Glue Down Carpet

Here's a question for ya'! I have a spare bedroom (new add - clean plywood subfloor) that will get fairly minimal use. We used a wonderful pecan hardwood laminate on the rest of the new rooms - about 600 sf of family room and hall.

Without going into many gory details we are currently in a position to finish the space quickly and frankly cheaply. The flooring place we've been frequenting recommended glue down commercial carpet as a good solution.

My wonderful husband and I will be the ones to install. We've done quite a few projects lately - the lam mentioned above and sheet vinyl being our recent flooring projects.

Here are a few questions:

1) Is glue down floor a good choice? Stretch it carpet seems really hard and we don't have any of those tools. We do have the trowels for the floor glue (did I mention we are about to tile a bathroom, too?!)

2) Will it be an incredible bear to remove if we ever should decide to change it?

3) What if we had them cut (or cut it ourselves) the carpet into 18" squares and we glue it down that way? (kind of like those FLOR things that are as pricey as installed carpet...)

Anyone have any thoughts? Thanks in advance for any advice.

[Tandy Reeves]

I see no advantange to glueing the carpet down. I can be very difficult to scrape up later. To cut the broadloom carpet into 18" squares would be a nightmare. Carpet squares have special backing that other carpets do not.

You state this room will get very little use therefore, why no wait, save up and have the carpet installed professionaly over cushion. Or install another type floor you like.

If you do not have the time or money to do it right, when will you have the time and money to correct the floor you do not like.

There are many very good pros on this site and hopefully they will share their thoughts also and BTW welcome to The Floor Pro we are glad you stopped by.

It's more a question of finishing the job - we need to have flooring on all the rooms to get refinanced... So if we don't cut it could we just glue the outer perimeter of the room?

[mcurrin]

Tandy is correct. You might want to consider loose lay without pad, Then later you could have someone come in and install it in a conventional install. This would get some floor covering down now at low cost and a quick easy fix later by a pro.

good luck

Mike

[skhardwoods]

I agree with Mike, loose lay is the way to go. If you can fit it in the room before the base boards, great, just leave it a tad short. Then install the base, and use a piece of flat bar at the doorway to finish off that edge. I would nail the flat bar on so the nails don't go thru the carpet. It will lay flat just fine, as long as you dont restrict it too much.

[pbslee]

How big is the bedroom. If it is an average bed room (12' x 12') it would probilly cost you about $100 to have it intalled by a pro.

Thank you very much guys, I appreciate the info. I think we'll go with the loose lay and a transition strip from our lam. Do I need the pad or shall we wait for the permanent fix?

[Peter Kodner]

There are some inexpensive attached cushion products out there. Most home improvement centers carry them. I completely agree with all said before- loose lay it. You can use some double face tape around the perimeter which will help keep it from moving and allow easy removal in the future.

[Taurus Flooring]

Kangaback loose laid is the best way to go. It gives you the cushioning without the cost of professional installation. Just cut it a bit short so the material can grow. Using double face tape can restrict the material and can be a pain to deal with. The only place I would use it, is at the seams.

[Nick Arrera]

Years ago we use to double face the kitchen cpt .. use to run it down the length every 3 ' ..
Never had a problem with bubbles .. They were rubber back carpets ..

Hey thanks all - I appreciate your advice. You're right we did find some really nice "pre-padded" carpet at HD and we'll just loose lay that for now. It will look nice enough and cover the subfloor.

If anyone asks I'll tell them you all ROCK!

[TFP Admin]

Thanks, Kate. I'm glad you found a good solution. Come visit us again soon and yes, please do tell your friends.

T