Carpet smells

I'd venture a guess that it isn't the actual carpet that's developed the smell but the cheap glue used to hold it down. Those glues get damp (what you did with the carpet cleaner only made it worse I fear) and they'll stink it up. Most RV Manufacturers use cheap, toxic glues to hold down stuff and hold together stuff.

Not what you wanted to hear I'm sure.

What kind of smell? Could be mold,or plane old household odors. Carpets do off gas like a lot of other products. But that usually is gone in a month or so. Without knowing specifics I would remove some staples, pull back the carpet from an outside wall and start investigating underneath to see whats going on. As a last resort have it professionally cleaned.

Carpet glued down inside? Never heard of that. Is it the carpet or is there a sewer etc line leak under the floor that the odor is coming up into the RV? Yes, mold between the carpet and the wood or in the pad under the carpet could be another cause and depends on which carpet shampoo you are using. In over 50 years so far we've never had any smells coming from the carpet in our homes, RV's, or boats even in the carpeted bathrooms and the toilet areas. Has to be a reason of course you have smells and shouldn't be that hard to find out why.

the carpet has a musty sour smell, dirty sock smell, definately not sewer, or chemical oders. Just smells old. I've scratched my head to the point i can only point to one thing, we just moved to Houston in the 5'er and with constant high humidity, and cool days/nights, we don't run the AC nor the furnace much. so the humidity inside is as high as it is outside. didn't have this proplem throughout the summer, AC was condensing inside air and lowering the humidity. Nonetheless, carpet stinks mostly were foot traffic is.

So......I'm considering ripping up the carpet in the living area first (about 5'x5' section) (not including the slide area) and go back down with either self-adhesive or glue down type carpet squares with no padding. If that goes well, i'll venture onto the slide. The slide poses a problem I haven't figured out yet because it carries the two recliners and dinette. I'm interested to see what can be done about the trasition piece. It needs a decorative, but functional hangover skirt to hide that joint. That carpet flap-piece that hangs over the joint is sewn on the ends of the carpet and it would be deficult if not impossible to recreate.

OK first change your socks.... just kidding. You might try setting a couple of bowls of ammonia out for the day when your not going to be there. It's amazing how ammonia will neutralize odors. Worth a shot for a cheap fix.

I would check for a leak or wet carpet around the slideout. Does the carpet feel wet after a rain? Have you brought the slideout in while it was wet? The water from the slideout roof can run down the sides and onto the carpet.

My Wildwood had a bad slide seal that let water come in while it was closed. Rotted two dinner plate size holes in the plywood. Carpet had a musty nasty smell.

Since you haven't found the source of the smell, it couldn't hurt to very liberally sprinkle baking soda over all of the carpet areas and leave it all day. If you can, close up the RV and turn on the a/c while you are gone. If you can't, you can't.
Vacuum the carpet when you get home going over it several times. If it lessens the smell, I'd do it again the next day or use the baking soda before going to bed and vacuum in the morning. As I said, it can't hurt. Good luck. Keep us posted. Hugs, Di

Decided on sheet linoleum. It's a golden oad wood floor pattern and has the non-slip texture. I've completed installation in the living and kitchen. Really looks good and I didn't have too much trouble other than trimming in along edges. I took my time and got it very close, so I don't have to lay quarter round. I plan to lay more of the same on the slide (dinnett & recliner)and then replace the carpet with same linoleum in bedroom. Once done, I'll be very happy. Easy to clean, no worries about spills, foot traffic on wet days, etc. I found the linoleum at a mom & pop carpet place. It was actually remnant and paid about $1.10/sf for material. The experienced carpet guy said, I would not be happy with any form of peel and stick product, because over time, all seams/corners will eventually start losing their grip and start curling up. Since total sf was around 215sf, remanant is most cost effecient, easier to find. If doing it yourself, just take your time and go at it methodically as it's easy to undercut areas and leave yourself short.

Thanks for the follow up. We don't always hear how things turn out. Any idea what caused the smell?

not really. All I can point to is just constant high humidity getting into the padding. We have a little dog, but there were no signs of that being the obvious problem. Nonetheless, smell is gone, and VERY happy with the cleanilness of a hard surface.