Lift carpet, steam clean carpet in isolation (wallpaper steamer / carpet cleaner), replace underfelt beneath carpet (cheap and easier to swap than to clean), spray with "Simple Solution" (pet cleanup spray, very good stuff).
The milk smells because the fatty acids in it oxidise and go rancid.
Treating the spillage area with sodium bicarbonate causes the fatty acids to react with it, forming the sodium salt of the fatty acids concerned. These have no vapour-pressure and so don't smell.
At some future point you can shampoo the carpets etc to get them clean, but ITMT the pressure from SWMBO will have gone ;-)
TF
I believe it should be possible in most cars to release it around the edges at least - by removing door strips and rear squab. This should give enough access to remove the underfelt.
: : I believe it should be possible in most cars to release it around the edges : at least - by removing door strips and rear squab. This should give enough : access to remove the underfelt. :
Unlikely as the underlay is most likely a one piece moulded item, even if the carpet isn't.
Not so, the 'worst' thing that might happen is that you could trigger the air bags or pretensioners [1], both generate enough force to either kill or maim the un-knowledgeable. Even without injury or death, triggering some airbags could go a long way to writing of the car in (value vs. repair cost terms), should such airbags as those fitted to the dash, seats or cant-rail mounted SIP bags be triggered.
[1] some have the ability to sever fingers that might be in the wrong place at the time.and that can be avoided by not turning the : ignition on or disconnecting the battery first. They just don't go off : for no reason.
Yes they can, when disconnected/reconnected or subjected to static, which is in plentiful supply when dealing with carpets and trim covering commonly found in modern cars.
Also, removing airbags and pretensioners is covered under the Explosives Act. Not that one would normally have an issue with the law but should anything go wrong and who knows what the HSE/police might start throwing about.
: : The only trim likely to get in the way of lifting the rear footwell : carpet is that around the base of the door. :
Most cars have a one piece carpets, it was suggested that the OP removes said carpet (and possibly the underlay) so that it could deep cleaned.
Indeed, so as a cure for a carpet and it's underlay it's probably of the same worth as what you paid for the advice, zilch, sweet nothing.
: White vinegar. Throw it everywhere the milk went, let it soak for a : while, mop up what you can see and leave. : : The smell of the vinegar is just as bad as the milk but, as promised by : this webpage, after a week or so all the smells had gone.
VERY unlikely to be the same for a car, unless convertible, also, vinegar - being an acid, could do a lot of damage to both furnishings and the vehicle structure/electrics should the vinegar get were it should not or the dyes not be colour-safe.
Another plank of wood who is stuck in the 1960s were cars are concerned, a "Dingbat" indeed. :~(
In that case I would use a Stanley Knife and cut out the wetted section and replace it with some new underlay.
Well, I have one of those too. But don't see how it would help.
All the ones I've ever been in have a smell of dampness, engine oil, manure, exhaust fumes, burning clutch and mould that would make rotting milk a breath of fresh air. (Unless yours is one of those shiny for-show landrovers used mainly for dropping the kids of at school and driving to the golf club!).
: : In that case I would use a Stanley Knife and cut out the wetted section and : replace it with some new underlay. :
So you admit to being a bodging idiot then! :~(
yerrs. We have washed Cat-P out of carpets with a pressure washer, so the carpet might respond to that.
Underfelt may be harder to get up tho.
It IS a landrover.
Well you are somewhat out of touch then. About 15 years at a guess.
Even Defenders are now waterproof, and have sound proofing and carpets.
Voice of experience, hey Jerry?
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Ron Lowe saying something like:
Soak it in Febreze.
Cut the affected area - including floorpan - out with a reciprocating saw. Make new panel from cardboard and fix in place using duct tape. :-)
Seriously, do whatever you have to to pull the carpets and underlay in the affected area, as others have said (yes, it might mean unbolting seats and whatnot). You might be lucky and the "underlay" might be a moulded piece of insulation material, and not stuck down - in which case it'll lift and wash easily. Clean everything as best you can, and if it still smells then replacing those bits is your only option.
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember The Natural Philosopher saying something like:
Any LR you can't hose out is a poofwagen.
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Andy Dingley saying something like:
Y'know, I wouldn't be at all surprised.
Plenty of ventilation. A smell is only a chemical that eventually evaporates. Look at second hand car sales places and they all have doors or hatch back doors open when the weather if dry.
Dave
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