Carpet over a wooden floor

TwoShedsJackson

We're getting a carpet in our living room, which currently has a laminate wooden floor in it - we mentioned this in the carpet place and they said it should be no problem laying the carpet over the floor if we didn't want to bother tearing it up etc.

All grand, however the floor has a triangular white plastic piece all along it where it meets the wall, presumably this helps keep it in place (DIY is not my forte ).

Anyone know if this will cause problems for the carpet fitters i.e. can they just take that off and lay the carpet to the wall or what?

Lex Luthor

TwoShedsJackson wrote:

We're getting a carpet in our living room, which currently has a laminate wooden floor in it - we mentioned this in the carpet place and they said it should be no problem laying the carpet over the floor if we didn't want to bother tearing it up etc.

All grand, however the floor has a triangular white plastic piece all along it where it meets the wall, presumably this helps keep it in place (DIY is not my forte ).

Anyone know if this will cause problems for the carpet fitters i.e. can they just take that off and lay the carpet to the wall or what?

This triangular plastioc trim you speak of is probably the scotia the laminate floor fitters used to make a seamless joint between your floor & skirtings. for the carpet strips to be nailed down these will have to be removed. I would take them off before the carpet fitters arrive because they might kick up a fuss about them being there and delaying them further. More than likely they are either tacked or lightlky glued to your skirting.

is_that_so

They call it beading and as long as floor is fitted properly then there should be no problem. Carpet guys should know what to do. But if you are going to take it off then I would check a small section first in case it takes a chunk out of the skirting.

Lex Luthor

is_that_so wrote:

They call it beading and as long as floor is fitted properly then there should be no problem. Carpet guys should know what to do. But if you are going to take it off then I would check a small section first in case it takes a chunk out of the skirting.

beading=scotia (depends what they call it where you buy it)

Victor

TwoShedsJackson wrote:

We're getting a carpet in our living room, which currently has a laminate wooden floor in it - we mentioned this in the carpet place and they said it should be no problem laying the carpet over the floor if we didn't want to bother tearing it up etc.

Realise that this would seem to indicate they want to glue the whole carpet down and you will never be able to use the timber floor again.

All grand, however the floor has a triangular white plastic piece all along it where it meets the wall, presumably this helps keep it in place (DIY is not my forte )

This is to cover any gap between the floor and the skirting to allow for expansion and contraction. Matching a new floor to an old skirting can be a bitch.

TwoShedsJackson

Victor wrote:

Realise that this would seem to indicate they want to glue the whole carpet down and you will never be able to use the timber floor again.

I meant we wouldn't need to tear up the wooden floor in the first post - this carpet will hopefully last the remainder of the time we spend in this house so I'm not too concerned about what happens to it next

(edit) just took up the whole thing, it was indeed nailed in, still only took one small lump out of the skirting board which will be behind the sofa once the carpet is in so that's grand (/edit)

Lex Luthor

Victor wrote:

Matching a new floor to an old skirting can be a bitch.

Hence the scotia or beading which is always to be matched to the floor and not skirting, if possible.

is_that_so

TwoShedsJackson wrote:

I meant we wouldn't need to tear up the wooden floor in the first post - this carpet will hopefully last the remainder of the time we spend in this house so I'm not too concerned about what happens to it next

(edit) just took up the whole thing, it was indeed nailed in, still only took one small lump out of the skirting board which will be behind the sofa once the carpet is in so that's grand (/edit)

Carpe(t) Diem