[Nosferatu]

Are you cleaning the carpet with a pressure washer? I've never used a carpet cleaner that would leave enough moisture to seep into a safe.

 

[gmerkt]

I've never used a carpet cleaner that would leave enough moisture to seep into a safe

This thing here. Just about all of the homeowner grade carpet cleaning machines made within the last 25 or more years have a vacuum function. That extracts 95% of the solution laid down during the cleaning process. The waste water I dispose of after using a so-called "Steam Vac" is nearly the same volume as what I initially put into the solution tank.

If you leave a narrow margin dry around the foot of the safe you'll be fine so long as you're using a modern extractor type carpet machine. And so long as the room is heated. The dehumidifier idea isn't a bad one but likely not a necessity.

Modern machines are much more convenient to use that the old style. That laid down the solution and had two large rotating brushes that did the scrubbing. But didn't do any solution extraction. You had to wait around for a few days for your carpet to dry out on its own. Bad enough in a dry climate but around here in the winter, not good.

"Steam Vac" is a trade name used by the Hoover company. The only steam comes from any hot water you might use to fill the solution tank. Which is hot enough. Hoover hasn't made any models with an internal heater. The Bissell brand of carpet cleaner, some of those actually have small heater cores in them designed to heat the solution prior to release. However, they have only seven or eight courses about four inches long in them. With solution blasting through those, the amount of heat imparted to the solution is minimal. Also, the Bissell heater elements are made of aluminum and they tend to corrode and block solution flow. Then no solution, heated or otherwise, is delivered to the carpet. When I say corroded, I mean completely blocked.

There is one model of Hoover machine that says on it, "Forced Heat," which implies that it dries out the carpet as it cleans it. The "Forced Heat" is merely the waste heat from the electric motor that blows out the bottom with the suction exhaust. Heat which every A/C electric motor generates as part of its operation.

 

[aflineman]

Just don't saturate the area close to the safe (1 foot or so), and double dry it with the wand (a few passes with vacuum only, and no solution). Have air movement and air turn over to the room (slightly open window) to dry the carpet quicker. Heat does not dry the carpet, so much as air flow does. I cleaned carpets for a living a few years in my youth.

 

[arrowshooter]

Thanks everyone. Carpets are clean to within about a foot of the safes. Went over three times with no water and cracked both windows in the room. Dried pretty quick and the none of the 6 dehumidifiers showed much if any change.

 

[walkersrule19]

Thanks everyone. Carpets are clean to within about a foot of the safes. Went over three times with no water and cracked both windows in the room. Dried pretty quick and the none of the 6 dehumidifiers showed much if any change.

Who cleaned the carpets? I own a carpet cleaning business in Vancouver Wa and our machine is 38k with a car engine in it. Never had a issue with swelling of the baseboards and moisture around wood items.

 

[arrowshooter]

We did it with a borrowed Rug Doctor.

 

[walkersrule19]

 

[walkersrule19]

We did it with a borrowed Rug Doctor.

The people that own Rug doctor live in Camas. Guess who cleans their carpets

 

[arrowshooter]

 

[ob1]

We're going to clean the carpet in the room with the safe, without moving the safe, and I am wondering if I should take any safe guards against moisture while the carpet is drying? My first thought is to tape the door gap, but not sure. Thanks

We're going to clean the carpet in the room with the safe, without moving the safe, and I am wondering if I should take any safe guards against moisture while the carpet is drying? My first thought is to tape the door gap, but not sure. Thanks

Try this guy.....Acclaim Rug and Carpet cleaning, Milwaukie, Oregon.
He knows what you are dealing with.