re carpeting a house?

Question

My husband and i want to rip up our berber carpet and replace it with either new carpet or the faux wood flooring. We were thinking about doing one room at a time just so every room in the house won't be a mess. Has anyone replaced carpet in their house themselves and is it really difficult to put in new flooring?

Answer 1

I'm a contractor and a home owner and I can tell you that it is real easy to laminate flooring, especially after the first few boards. just be sure of a few things.
1. That you are not obstructing any doors or anything by making the floor higher. some laminate flooring and get as thick as 3/4"
2. Leave a 1/4" to 1/2" space from the walls to allow for expansion. cover gap with base molding. if you make it too tight in the summer the humidity will expand the boards and they can pop right up under pressure.
3. make sure you purchase a glue less laminate, if you do. those are ones that snap together and lock in place. those are the easiest to work with.
4. buy a moisture barrier pad, it helps even out the floor and protect the floor from moisture getting under the planks.
5. Buy an extra box of flooring to have in case of future damages or mistakes while cutting.
They look nice, easy to maintain and come in a variety of patterns, not just wood grain. Just read the instructions on the box for the laminate for more ideas. Also try going to a home center or book store and check some of installation books they have about flooring.

Carpet is much harder to deal with, if you don’t have the right tools and practice it is real easy to screw up. The hardest part is cutting it and stretching it so that you don’t have any lumps. And even though you can sketch carpet, if you cut too much your left with an area rug instead. If you feel like a challenge try carpet.

And whichever you pick, always use knee pads. I can’t stress this enough. Your knees will thank you at the end of the day.

just read the instructions

Answer 2

Both # 1 and # 2 give you valid advice and suggestion. You don't state whether or not you want to mix and match, or change types or colors from room to room or in transition areas.

A decent laminate or hardwood will likely last longer than carpet, and be easier to maintain, but it may be that you'll use area rugs with it?

Pricing differences in decent flooring, no matter the substance, are negligible.

It may be that Yes you could decide "whole house" carpet, in the same color for example, (It's not uncommon) and in doing it your self be able to plan the job so that you stop at the edge of a hall or other transition area, leave it unfinished, or temporarily finished with tack down transitional molding, and when ready use the seam iron and tape. You'll still need the various suggested tools to complete the job, but those can be rented. A laminate or wood floor would be easier to stop mid job.

Not trying tp Push staying away from DIY, but if you decided on carpet you might find it worth the installation costs to "have it done", and be done with it in a single visit. Carpet is certainly the more labor intensive task and for a "Newbie" DIY, might be a frustrating one. Keep in mind too (And I experience this often) that not every form of flooring is eternally "stocked." Depending on your assumed time frame, even if you don't install all at once, you may want to purchase for the entire house at the same time.

An additional benefit to laminate is that the "OOOPS" factor may not be as critical.

Steven Wolf

Answer 3

Well if you want to replace carpet it would be better to do it all at once. But if you are going to use wood laminate flooring. You can do this first and then replace the carpet last which would be easier. The wood laminate is a very easy to install. It comes with very good instructions. I have replaced both in our house. If you are replacing the carpet you need to get a carpet stretcher and a kicker, a carpet knife, a carpet seamer and tape. Carpet seems easy but it is far more complicated than the wood laminate. I suggest you go to DIY. net and receive some instruction on carpet.

Answer 4

if you are going to replace carpeting your best bet is to let the pros do it. it's not as easy as it looks, especially if your rooms require seams. the laminate, on the other hand, is very do it yourself freindly. it requires putting down a sound/moisture barrier... spenda little extra money on this.. you will be glad you did. it helps tone down the hollow sound you can get with lamimates. some flooring stores will even lend you a dvd or tape on the how tos of laminate installation.
make sure that you measure your wall for quarteround, this acually holds the floor in place, as it is usually a floating application, and you have to leave expasion joints around the walls for the laminate to swell and contract. you will also need
trims where ever the laminate meets other flooring, endcaps
or squarenose to meet carpet, hard surface reducers to meet vinyl or bare concrete or terrazzo. you will also need trim to cap the wood against sliding glass doors if you have them. the trim you will require will depend on the kind of doors you have.

Answer 5

We replaced our carpeting with laminate flooring because we have a lot of pets (cats & dogs) and it became a full time job just trying to keep the carpeting clean from claws & shedding hair. Installing laminate isn't that difficult once You get the hang of it. We did ours one room at a time, stopping at doorways since it's a natural breakpoint that is covered by a strip of trim.