Building material experts: I need a flooring surface that can be put on top of carpeting

[Jeff7]

Situation: I intend to turn one bedroom of my apartment into a woodworking shop - I've got a small lathe, bandsaw, etc, all kinds of fun toys.
Problem: The floor is carpeted with something a bit thinner than this stuff, and I can't remove it, and in my experience, wood shavings are nearly impossible to completely remove from carpeting, and I really don't feel like losing my security deposit because I gave the carpet an authentic woodgrain texture.

Solution: I need something to put over the carpet. It needs to be reasonably durable, enough so that I can walk on it, or perhaps drop a tool on it without putting a hole through it. The worktables I will build will also rest on the surface, whatever it may be. They'll just be made of plywood and 2x4's.

Would I be looking at some sort of linoleum type flooring? Or would that be too flimsy?
It's not a terribly large room, either - only about 11' x 12'.
Whatever the flooring material would be, it would only be laid on the surface, and not secured with any sort of fastener like nails. If anything, I'd epoxy some felt or something to the bottom of it to keep it from slipping.


Update, January 10th: The closet has a separate piece of carpet in it. Underneath it are a few sections of linoleum, and underneath them, a newspaper. Date: October 18th, 1960.
Pics will be posted when the project is really under way.

I went with sheets of wafer board for the floor, 7/16" thick, because that's what the nearby hardware store stocked. I had no idea that the sheets of wood could be had so cheap. 4' x 8' x 7/16" - $6.88 each. Home Depot would probably have had cheaper, but they're much farther away, and I'd like this Valu Home Center place to stay in business, because it's really convenient, so they tend to get more of my money.
Two sheets are going in place today, as they don't need to be cut. The other two need cutting, and that'll have to wait until it's not raining outside, as I don't want to do any cutting on the carpeted apartment floor, and I'd rather not get the fresh plastic film all full of dust before it's even put into its permanent location.

 

[olds]

Pull the carpet, roll it up, put it away.

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

Wait, you're seriously thinking about making a spare room into your shop? That's awesome, ballsy, and stupid I want to reply with a positive response but I don't think think it's a very good idea to do what you're planning on doing.

 

[BigJ]

No, you cannot.

You will crack the shit out of laminate flooring, and linoleum flooring just isn't going to work.

Throw down a bunch of plastic tarps (or any type of waterproof type barrier). Proceed to put sheets of plywood over the tarps.

 

[shiner]

I see an ER visit in your future.

 

[SampSon]

You're not going to find any type of standard flooring that will install over carpeting and be usable.
Without fastening the new finish flooring to the subfloor it's basically useless. If you epoxy the new finish flooring to the carpeting you're going to destroy the carpet.

Cover the floor with sheets of plywood.

 

[BoomerD]

Plywood might work, but in reality, unless it was sealed VERY tightly, you'll still end up with sawdust and chips in the carpet. If you're going to go to all this work, why not just remove the carpet, roll it up, and store it until you're ready to move? You'll save $$$ in the long run and it will be far less work.

Which ever way the OP goes with this, I forsee a "My landlord won't return my damage deposit" thread from the OP in the future...

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Cdubneeddeal
Wait, you're seriously thinking about making a spare room into your shop? That's awesome, ballsy, and stupid I want to reply with a positive response but I don't think think it's a very good idea to do what you're planning on doing.

Just a small workshop. I've already got the ok from my landlord to do this. The apartment is built into the side of a small deli/convenience store, and the bedroom doesn't share any walls with the store.

It's not really any super-heavy-duty stuff.
Equipment consists of:
- A big shopvac thing, designed for continuous use, and it's at least 70lbs.
- A small lathe, good for items up to 6" in diameter
- A benchtop bandsaw
- A Dremel "tablesaw" thing - like a regular tablesaw, only smaller, as it uses a 4" diameter blade
- A grinder, for sharpening lathe tools
- A belt sander
- Lots of blocks of wood

My grandfather rigged up a nifty system using coffee cans and dryer ducting, and some custom mounting systems. Each appliance has a mounting plug - the dryer ducting goes from the vacuum, to each one, and the flow can be directed at various "docking ports" mounted to the workbenches. The docking ports consist of cylindrical ducting, which the coffee can connectors plug into. It sounds weird, but it's really nicely done, and quite effective.

I'll have a look at the carpet again. I'm honestly not even sure how it's attached to the floor. I can't feel or see any nails or staples.

Originally posted by: SampSon
You're not going to find any type of standard flooring that will install over carpeting and be usable.
Without fastening the new finish flooring to the subfloor it's basically useless. If you epoxy the new finish flooring to the carpeting you're going to destroy the carpet.

Cover the floor with sheets of plywood.

