Cuppa
16th January 2020, 03:42 PM
We went shopping & among all the usual stuff we bought was a block of butter. Carried back to where we are staying in the car fridge. Unloaded the fridge but somehow left the block of butter sitting on some carpet alongside the fridge. 4 hot days later my wife discovers my mistake. The block of butter had well & truly melted inside our Patrol's rear canopy, & the smell was basically that of rancid cheese! What had once been a paper wrapped block, was now flat paper with just a thin covering of 'ghee' on it
Most of the melted butter has soaked into the carpet, which is glued permanently to the canopy's aluminium floor. As you might expect, just touching the carpet resulted in greasy, stinky hands.
So far we have spent several days laying multi thicknesses of paper towels onto the carpet & sat heat packs & saucepans of hot water on top of the towels. After 3 days & multiple changes of heat & paper towels the amount of the yellow oil/fat that the towels are absorbing has diminished quite a lot, but nevertheless the carpet still smells like rancid cheese, albeit not quite as badly as it had done. Touching the carpet still feels a bit greasy, but nowhere near as much as it had done.
The question is 'what next'? Hot water & detergent, followed by more absorbent paper towels with weights on them? Scrubbing with the hot water & detergent? Sprinkling sodium bicarb onto the carpet when dry? Or just leave the whole thing alone & hope the smell dissipates with time? (I don't have much faith in that latter option however).
Appearance is a non issue, it's removing the smell which is the priority.
The carpet is a thin short pile marine type carpet. Last resort may be to somehow cut the affected area out, although it is well & truly stuck down.
Helpful suggestions sought please.
Most of the melted butter has soaked into the carpet, which is glued permanently to the canopy's aluminium floor. As you might expect, just touching the carpet resulted in greasy, stinky hands.
So far we have spent several days laying multi thicknesses of paper towels onto the carpet & sat heat packs & saucepans of hot water on top of the towels. After 3 days & multiple changes of heat & paper towels the amount of the yellow oil/fat that the towels are absorbing has diminished quite a lot, but nevertheless the carpet still smells like rancid cheese, albeit not quite as badly as it had done. Touching the carpet still feels a bit greasy, but nowhere near as much as it had done.
The question is 'what next'? Hot water & detergent, followed by more absorbent paper towels with weights on them? Scrubbing with the hot water & detergent? Sprinkling sodium bicarb onto the carpet when dry? Or just leave the whole thing alone & hope the smell dissipates with time? (I don't have much faith in that latter option however).
Appearance is a non issue, it's removing the smell which is the priority.
The carpet is a thin short pile marine type carpet. Last resort may be to somehow cut the affected area out, although it is well & truly stuck down.
Helpful suggestions sought please.