€250 to dry a bit of flood damaged carpet

MB Lacey

Hi,
I noticed wet carpet under the drivers pedals last week, opened the back passenger door to see puddle of water on the carpet which I hadn't noticed before..(behind drivers side, left hand side completely dry).

Took car into garage number 1 who couldn't find any external or internal leak and wanted €500 to take car apart.
Took icar into garage 2 who couldn't find external or internal leak.
Am now assuming it's flood damage from the heavy rains which I'm late in noticing.

Took car to valet place yesterday (greenhills rd) who asked for €250 to dry out carpets etc..

does this price seem fair?
I did try to haggle stating it was just wet carpet on the right hand side, but he said that the wet I saw was just the surface and a lot of work went into drying the whole lot out - I believed him and left the car with him.

I have no clue - I left the car with them because I want the water from the floor gone to avoid mould, smells and corrosion to car floor and they seemed to be one of the few places able to shampoo, wash and dry out the carpets.
Hoping I've done the right thing.
Any opinions welcome.

MB Lacey

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Seems like mad money, take out as much carpet as you can and buy/rent a dehumidifier. It would work out alot cheaper than the above.

*Assuming that you dont have a leaky heater matrix that is*

I'd have to take the seats out of the car to remove the carpet - it runs from back to front of car.
Taking my car drivers seat out is something I have no experience or time to feel ok to do.

The guy said he's have to take the car apart to take up all the carpet to clean it and dry it - and that there was probably flood damage in the layers below the carpet

weeder

could of gotten a full valet for 100 euro less which includes a carpet strip and shampoo aswell as the seats etc near enough to me

MugMugs

MB Lacey wrote: »

I'd have to take the seats out of the car to remove the carpet - it runs from back to front of car.
Taking my car drivers seat out is something I have no experience or time to feel ok to do.

Firstly, Is this a VW by any chance ?

Second of all, you'd buy a VAX for half that price and be up an asset.

ScouseMouse

If that was me, I would soak up as much as I could with kitchen/blue towel, until it was as dry as possible.

Then, drive around with the heater on MAX, pointing down at your feet, with the rear windows open. The rear windows will draw out the moist air.

That should dry it on in no time, although a long run would help it.

MB Lacey

MugMugs wrote: »

Firstly, Is this a VW by any chance ?

Second of all, you'd buy a VAX for half that price and be up an asset.

Yes vw golf... what bad news are you going to tell me ?:rolleyes:
I guess I'm thinking that buying a vax/ getting a full valet - would only touch the surface of the flood damage and the water would still be swimming around at the bottom of the car only to leak back up again in a few weeks - making vax/ valet useless.

vectra

What car is it?
VAG by any chance as asked already?

MugMugs

Suprise Suprise

They're renound for this nonsense.

Get the drain plugs checked under the bonnet for debris and other stuff. Water can back up through the pollen filter and dumps into the rear footwells and check the door seals too. Also, does it have a sun roof ?

MB Lacey

superscouse wrote: »

If that was me, I would soak up as much as I could with kitchen/blue towel, until it was as dry as possible.

Then, drive around with the heater on MAX, pointing down at your feet, with the rear windows open. The rear windows will draw out the moist air.

That should dry it on in no time, although a long run would help it.

I drove to dublin to belfast and back last saturday and the carpet is still as wet as when I first noticed the wet carpet - so there really is a lot of water.

MugMugs

MB Lacey wrote: »

I drove to dublin to belfast and back last saturday and the carpet is still as wet as when I first noticed the wet carpet - so there really is a lot of water.

I'd be getting a coarse dry towel (bath towel) onto the wet area ASAP. The comfort control module sits under this area and doesn't take well to getting wet and will cost you to replace.

MB Lacey

MugMugs wrote: »

Suprise Suprise

They're renound for this nonsense.

Get the drain plugs checked under the bonnet for debris and other stuff. Water can back up through the pollen filter and dumps into the rear footwells and check the door seals too. Also, does it have a sun roof ?

THey did that in garage 1 and garage 2 - no debris, no leaves, everything was clear.
They said they checked everything.
garage 1 powerhosed all around the outside of the car for ages and said there were no external leaks from sunroof, windows, doors.

mullingar

The problem is that a lot of cars carpets have a very porous material under it that also acts as a soundproofer that traps the water.