Re-read my post. I said that I would epoxy some felt to the bottom of the new flooring. This would provide friction between the flooring and the carpeting, serving to hold the flooring in place.

Originally posted by: shinerburke
I see an ER visit in your future.

You don't know me vewy well.
I've worked on stuff like CRTs and power supplies, places where the label says, "WARNING, no user serviceable parts inside." I've made custom additions to keep a 25-year-old lawnmower working. I still have all my fingers. I built a small Tesla Coil, and never even had any close calls.
I first used this lathe at least 10 years ago, in my early teens. Before that, my grandfather let me play with the drill press in his basement. I was probably less than 10. I knew what to do and what not to do with it. When I was in gradeschool, I stripped the ends of the wires on a 120V plug, and touched them together to see how big the spark would be. That was fun. I knew then that the copper part was the dangerous part, and not to touch it.

Originally posted by: BoomerD
Plywood might work, but in reality, unless it was sealed VERY tightly, you'll still end up with sawdust and chips in the carpet. If you're going to go to all this work, why not just remove the carpet, roll it up, and store it until you're ready to move? You'll save $$$ in the long run and it will be far less work.

Which ever way the OP goes with this, I forsee a "My landlord won't return my damage deposit" thread from the OP in the future...

I tend to be careful, and thorough about such things.
I forsee no such thread from me in the future.


Update
Pulled up one edge of the carpet, carefully. It's held in place with tiny staple things. Very sharp. Guess what, drew a tiny bit of blood. The way it came up, I was expecting carpet tape, which is generally not nearly as sharp as staples are.
The edges at the wall appear to be held in place by little more than the baseboard. Bleh, maybe I will just wind up pulling the whole thing up.
Concerning causing damage, if you've seen Futurama, there was one episode where Bender poured toxic waste into the sewer, ruining a mutant's wedding dress. "Honey, that thing was ruined the minute it went on you."
This apartment is kind of like that. I wouldn't even call the workmanship "amateurish." More like, "I stabbed out both of my contractor's eyes and made him work that way." Some sections of the wall in this bedroom don't even have the baseboard installed.

 

[mugs]

This... is a terrible idea.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: mugs
This... is a terrible idea.

Aw, you're no fun.


I just found some small sheets of paneling in the attic. I think I have an idea now of what might work.
Standing on it, it bends only about 1/8". Putting all my weight onto a 2x4, stood on end, it hardly bows in, either.

This won't be any kind of elegant solution, by any measure. But then, this is a crappy old building, which the owner just hasn't wanted to outright demolish yet, so he turned it into a kind of lousy-looking, yet entirely functional apartment. Result: I get a 2-bedroom apartment, by itself, with loads of storage space, for the price of a nice 1-bedroom apartment.

 

[BoomerD]

The carpet may be held down with tack strips. Basically, strips of wood that are attached to the floor (with nails over wood and adhesive on concrete) and have tacks that stick up into the carpet...lots of fun if you step on them...(I usually take a hammer and smash the tacks down at an angle to help grip the carpet backing while flattening the tacks down to eliminate bloody toes...
http://i80.photobucket.com/alb...awocky3816/blog105.jpg

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: BoomerD
The carpet may be held down with tack strips. Basically, strips of wood that are attached to the floor (with nails over wood and adhesive on concrete) and have tacks that stick up into the carpet...lots of fun if you step on them...(I usually take a hammer and smash the tacks down at an angle to help grip the carpet backing while flattening the tacks down to eliminate bloody toes...
http://i80.photobucket.com/alb...awocky3816/blog105.jpg

Hot damn those things friggin' hurt.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: BoomerD
The carpet may be held down with tack strips. Basically, strips of wood that are attached to the floor (with nails over wood and adhesive on concrete) and have tacks that stick up into the carpet...lots of fun if you step on them...(I usually take a hammer and smash the tacks down at an angle to help grip the carpet backing while flattening the tacks down to eliminate bloody toes...
http://i80.photobucket.com/alb...awocky3816/blog105.jpg

Yeah, they're there.
Better yet, beneath the carpet is a separate sheet of crappy-looking foam padding, and beneath that, ancient linoleum. This is some fine kwalitee work here.
As old as this building is, I might find a few gold coins or maybe some Gold Certificates.

 

[Rubycon]

Put carpet tack strips on the stairs in the middle of the night if you HATE the person. (that is really not nice at all!)

Carpet runners turned upside down in the passageway if you want to be funny. It'll smart but not leave a bloody mess. Runners spike side up in the bunks under the spreads also work.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Rubycon
Put carpet tack strips on the stairs in the middle of the night if you HATE the person. (that is really not nice at all!)

Carpet runners turned upside down in the passageway if you want to be funny. It'll smart but not leave a bloody mess. Runners spike side up in the bunks under the spreads also work.

