hardwood over carpet

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foreverain4

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has anyone ever installed a hardwood floor over carpet?
 
Nope. I would imagine it would make the boards not able to lock in tightly. However, if you just constructed a totally new frame fastened to the carpet, then you could lay a new sub floor and hardwood flooring. Just an idea. Probably not as cost effective. Good luck.
 
i was actually thinking of using 4x8 ft sheets of maple plywood. i would machine toungue and groove myself.
 
foreverain4 said:
i was actually thinking of using 4x8 ft sheets of maple plywood. i would machine toungue and groove myself.
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You can buy 1-1/8" plywood flooring underlayment that is already T-G. It's not very pretty - would need something on top to finish it off.
 
Is this going to cover the WHOLE floor or just a portion? If the whole floor, why don't you just remove the carpet?

f you just constructed a totally new frame fastened to the carpet,
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How do you "fasten" a floor to carpet? :confused:
 
RICK FITZPATRICK said:
Is this going to cover the WHOLE floor or just a portion? If the whole floor, why don't you just remove the carpet?
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i probably wont be covering the whole floor. also, i want to leave the carpet for after i move on....
 
foreverain4 said:
i probably wont be covering the whole floor. also, i want to leave the carpet for after i move on....
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That's fine, except where ever you place the hardwood, expect the carpet to have a permanent "smashed" area that your prospective buyers will see for eternity.

If you want my opinion, I'd remove the carpet and the tack strips and roll the tack strips into the carpet, and store it in a dry place (attic?). Then when you leave, tack it back down.

I've done that in apartments where I didn't own the place, put down flooring I liked, and the landlord made a stink about it when I was leaving... so I took my flooring and tacked the carpet back.
 
As long as all the edges are tongue and groove, and tacked together, I don't see any problem. I would allow 1/4" clearance at the walls though, and cover with the old base boards. At least thats my .02. Personally I think this would be a nice studio floor as the panels are damped by the carpet. One word of warning though. The veneer on these sheets are VERY thin...usually. Might wear at entrances and your mixing position, although thats relative to the traffic. Hmmm, who knows? One other thing is the pattern of the sheets doesn't look that great when butted end to end. Maybe rip in 2'x8' strips and stagger the end joints, but thats a subjective opinion. The whole point of random lenth and narrow boards is to hide the end joints in an overall random pattern. Being a woodworker, I think you already know that. :D Nevermind ;)
 
Taking up carpet is easy....just do as suggested and take up the carpet, roll the tack strip up in it and store it. Just go to a corner in the room with a pair of pliers or something. Grab onto the carpet and pull. It will come right up. The edges of the carpet are just shoved under the board with a blunt knife on install anyway.
 
Unless its carpet glued down.... horrible spray glue makes for a cheap replacement for strips :(

my apartment sux...!
 
RICK FITZPATRICK said:
How do you "fasten" a floor to carpet? :confused:
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Surely you jest! Ha Ha. I meant that he could use some kind of brackets or something to keep the new floor frame secured to the existing floor (under the carpet) thus decreasing the possibility of movement an noise when walking or playing drums or something. It wasn't as good a suggestion as simply removing the carpet and saving it for reinstallation later but, I figured he already ruled that out. An enlarged drum riser type of solution was instantly what I thought of.
 
i would just take up the carpet, but i want to keep a portion of it as is. this would involve having to splice it. i think i am going to rip the sheets to 2 ft x 8 ft pcs. i think these would be more managable. this floor will be in my live room only, i already have a hardwood section in my control room for my chair. i will be concious of the plywood wear though. thanks for the suggestions. i will try and find this thread and post pics of progress and such...
 
probably too late but

something else to think about. While taking up the carpeting might not be that difficult, the padding underneath might be a different story. Sometimes the padding just crumbles if it's foam padding (likely) and it's less than brand new (also likely). Also, as far as re-laying the carpet when you move, as with most things, it's usually easier to tear something up or remove it than to build it or replace it. Carpet laying probably is not that difficult a skill to learn, but I'm sure it is a skill nonetheless. If you're determined to do this, I personally would go with the suggestion of building what would essentially be a room-sized drum riser, making sure that the edges don't touch the outside walls.
 
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