Carpet directly laid on top of plywood/plank subfloor

[VW31]

Went to see a house today. The seller just put new wall to wall carpet (every where except the kitchen and bath) over the original plywood/plank subfloor. Is that a bad thing?

The carpet is stuck down in some places and there is some cushiony material under the carpet in some areas. There wasn't any in one closet, where I as able to pull up a corner and peek.

 

[vacanut]

There should be a carpet pad installed under the carpet

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I would say that yes it probably is not only "bad" but stupid. Why the heck would he do that? It would scare me just thinking of that.

 

[vettechick99]

We just had carpet installed in our bedrooms and we had a pad laid underneath. I can't IMAGINE laying it right on the floorboard! Talk about uncomfy!

If you like the house other than that, I'd have them pay for a reinstall with padding.

 

[VW31]

I'm not sure if there is padding or not as the carpet is stuck down in most areas. Is the padding different than the cushiony material?

We plan to put down hard wood floors throughout anyway, but in the meantime we would have to live with the carpet.

 

[RadioNate]

isn't that how carpet is laid? subfloor, carpet pad ("cushiony material" ???) carpet?

 

[kimber79]

The carpet is stuck down in some places and there is some cushiony material under the carpet in some areas. There wasn't any in one closet, where I as able to pull up a corner and peek.

"some cushiony material under the carpet in some areas" ~ Are you sure the *cushiony material* is only in some areas?? This sounds kinda crazy.......isn't the carpet *lumpy*??

I would think it would be abnormal for an installer to come and only put padding here and there. As for the carpet/padding to be laid on the original plywood subfloor ~ how else should it be done?? This is how the carpet was installed in my house.

 

[kimber79]

I'm not sure if there is padding or not as the carpet is stuck down in most areas. Is the padding different than the cushiony material?

They have to tack the carpet down so it doesn't move all over the place. The padding / cushiony material should be the same stuff! The padding will look kind of like foam.

 

[WampusCat]

Was it a "do it yourself job?" That is the only way carpet could get laid without putting some sort of padding down. I can't imagine any professional carpet installation that would put it on bare wood.

If it is on bare wood, you would need to pull it up and install a proper pad.

 

[DebºoºS]

That's right they put the padding over the sub-flooring. They'll also put down strips of wood usually nailed or glued to the sub-flooring. The strips hold the pad & rug with tacks coming up & they also nail/tack the rug down to it. It's done around the edges after they bump/stretch the rug under the molding. I've never seen rugs glued in the middle of the room, that would cause ripples eventually. If it's a slab they glue the whole thing down.
They'll do closets with the remnants if there are any but it's extra$ to have them done.
The flooring underneath might not be regular plank flooring but if is the owner may have done it rather than refinish the floors if they were really bad. You can strip the floors after the rugs come up but it's a lot of work. Carpeting on the second floor is always better than hard wood. It's quiet.

 

[VW31]

I'm not sure if it was a do-it-yourself job but there is some sort of padding (cushiony material) underneath.
Since I've never had carpet I wasn't sure if it was normal to lay it right on top of the plywood/plank sub floor. However, I see now that this is normal.
I always thought there would be hardwood floors or something underneath the carpet.

 

[VW31]

The flooring underneath might not be regular plank flooring but if is the owner may have done it rather than refinish the floors if they were really bad. You can strip the floors after the rugs come up but it's a lot of work.

If it is the original/regular plank flooring, can I just lay hardwood floors over it? Do I have to do anything to the floors before hand?

 

[DebºoºS]

If it's the original real wood plank flooring you can rip up the carpet, strip it, sand it, stain it all yourself or have it done. It's a lot of work but well worth it once it's done.

 

[VW31]

So you don't put in hardwood floors on top of it?

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I'm not sure if it was a do-it-yourself job but there is some sort of padding (cushiony material) underneath.
Since I've never had carpet I wasn't sure if it was normal to lay it right on top of the plywood/plank sub floor. However, I see now that this is normal.
I always thought there would be hardwood floors or something underneath the carpet.

Oh, ok...Yes that is normal. There is no hardwood under carpet.

 

[DebºoºS]

You wouldn't put hardwood floors on top of wood plank floors but subflooring yes. The plank floors are laying on top of subflooring. Subflooring looks like rough plywood sheets. Plank floors are hardwood boards tongue & grooved together all going one way.

 

[DisneyGirl]

This sounds like they had REALLY old carpeting, and their realtor told them they should replace it because it looked bad-- they were probably so cheap that they didn't want to pay for a pad. If that is true, then they probably bought the cheapest carpeting, and you'll probably have to replace it in a year!

If there is something under the carpeting in only SOME places, I would definitely want to know what that is!!

 

[TinkerBess_SnowTori]

You wouldn't put hardwood floors on top of wood plank floors but subflooring yes. The plank floors are laying on top of subflooring. Subflooring looks like rough plywood sheets. Plank floors are hardwood boards tongue & grooved together all going one way.

Sorry - to hijack --- but can you put hardwork or some sort of pergo flooring on top of old hardwoods? Or do you have to take the old tounge and groove hard woods up?

Thanks

 

[Lisa F]

Not all subfloor is going to be plywood depending on when your house was built, so it's possible to have "plank" subfloor that is not meant to be finished and looks like it is in pretty rough shape. Regardless, you do install carpet right on top of it (with a pad between). Not having a pad won't hurt the subfloor but it will cause the carpet to wear more quickly and just not be as comfy. It's entirely possible that someone skipped padding in the closet where you pulled up the corner but the rooms themselves are padded. If you want to lay hardwood floor you would nail it right into the subfloor for traditional solid hardwood flooring.

You can float pergo on top of virtually any other floor (not carpet though). That's part of why people like it. The only floor you have to REALLY prep carefully is for tile. The floor needs to be level and your structure needs to be properly supported so it won't flex too much and cause the tile to crack etc. Most other flooring can be layered pretty, ESPECIALLY over wood flooring... the only issue is that you are building up the level of your floor and need to deal with transitions to other rooms and doors. Pergo is not that thick and it shouldn't be much of an issue but it CAN be an issue to lay something like 3/4" wood floors in a room where there was previously carpet because it's thicker than the old carpet. You can get saddles to deal with room transitions and plane the bottom of your doors so that it will fit over the new flooring. I have no idea why anyone would want to put pergo over real wood floors though (unless the floors absolutely can't be salvaged by refinishing).

 

[TinkerBess_SnowTori]

I have no idea why anyone would want to put pergo over real wood floors though (unless the floors absolutely can't be salvaged by refinishing).

Thanks for your help --- we pulled up carpet in the dining room of our 120+ year old house, hoping for the best. But found the worst. One area has been patched, other parts pretty water stained. It was very sad