Problem is, I'm the only person living here, and will be for at least the next year or two, and I'm not really into BDSM stuff.

If my landlord turns into a jerk, I'll keep it in mind for when I move out.
But he's been nothing but awesome thus far.

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Problem is, I'm the only person living here, and will be for at least the next year or two, and I'm not really into BDSM stuff.

If my landlord turns into a jerk, I'll keep it in mind for when I move out.
But he's been nothing but awesome thus far.

It's amazing what people will sit on! Those tack strips under a seat cover for example!

Even a sick prank like this - hey which ATOTer did that? :laugh:

 

[DrVos]

I wonder if you might be able to use some kind of locking garage flooring like this: http://www.garage-solutions.ca/catalog.htm
You'd probably want to put a layer plywood to add some rigidity though.

My primary concern would that moisture would get trapped between the carpet and the tiles...causing very unpleasant things to grow.

 

[JohnOfSheffield]

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
Pull the carpet, roll it up, put it away.

Ayup, if you need to sand it down and top it off then that will be cheaper than anything you could cover it with.

Pretty much nothing will go well on top of a carpet like that.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: DrVos
I wonder if you might be able to use some kind of locking garage flooring like this: http://www.garage-solutions.ca/catalog.htm
You'd probably want to put a layer plywood to add some rigidity though.

My primary concern would that moisture would get trapped between the carpet and the tiles...causing very unpleasant things to grow.

That'd run me about $300
Way too expensive.
Interesting flooring stuff though.

*sigh*
I guess I'll just take the boring way out, and try to pull up the carpet, and hope I can get it back in place when I'm ready to move out.

 

[BoomerD]

Originally posted by: Rubycon
Put carpet tack strips on the stairs in the middle of the night if you HATE the person. (that is really not nice at all!)

Carpet runners turned upside down in the passageway if you want to be funny. It'll smart but not leave a bloody mess. Runners spike side up in the bunks under the spreads also work.

Originally posted by: Rubycon
It's amazing what people will sit on! Those tack strips under a seat cover for example!

Even a sick prank like this - hey which ATOTer did that? :laugh:

Damn, remind me NOT to piss Rubycon off...

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: BoomerD

Originally posted by: Rubycon
Put carpet tack strips on the stairs in the middle of the night if you HATE the person. (that is really not nice at all!)

Carpet runners turned upside down in the passageway if you want to be funny. It'll smart but not leave a bloody mess. Runners spike side up in the bunks under the spreads also work.

Originally posted by: Rubycon
It's amazing what people will sit on! Those tack strips under a seat cover for example!

Even a sick prank like this - hey which ATOTer did that? :laugh:

Damn, remind me NOT to piss Rubycon off...

Tacks and dead squirrels would be the least of your worries. Any retribution would likely involve something with the words "kilo," "watts," "explode," and "crispy."

 

[JohnOfSheffield]

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: DrVos
I wonder if you might be able to use some kind of locking garage flooring like this: http://www.garage-solutions.ca/catalog.htm
You'd probably want to put a layer plywood to add some rigidity though.

My primary concern would that moisture would get trapped between the carpet and the tiles...causing very unpleasant things to grow.

That'd run me about $300
Way too expensive.
Interesting flooring stuff though.

*sigh*
I guess I'll just take the boring way out, and try to pull up the carpet, and hope I can get it back in place when I'm ready to move out.

Depending on how you want your floor and what you intend to do with it, acetone when used on the floor rather than on the mat tends to keep the mat from ripping and the floor won't care much since you'll have to sand it down anyway, borrow a machine from someone you know or rent one for £5, it's cheap and easy and after that you can do whatever you want with it, you could tile the whole thing and put the carpet back over it if you'd like.

Depending on the glue, Thinner might be a better remover that won't destroy the carpet, you'll have to test either on an edge and IF it dissolves the rubber/plastic of the carpeting, then be careful to get it to creep under the carpet an pull gently in a 30 degree angle.

Another way is a razor and patience but it takes a shitload of patience.

 

[Kelemvor]

Use what they use at open houses for new models. It's like a think plastic wrap that sticks to the floor so carpet doesn't get dirty from people walking around.

 

[JohnOfSheffield]

Originally posted by: Kelemvor
Use what they use at open houses for new models. It's like a think plastic wrap that sticks to the floor so carpet doesn't get dirty from people walking around.

Yeah and with baby oil on that, you could have a fucking circus, literally.

 

[wedi42]

Originally posted by: Kelemvor
Use what they use at open houses for new models. It's like a think plastic wrap that sticks to the floor so carpet doesn't get dirty from people walking around.

that's what i was thinking
quick google search found this