Any cars that I have had that carpet got damp, it was always damp in the back for some odd reason, so i VAXed out all the water on the carpet, pulled up the carpet, wedged it in the air with whatever I could find, VAXed out all the water between the carpet and the floor pan, left a fan heater on for an hour or two while squeezing out any dampness left in the soundproofing.

Its a bit of work, but well worth it.

Also, if you have to do this more than once/yr, you have a body leak somewhere and start checking for worn door rubbers.

MB Lacey

mullingar wrote: »

The problem is that a lot of cars carpets have a very porous material under it that also acts as a soundproofer that traps the water.

Any cars that I have had that carpet got damp, it was always damp in the back for some odd reason, so i VAXed out all the water on the carpet, pulled up the carpet, wedged it in the air with whatever I could find, VAXed out all the water between the carpet and the floor pan, left a fan heater on for an hour or two while squeezing out any dampness left in the soundproofing.

Its a bit of work, but well worth it.

Also, if you have to do this more than once/yr, you have a body leak somewhere and start checking for worn door rubbers.

sounds to me that's what the guy is going to do and is charging me the €250 to do.
(he is also including a full valet I should add - well that's what he said he was going to do - I'll see when I collect it).

vectra

Is it a major secret or are you going to say what car it is?

MugMugs

MB Lacey wrote: »

Yes vw golf... what bad news are you going to tell me ?:rolleyes:

vectra wrote: »

Is it a major secret or are you going to say what car it is?

He did !

Yakuza

vectra wrote: »

Is it a major secret or are you going to say what car it is?

Already answered in post 7 by OP - VW Golf.

I had a 2002 Highline golf with a similar problem (kicked in around 2008) - wet carpets in psngr footwell, turned out to be something to do with the aircon I think. (I had sold the car onto my dad by then, so didn't keep up with the exact details, he's since gotten rid of it).

vectra

AH,
Didn't see that.
apologies
Yes, Common thing in all Audi,VW,Seat,Skoda cars.
I am attacking this problem in the Toledo hopefully this week
99% certain it is coming from your doors.
Read this thread >>http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=44216

George Dalton

There is not much point spending money treating the symptoms until the cause is found and rectified.

MB Lacey

MugMugs wrote: »

He did !

she did!

I never ever use my aircon - but would this matter?

Thanks btw for all your helpful suggestions, I'll keep them all in mind if the wet appears again after this guy has dried out the carpets.

which I REALLY hope it doesn't.

does seem ominous though that the problem is exactly where you all have previous knowledge of vw problems (back right passeneger seat floor).



car is an 01 and hasn't ever given me any trouble - was thinking it was too good to be true.

Owen

Has anyone here actually had experience of drying a car out properly? I have. Took about 2 days to do it fully. Carpet was wet, but surprise surprise under the carpet was so much water that I could submerge my hand in it. It's a bastard of a job, even with soaking up as much water as I could with towels, the dehumidifer took a little over 2 days to dry it all out. Cause was in my Mother's Polo - heater matrix behind the dash was leaking. That took forever to get to and fix too.

250 seems a lot, but if someone quoted me 180 ish, I'd think it fair with the amount of work involved.

vectra

MB Lacey wrote: »

she did!

I never ever use my aircon - but would this matter?

Thanks btw for all your helpful suggestions, I'll keep them all in mind if the wet appears again after this guy has dried out the carpets.

which I REALLY hope it doesn't.

does seem ominous though that the problem is exactly where you all have previous knowledge of vw problems (back right passeneger seat floor).



car is an 01 and hasn't ever given me any trouble - was thinking it was too good to be true.

It certainly will happen again if that seal is damaged in the door.
Nothing will stop the water until it is resolved.
There are literally hundreds of drivers have had this happen.
You need to get it sorted,
Being female you may not have the confidence to attack this. ( Not being sacrastic or anything )
Somebody here may be able to do it for you for a small fee?

Run_to_da_hills

If you drill a few small holes in the floor it will help drain the water out. I did this in my old VW Beetle and it worked wonders. It also works in my motorbike top box which has a habit of filling up with water.

