gameroom carpet

#1 February 28, 2007, 01:53 AM

Looked at some carpet for my basement gameroom. Its cold down there and I like the shag. Saw some that reminded me of my old girlfriends mobile home in highschool. Looks better tho like real heavy and long. Sexy. The saleslady said it needs pad and stretching. The other store had a carpet that looks like casino carpet. Might look good in my game room. Its real flat with a geometric design and thick with a pad already on it and some webbing on the bottom. Salesman said it could be put down with glue or no glue.
I have to clean the room myself so the flat carpet might be better. I like the shag tho. Is one better for a basement. Should the casino rug be glued or no? Thanks

Nick Arrera · #2 February 28, 2007, 09:43 AM

Carpet wears better with pad , If it's on a concrete floor go with a 8 or 10 lb solid rubber pad . Berber mate is a good one if they have it in your area .. Shags don't hold up as well ..

Floorguy · #3 February 28, 2007, 10:08 AM

Who ever told you you need pad, is just trying to upgrade the sale.

There is no carpet made, that can't ge glued down, or loose laid, directly over a firm solid substrate.

Padding is not required, but adds to the softness & luxury of the carpet

Peter Kodner · #4 February 28, 2007, 10:09 AM

If the "casino" carpet attached pad is whitish or creamy, it is an Enhancer Back, which is a densified urethane foam. In all likelihood, it is an intergrated patterned tufted piece and should be of a good quality (I am not aware of any running line woven peices with an attached cushion. Doby could probably confirm or deny this

). I would recommend it be installed to specification, which would be a glue down application.

While shags are not my personal favorites, they can be fairly trouble free. They are constructed with very long pile with minimal twist and the yarn is intended to lay on its side. IMHO, they look bad the day they go in, but never look worse

Nick gave very good advice, unless there is a specific reason to loose lay or glue it diretly to the floor (and this includes commercial), appearance retention (what I as a consumer consider wear) is greatly enhanced.

Before everyone jumps on me for the commercial statement, studies by DuPont, BASF, Monsanto and Allied many years ago established there is an extremely narrow range of products which are not adversly affected by direct glue down. 1/8 & 1/10 gauge low pile height nylon constructions are the only ones that fell in that parameter. With some of the newer tighter gauge machines in use today, i.e. 5/64ths and 1/16th gauges, they would fall into this category too. IMHO, direct glue is the most overused and abused system of carpet installation.

Harry Myers · #5 February 28, 2007, 01:02 PM

Enhancer bac is a fleece grey in color. You can get it with or without a densified urethane cushion. A play room. Kids usually like to play with there toys , on the floor. They wont be able to roll there cars or toys will wobble and fall over. I would direct glue it . It is stable for all your needs.

Peter Kodner · #6 February 28, 2007, 06:07 PM

Should have thought to put comments in on some of the other attached cushions out there. Enhcancer is the high end of attached cushions and was developed for the commercial market. There are numerous others available that may or may not be a quality product. There are some very low end DIY products that have a low density cushion and should be avoided. I presumed that since you described the carpet you saw as a "casino carpet" it was a high density carpet construciton with a comensurate attached cushion. Curious what the price you were quoted is. I would expect it to be in the $3-5 per square foot range for the material only. I disagree with Harry on a direct glue down versus a padded installation. A possible problem with rolling toys does not take into acocunt the underfoot comfort (or under knee), sound deadening values, the thermal insualtion (albeit pnly an R2 to 3 at best) value (still important in a below grade basement concrete floor where the concrete temperature will be between 50 and 60 year round) and increased appearance retention. I personallly would not want my kids crawling aroung on "fuzzy" concrete.

Harry Myers · #7 February 28, 2007, 07:08 PM

Kyle what color is the attached cushion. If it is yellow it would be a kanga -bac product. The only good kanga bac cushion is Kanga bac gold. As Peter did say comfort is also considered. Now if this were my home I would do a double stick installation. Superior cushion at it best.

Peter Kodner · #8 February 28, 2007, 07:42 PM

Harry, I agree totally. If enhancer is a cadilac, double stick is a rolls royce!

Roland Thompson · #9 March 1, 2007, 08:28 PM

He did say that the carpet with the pad hooked on it had a webbing on it. The one's that i have installed with webbing are call attached backing done at the mill. Milleken does this and so do a few others. It is also a very good dense pad. If it is a Kanga back it will be very soft feeling pad and the bottom side will be very smooth.
If you are going to glue it down i would make sure you have no moisture problems. For my children and grand children i have always like to put a nice pad and strecth it in.
Roland Thompson

#10 March 3, 2007, 01:13 AM

Cant get firmer or solider than concrete. Thats the floor now. Not wet at all just cold. Im in sales too. Nothing wrong with trying to get an upgrade if the product is better for it. Cant see where shag with pad would be better without pad. I could ask about 8 or 10 pound pad for the shag. Casino carpet already has pad on it. Dont think another would help.
Casino carpet pad is creamy or beige color. Real firm. Its a remnent at Carpeteria a little bigger than the room for $299. Room is 11.5 at widest and 14.1 at longest. Carpet is 12 wide 18 long. Shag has to be ordered from another store. More money but its sexy. Sex sells.

This is for my game room. No kids. Big screen TV old pinball machine card table and mini frig. My sanctuary.
Estimator came from Carpeteria. Older gent said he used to install. Measured and used some kind of digital device to check for something on the floor. He said there was enough left over to do the steps. Called another installer refered by prosource store and he measured. No digital thing tho. He asked more questions and said he was looking for indications of moisture and mold. Didnt find any. Didnt say anything about steps either.
More expensive but I still like the shag better. My wife said I shouldnt use our regular vacuum on it tho because the yarns will wrap around the roller thing on the bottom. How do I clean that or should I just go with casino carpet. I like it too just not as much. For almost the same money as shag I get the steps done too with casino carpet.
Sorry for the long post. Didnt expect so many answers.

Nick Arrera · #11 March 3, 2007, 03:17 AM

Kyle , My mistake on the pad 8 to 10 lb is a rebound pad which you don't want to use on concrete as it will break down in time . you want a 80 to 100 oz solid rubber pad . Any carpet will hold up better with pad then without . I would pick the carpet i like the best , that is the one you will be looking at every day .

Floorguy · #12 March 3, 2007, 07:07 AM

I have Leggett & Pratt 6# urethane reboned pad under the carpet I put down in my house 10 years ago. I am on a concrete slab.

Nothing has broke down yet, and it is pretty much time for new carpet, only because it is dirty and stained(raised my 9 year old kid on it) If I didn't care, it would last another 10 years, at least, before it is NASTY.

DJ · #13 March 5, 2007, 11:38 AM

felt pad. stretch in requires pad...dj

gameroom carpet

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This discussion, "gameroom carpet", in Carpet Q&A (part of the category Do-It-Yourself & Consumer Support), begins, "Looked at some carpet for my basement gameroom. Its cold down there and I like the shag. Saw some that ..."