Carpet Dry, but pad still damp

if the water came from a drain and has remained wet for that many days. its a category 3 or "black water" loss, no matter what. your carpet is junk. that guy is a hack who does not know what he is doing. nobody has mentioned walls. did he test the dry wall for moisture with a non penetrating meter. im guessing no. you need a real professional to take a look at it. but my guess is you didn't want to pay for one. by now the only thing you can do is tear out all the carpet and pad. and do 2 foot flood cuts to all the dry wall possibly affected by water. your studs may have gotten wet too so you should have them tested too. then have a contractor come in and put in drywall and carpet. this is why there are water restoration companys out there. to prevent an unnessary remodel.
its a tough lesson. i know

If the water is gray you should remove the pad. You can contact the IICRC which has published the accepted drying standards for our industry. Their are too many microorganisms in gray water to keep the pad. You will notice mold first on the seeming tape. Good luck.

http://www.1877quicdry.com/inspection_follow_s500.cfm

No, this is in the US...sorry, I didn't realize this wasn't a U.S.-based site. 

Hi guys...sorry for the delayed response.  In my second post I mentioned that it was overflow from a washer and a shower drain--I believe that would be gray water?  My cleaner had two blowers flapping the carpet for a total of six days, but much to our dismay the pad is still damp to the touch.  He said that he steam cleaned it (which seems counter-productive...am I wrong?  And would this do anything to the pad?) and then he also sprayed the whole basement down with a "biocide."  When I mentioned this over the phone, his boss said that as long as we leave the dehumidifiers running for a couple weeks and keep the heat on in the basement, then everything will dry out fine. I have my doubts, mainly because of the feedback that I'm getting from you guys.  I also expressed this doubt to our insurance agent, who is holding onto our claim for awhile to see if any mold develops during the next couple weeks.    If mold/moildew is going to appear, is there a genreal time period I could expect to see it form in? 

Edited by FirstTimeHomeOwner - 14/January/2009 at 4:31pm

Have him take up the carpet and throw out the pad for you.  Once you are sure the concrete is dry you will want to seal it, give a week to cure and have new padding installed then reinstall the carpet.  You will be happy you did.  Make sure he uses a power stretcher only.  Padding isn't all that expensive and you will love the feel under your feet.

I have two dehumidifiers ( 100-200 jobbies from Sears) running down there, as well as 3-4 oscilating fans on the wet spots, in addition to his blower flapping the one end of the carpet.  Like I said, carpet is bone dry, but 3 days later pad is still damp, although not everywhere.  I can deifnitely tell the leak is fixed, so I'm almost 95% certain it is residual moisture.  Will this dry out and be okay?  I really need to junk it?    I mean, I gotta do what I gotta do, and I know jack about mold and wet carpet, so I'll take your word for it.

Keep your lawyer's phone number close by.