Owen

Don't drill holes in your floor FFS. :rolleyes:

MugMugs

MB Lacey wrote: »

MugMugs wrote: »

He did !

she did!

Ooops.

Don't drill holes in your car. Also, prevent the cause before repairing the damage.

Mr Benevolent

Owen wrote: »

Don't drill holes in your floor FFS. :rolleyes:

+1

My girlfriend's parents told me to do this when her Corsa was leaking - feckin' silly idea!

MB Lacey

vectra wrote: »

It certainly will happen again if that seal is damaged in the door.
Nothing will stop the water until it is resolved.
There are literally hundreds of drivers have had this happen.
You need to get it sorted,
Being female you may not have the confidence to attack this. ( Not being sacrastic or anything )
Somebody here may be able to do it for you for a small fee?

I know several female professional mechanics so I'll mentally rephrase that sentence to being someone who doesn't know jacksh1t about cars (regardless of gender).;)

Thanks for offer of help, but I'd only really let someone working in a professional capacity do anything to my car for fear of something going wrong and the need for insurance etc.

I wont be drilling any holes in the floor either! no worries there.

MB Lacey

MugMugs wrote: »

Ooops.

Don't drill holes in your car. Also, prevent the cause before repairing the damage.

I am resigned to the fact that if it happens again - which vectra thinks it deffo will - I will pay to get the whole car examined - like I said 1st garage said they'd take the whole car apart and fix the problem for a cost of €500.

Fact is - we did have massive rain and floods a few weeks back and this could be the problem.

If not - I'll go back to garage 1 as I agree with everyone about fixing the actual problem.

MugMugs

MB Lacey wrote: »

I know several female professional mechanics so I'll mentally rephrase that sentence to being someone who doesn't know jacksh1t about cars (regardless of gender).;)

vectra

MB Lacey wrote: »

I am resigned to the fact that if it happens again - which vectra thinks it deffo will - I will pay to get the whole car examined - like I said 1st garage said they'd take the whole car apart and fix the problem for a cost of €500.

Fact is - we did have massive rain and floods a few weeks back and this could be the problem.

If not - I'll go back to garage 1 as I agree with everyone about fixing the actual problem.

For god's sake do not spend €500 euro.. A tube of silicon is less than ,,,,€10 give some one that is any way handy a few euro and it will be sorted..
Honestly this is a simple fix.. How about Nissan Doctor on here?
He has sorted many issues for people and is spot on with his work

MB Lacey

vectra wrote: »

For god's sake do not spend €500 euro.. A tube of silicon is less than ,,,,€10 give some one that is any way handy a few euro and it will be sorted..
Honestly this is a simple fix.. How about Nissan Doctor on here?
He has sorted many issues for people and is spot on with his work

ok, well thanks.
If it's a simple fix then I will resurrect this thread if the problem comes back and be hugely appreciative of any help offered.

I'm going into debt paying the €250 as it is (which is why I couldn't leave it at garage 1 asking €500).

ShadowHearth

250eu my hole...

when you own a roadster, you live with water...

start the car, open windows a bit ( dont leave it closed), full blast heater and leave it for a bit - done.

vectra

Hire out a de-humidifier and leave it in the car for a day or two.
AFTER YOU FIX THE PROBLEM...!!

Carson10

have a 03 VW Golf 3dr 1.4 Trendline. has an after market sunroof. In heavy rain/winter season the floor is always damp in the drivers foot-well @ the square piece of leather in the carpet where you rest your feet. proped up/lifted the carpet loads of times from the door side and stuck a hair dryer in and this dried it out but always came back. Thought it defo has to be comming in under the car or wheel arches. Even sealed under the bonnet in near the wipers but no avail.

Last week during the dry spell i was feeling lazy and put the car through a car wash for the first time in about 3 years (always handwash it at home ). stood outside while it was going through and when i got back into car after there was a massive puddle in the foot well on top of the rubber mat and the carpet was soaking underneath. So my conclusion is its comming in while the car is stationary. And no it wasnt one of those carwashes that have underneath jets. Never bothered bringing it to a garage cos i know they'd charge a fortune and wouldnt find the problem.

