want carpet laid on concrete then laminate.

shegar

Hello, I have a laminate bedroom floor and under the laminate we have solid concrete floor. Can I have a fitted carpet laid on top of those two , and also how if they use grips, will they be able to nail grips down, ? as I dont want the carpet laid loosely on top of the laminate, the type of carpet I would like is 100 per wool with hessian backing. Thanks if anyone can answer my question .

Foggster

Personally I always have underlay to give a better fit. I would be concerned that the carpet would "slip" on the laminate and start to bulge or come away from the grippers.

The grippers would be nailed through the laminate and would probably make it useless for future use, so in summary I would take the laminate up and then lay underlay.

100% wool carpet is a quality carpet and should be fitted as above.

diggerman123

i agree , take up the laminate !

Paul_the_Painter

Not painting anymore! have spent the last couple of years selling carpet, but have to agree that the laminate has to come up, it's a very easy DIY job, but relatively time consuming, which is why a carpet fitter will charge you a lot for doing it. 3 types of carpet gripper, wood floor, concrete floor, and universal. There is no such thing as laminate gripper, the nails in the gripper will not seat well into the laminate, and as the gripper on the last side of the room are nailed in, the first side that was done will be loosening.

Underlay, get it - no arguement, the stuff from Allied/Carpetright etc is rubbish, buy from an independent, or John Lewis, or get it off the web (if you get the carpet and fitting from a major retailer expect to throw £1 or per square meter to the fitter to fit it - and no you can't do it yourself - time on the job matters, so if your not doing the gripper you can't be doing the underlay) underlay wise I'd always go for a rubber crumb, or a foam, the sponge rubber is a bit of a compromise, and doesn't do either very well, a good rubber crumb will last decades, a foam will be lovely and soft.

p.s. chances are unless you are looking at a 100% deep pile saxony carpet, you are looking at an 80% wool 20% nylon/polyester/something else. This is great and what you should be looking for. If you are after a deep pile 100% wool pile carpet, then you'll be looking at £50+ per sqm lovely and totally impractical, I'd rather have 100% polyester deep pile. but your mileage may vary

Foggster

I recently went with my mother to a "super store" carpet supplier to get an idea of cost for a carpet for a spare bedroom. We were quoted £350 for an average quality carpet which included underlay, grippers etc etc. We then went to our local independent and a 60% wool carpet mix is going to set her back.................£225!

Stay away from the big boys!!!

underlay_guru

Hi,

Confirming most of the advice above:

-There is not really any point in leaving the laminate floor in-situ, therefore take it up. If you are fitting carpet on top, the grippers would damage the laminate anyway.

-Absolutely use an underlay. Without this, not only will the carpet feel hard underfoot, but it will suffer from premature wear as it has nothing to support its backing. Go for either a rubber or sponge underlay that has some density and thickness to it

-IMO, underlays from Allied/Carpetright are not rubbish - they are just massively overpriced (around £10 per square metre for their super luxury underlay is ridiculous) therefore, shop around. Extremely cheap underlays may look like a bargain, but most will not make any difference to the softness of the floor, so it would be better to spend a little more and avoid the bargain basement stuff. Aim to pay no more than £6 per square metre (around £5 per square yard) for a really high quality domestic underlay.

shegar

Many thanks to you all for answering my question, so when im ready to order the carpet I will make sure the laminate will be taken up, Youve all answered my question by saying that the laminate will be damaged by putting the grippers down. thanks :T

Paul_the_Painter

Should have said rubbish for the price, unerlay_guru is spot on, however about 18 months ago at a certain retailer Gold became "new Gold" (and was about the same thickness as "old silver") Silver became "new Silver" (and dropped to almost the same as "old Bronze") bronze didn't change because it couldn't get much lower.

Personally now I'm out of the game I'd work on the basis of paying for everything, then you know what you are buying, by that I mean buy the carpet, buy the underlay, buy the gripper(although that stuff is cheap as chips 100 sticks 1.5m each for about £25), pay for the fitting. "free fitting/free underlay/50% off" are generally complete rubbish, you're paying for it somewhere.

Foggster

shegar wrote: »

Many thanks to you all for answering my question, so when im ready to order the carpet I will make sure the laminate will be taken up, Youve all answered my question by saying that the laminate will be damaged by putting the grippers down. thanks :T

We all got a bit carried away there!! LOL

Try and support a local business, I would never go to the "big boys". :T

underlay_guru

Paul_the_Painter wrote: »

about 18 months ago at a certain retailer Gold became "new Gold" (and was about the same thickness as "old silver") Silver became "new Silver" (and dropped to almost the same as "old Bronze") bronze didn't change because it couldn't get much lower.
......buy the carpet, buy the underlay, buy the gripper(although that stuff is cheap as chips 100 sticks 1.5m each for about £25), pay for the fitting. "free fitting/free underlay/50% off" are generally complete rubbish, you're paying for it somewhere.

Couldn't agree more..... I'm all for companies making an honest profit, but when a retailer still tries to increase their 350%-ish profit margin, it's a little ridiculous.

Also, there is no such thing as free underlay and/or fitting. As Paul says above, the added cost of the freebie is always added on somewhere else.

shegar

underlay_guru wrote: »

Couldn't agree more..... I'm all for companies making an honest profit, but when a retailer still tries to increase their 350%-ish profit margin, it's a little ridiculous.

Also, there is no such thing as free underlay and/or fitting. As Paul says above, the added cost of the freebie is always added on somewhere else.

Yea the underlay and grippers cost more than the carpet. !! Im a wise old gel from suffolk, they will have to get up early to get one over me .!! thanks 2 you all.:T