Hi there, how can I help to dry up the ceiling that is now leaking? My son left the bathroom tap on, drain in the sink was clogged, so water ran over counter onto floor, earlier this morning. Ceiling below has lots of water marks and there is one central location where the ceiling is very wet and dripping quite a bit.
I would like to know if I need to pull the upstairs carpet up, to dry the floor. When you step on the carpet in the joining bedroom closet and hallway linen closet your feet get wet.

Get that water up ASAP. You have 24 hours before mold forms.

Use a wet vac and a disinfectant spray.

Pulling up the carpet is probably recommended. Doing it is probably a good idea.

Poke holes in the veiling where it is dripping.

You'll probably end up replacing the soggy ceiling.

Fan's and dehumidifies will help dry the place out.

You don't have much time.

You can usually pull up the carpet to dry it but the padding needs to be pitched out. Everything else listed by KISS is right on the money. Home owners insurance will frequently cover the drying out and replacement problems after the deductible.

Both answers are mostly correct. I would call my insurance first as they may send out a company that does a full service mitigation and repair. That being said, just because the insurance recommends a company you are under no obligation to use them.

The proper drying equipment to dry out a problem like this is very expensive so it's not something that you are likely to have.

This is what the company I work for uses:

Fans:
For under carpet
http://www.jondon.com/catalog/images//images_300/DP-SPX3-EA.jpg
For walls and unfinished floors
http://www.jondon.com/catalog/images//images_300/DA-FORCE9-EA.jpg

Dehumidifier:
http://www.jondon.com/catalog/images//images_300/PH-P300-EA.jpg

The fans run about $225 and the dehu's about $3,000 so this is something you probably want done professionally.

Also the 24 hours before mold begins to grow is a little extreme. First of all, most mold is not dangerous to people. And second normally it can be wiped down with a bleach solution and killed/removed fairly easily. Carpet pad is normally disposed of because a) it's fairly cheap and b) it is very difficult to dry.

The best thing to do is to get a company that does this type of thing regularly involved. Companies like Paul Davis Restoration, ServPro, or Service Master.

Please don't hesitate to ask more questions, I deal with this type of thing everyday.

Hope this helps,

Aaron

My son left the bathroom tap on, drain in the sink was clogged, so water ran over counter onto floor, earlier this morning.
So now that we have the carpet issue settled lets fix what caused the problem in the first place. You have a clog in the lavatory drain arm in the wall. The solution would be to send a snake up into the wall after firstremoving the traps "J" bend, (see image) You bwill run into a elbo about 8 inches in but once around that you only have 5 or 6 feet more to go. Flush with a bowl of hot water. Good luck and thank you for rating my answer. Tom