Oral Surgeon

One sheet does plenty.....

MugMugs

Carson10 wrote: »

Last week during the dry spell i was feeling lazy and put the car through a car wash for the first time in about 3 years (always handwash it at home ). stood outside while it was going through and when i got back into car after there was a massive puddle in the foot well on top of the rubber mat and the carpet was soaking underneath. So my conclusion is its comming in while the car is stationary. And no it wasnt one of those carwashes that have underneath jets. Never bothered bringing it to a garage cos i know they'd charge a fortune and wouldnt find the problem.

Would you not have perhaps sat in the car to see where the water was ingressing in order to stop it ?

Frank11

I have a 2006 focus and during the heavy rain a few weeks back it flooded. I had it parked on a road which flooded. When I open the car door there was about 100mm of water in all footwells. It did not look like the water got in through the door seals as the water was not up to that level. Luckily the car started ok and I was able to drive off. 20min drive home and all the water was gone but I was left with very wet carpets. Over the next few days I drove with the heater on pointing down and the windows open. Whenever I could I left doors and windows open. The carpets are dry now and there is no smell. I intend to get a wet valet done sometime soon. Is there any risk of water remaining under the carpets which will lead to problems down the line? Should I look at getting them removed?

Tea drinker

The carpet above can seem dry and ok but underneath there might be layers of soundproofing holding water or just damp. A dehumidifier might do a lot, as would pulling the trim around the sides and lifting the carpet to let air get at the underneath. It will also let you know what you are dealing with.

There may be electronics under the floor, I replced my comfort control module on the passat a few months back, was about 300 yo-yo.
(BTW I found a leak under the pollen filter in mine)

TestTransmission

ShadowHearth wrote: »

when you own a roadster, you live with water...

That's half the fun!

R.O.R

TestTransmission wrote: »

That's half the fun!

Says the man with a Hard Top!

Try having a roof that's held on by 4 press studs across the top of the window frame, that regulaly came un-done at motorway speeds. You'd know about water ingress then

TestTransmission

R.O.R wrote: »

Says the man with a Hard Top!

Try having a roof that's held on by 4 press studs across the top of the window frame, that regulaly came un-done at motorway speeds. You'd know about water ingress then

Ah,it'll be coming off the springtime as I got a stand and cover to throw it up on.

I got caught on the motorway with the roof down and it started bucketing down. Handbrake has to be engaged for the soft top to come up

R.O.R

TestTransmission wrote: »

Ah,it'll be coming off the springtime as I got a stand and cover to throw it up on.

I got caught on the motorway with the roof down and it started bucketing down. Handbrake has to be engaged for the soft top to come up

Foot down to go faster, less rain gets in to the cabin

(Mythbusters tested)

dgt

€250? Rip off.

See my thread on a similar problem

Fiona

No idea if the price is good or not but I do know that carpets can be a bitch to dry from my time working in my Dads garage.

Urgh soggy smell carpet underlay, nothing worse

vectra

Ordered the repair kit from main VW dealer today €20 + vat.

enough to do all 4 doors.

MB Lacey

OP here - I just collected the car, they said I had 7-8cm of water swilling around the bottom of the car floor.
They took all seats out, carpets and soundproofing layers underneath and cleaned and shampooed, dried everything and put it all together again.
He said it took 11 hours from wet, stinking car to clean dry car.
They said I had done the right thing bringing the car in because not leaving it in would have meant the start of corrosion and mildew.

He showed me another car they had stripped down which had mildew and mould all over the back seats from someone who had left the floor damp for 6 weeks.
I told him I thought €250 was very steep, and that's when he started telling me how much time went into solving the problem.
They completely valeted my whole car too (a very good valet too btw) so that s much of the damp spores could be dried and cleaned away.
He said it was deffo flood damage and not a leak - but time will tell.
Hopefully I'll not be back here resurrecting this thread anytime soon.
Thanks again for all help offered.

vectra

Hopefully that will be the end of it for you.

Carson10

MugMugs wrote: »

Would you not have perhaps sat in the car to see where the water was ingressing in order to stop it ?

MugMugs, hadnt used a car wash in about 3 years so didnt know the water was goin to come in otherwise i wouldnt have done it.