Section of wooden/laminate flooring like a "rug".

[twuoo]

Ok, I've got a crazy idea. I just CANNOT afford to redo the house with carpet right now. Even "cheap" stuff ends up being close to $3.00 sq/ft.

Anyway, I had this crazy idea of putting together a large section of laminate flooring and then capping the ends off with a transitional runner all around. Kind of like building a great big frame to box in the flooring.

Do any of you folks think something like that would work??? In essence, it would be a big "area rug". The nice wooden section would sit on top of the nasty carpet section. It just wouldn't be officially installed.

Any advice/suggestions?

I know it's a really CRAZY thought....

[eddiep]

yes! that sounds a crazy idea

[Gerry]

Pull up the carpet and paint the flooring.

[Minnymouth]

I'm sure someone else have already tried wood on top of carpet....
Don't believe it will work, the wood might crack too easily

[StartingOver08]

What is the underlying floor, under the carpet? Is it wood or concete? (Don't know where you are located. Here we have concrete floors because we are built on concrete slab foundations.)

So if you have wood, painting works just like the previous poster said. If you have concrete - painting works too. Or you can even do some cutting egde stuff with acid etching that is very high end.

[OhioFiler]

You will be very disappointed if you try installing laminate flooring over carpet.

There are some places you can buy laminate flooring for 70-80 cents per square foot. Perhaps you can do the entire room at that price.

[twuoo]

Where have you seen flooring for that kind of pricing? Might be something worth looking into. Thanks!

[OhioFiler]

Here is an example. This is a place in Cleveland Ohio who I bought from before. Many of the less expensive laminates are more difficult to lock together and they aren't going to last 25 years. However, if you're looking for an inexpensive solution for 10-15 years you can get away with it.

They have some listed for 59 cents.

laminate store Cleveland

[EricaCallaha]

I agree. If you are going to spend the time, effort and money to get some laminate..you may as well try to do the whole room. It really is inexpensive and can at least get you by for the next few years until you can afford to replace carpet. You never know...you might like the laminate better than you think and decide to go through the whole house. My dad has laminate and they love it. When we replace the flooring in our house, we just might go down that same road.

[twuoo]

I was just reading an interesting article about carpet vs. laminate. With carpet, all the dirt and such you track into the house gets trapped into the carpet obviously. The article said the carpet acts as a filter of sorts.

With wooden flooring, that dirt doesn't really get trapped and can become airborn. What happens then is that your lungs, food or whatever the dust particles settles on, becomes the filter. I don't remember the exact details of the article. But in essence, the writer says your lungs and body become the filter for all the dust and particulates that you track into the house.

I always try to take my shoes off at the door. In my foyer area, it is wood and it gets seriously dirty around there. So the article did make some sense.

I also read sometime back that in the summer, you should especially take your shoes off at the door because you can track fertilizer chemicals all over your house. This is especially dangerous if you have babies that are on the floor alot.

The carpet that is here is original. It's over 15 years old now. It's literally coming apart at the seams in some areas.

My big reservation about not doing a wooden floor all over is the insulation property inherent in carpet. Lets face it...a cold floor, like the kitchen, is no fun to walk on with bare feet. But I know that I can get onto carpet in the living room.

I have a good 1000 sq ft that needs carpet. So that's why I was just thinking if I could get away with making a section of laminate to slap on top of the carpet. I'd still be able to keep the insulating properties.

Make sense?

[FLBK7]

I was just reading an interesting article about carpet vs. laminate. With carpet, all the dirt and such you track into the house gets trapped into the carpet obviously. The article said the carpet acts as a filter of sorts.

With wooden flooring, that dirt doesn't really get trapped and can become airborn. What happens then is that your lungs, food or whatever the dust particles settles on, becomes the filter. I don't remember the exact details of the article. But in essence, the writer says your lungs and body become the filter for all the dust and particulates that you track into the house.

I always try to take my shoes off at the door. In my foyer area, it is wood and it gets seriously dirty around there. So the article did make some sense.

I also read sometime back that in the summer, you should especially take your shoes off at the door because you can track fertilizer chemicals all over your house. This is especially dangerous if you have babies that are on the floor alot.

The carpet that is here is original. It's over 15 years old now. It's literally coming apart at the seams in some areas.

My big reservation about not doing a wooden floor all over is the insulation property inherent in carpet. Lets face it...a cold floor, like the kitchen, is no fun to walk on with bare feet. But I know that I can get onto carpet in the living room.

I have a good 1000 sq ft that needs carpet. So that's why I was just thinking if I could get away with making a section of laminate to slap on top of the carpet. I'd still be able to keep the insulating properties.

Make sense?

I live in South Florida. My second child had all kinds of upper respiratory infections almost from birth, and after allergy testing we discovered he was severely allergic to dust. His pediatrician strongly recommended that we get rid of our wall-to-wall carpet and replace it with either ceramic tile or wood. We got rid of all carpet and tiled everything except for the bedrooms where we installed wood floors. We used area rugs to add a touch of warmth in the decor.

Our son's allergies disappeared for the most part as soon as we got rid of the carpet. Carpet is so warm and comfy but it does trap dirt and allergens within its fibers. Tile and wood/laminate floors of course "get dirty" faster, but that's just because you SEE the dirt and feel compelled to eliminate it. All that dirt that you see, would normally be trapped within the carpet, mostly unseen, but harming your respiratory tract all the same.

I am now divorced and my children are grown and live on their own. I have real wood flooring throughout the living areas in my condo, but stayed with comfy carpet in the bedrooms. Yes, I have to sweep or vacuum daily because the dust and cat hair are quite visible if I don't, but just imagine... with carpet, that same dust and cat hair would remain trapped within the carpet fibers and would be mostly invisible to the eye, but not to your lungs!

[relief13035]

Go to www.lumberliquidators.com

They are located all over the US and they have laminate for $.59 also in many colors.

[LuciluS]

We did our kitchen floor with the lock in type laminate wood. We placed in right on top of some kind of indoor/outdoor carpeting (was very flat). There were three of us and it it took about 5 hours to finish.

The wood came in a box and we measured real close and ended up with one panel left. What is neat, is that you are able to saw the pieces and get them as close to the wall as possible. Then we just bought corner round, stained it, cut it and nailed it to the wall.

Not able to tell you how long it lasted, as we moved from that house in Indiana to Arkansas about 6 months later. I will say this....It is much easier to keep the wood floor clean than it was the carpet. Gotta watch what you use to clean it with and don't let water remain on wood as it will discolor it.

If my husband would let me, I would rip up ALL the carpet we have in our home now and replace with wood flooring and just have Area Rugs. My DIL did this to every room in the house and she loves it.

Luci

[mgmadara]

I was just reading an interesting article about carpet vs. laminate. With carpet, all the dirt and such you track into the house gets trapped into the carpet obviously. The article said the carpet acts as a filter of sorts.

With wooden flooring, that dirt doesn't really get trapped and can become airborn. What happens then is that your lungs, food or whatever the dust particles settles on, becomes the filter. I don't remember the exact details of the article. But in essence, the writer says your lungs and body become the filter for all the dust and particulates that you track into the house.

I don't believe that, for the same reason that FLBK7 states. I also have asthma and allergies and was told by my doctor that hardwood floors would be better for me than carpet. Was the article written by somebody that sells carpet?

[Gerry]

was the article written by somebody that sells carpet?

lmao!! :d