Cleaning van carpet

We were finally able to buy a van, but some assembly was required, as the seats, carpet, and plastic panelling had been removed from the back and stored in a garage, where they got musty and mildewed.

We also had time constraints, as our planned road trip was coming up, so we didn't have time to order new carpet, have it shipped, and install it. My husband found a guy who cleans auto carpets, but he was too busy to take on ours.

He did advise my husband to use a solution of Pine Sol to clean the carpet, and to use a scrub brush, with lots and lots of scrubbing. He also sold him some automotive carpet padding.

The new padding is very nice stuff, more substantial than the original, and very pleasing to walk on. It cost $12 per yard, and we needed seven yards. There are enough scraps left over for some kind of rug project for the house, and I would consider buying more of it.

With supplies on hand, the next step was to remove the old padding. Most of it pulled off, but there was a lot of glue and fibrous lint left over.

I found that the best way to get that off was to lay the carpet upside down out in the sun, which warmed and softened the glue, and then use my fingertips to drag the lint and glue off. Scrapers didn't work as well, probably because they weren't as warm, and they tended to dig into the rubber backing of the carpet. I had a number of helpers, and they did a lot of the work, but even so, it took a long time and raised blisters. When we ran out of sunlight, I tried our steam cleaner. This worked, but the steam tended to make the backing crack, when used in the quantities needed.

For cleaning the top of the carpet, I used the Pine Sol and scrub brush, which worked fairly well, but didn't take out the rust stains. Pine Sol also doesn't rinse out very well, I found. We also learned that it now contains pine oil only for fragrance, as pine oil has become scarcer. I don't normally use it.

Drying the carpet went all right. I hung it over the deck railing overnight, and the next day my husband set it up in the garage with a dehumidifier.

Putting the new padding on required some cutting and piecing, but was straightforward. My husband found some spray adhesive from 3M that was appropriate for the materials. It was nice stuff, but we really needed a second can of it. Wood glue did not make a good substitute, probably because the rubber and padding didn't absorb water from the glue the way that wood would.

In the van, the quality of the padding isn't really noticeable. But I am planning to reuse it, once we replace the carpet.

EDITED TO ADD:  There were also some hardboard panels that we had to replace.