LESLIE: Alright. Now we’ve got Rex in Alaska who’s working on a flooring project. What can we do for you today?
REX: Yes. I want to know if I can lay a laminate floor straight over a Berber carpet rather than putting the padding down that usually comes with the laminate.
TOM: Yeah, generally not a good idea. We prefer to see you take the carpet up. Is it glued down?
REX: Yeah. That’s a problem; it’s glued down to vinyl and the vinyl is glued on subflooring over a crawlspace.
TOM: (overlapping voices) OK. (Leslie chuckles) Ugh.
LESLIE: It’s like a history of …. (chuckles)
TOM: You have like a crazy flooring sandwich there, don’t you?
REX: Well, yes, so I don’t really want to tear into it. What would be the worst thing? I mean doesn’t a Berber carpet – seems like it would act as the padding.
TOM: Yeah, it could but if it’s too soft, it could make the joints break apart on the laminate floor. You have to have a certain level of sort of stability to that underlayment. I would like to see if you could try pulling the Berber carpet off, even if it’s glued and you had some residual glue left behind. I’d rather see the Berber carpet be pulled up. Then you can lay the underlayment down and put the floor over that. I’d give that a shot; at least try to see if it’ll rip up.
REX: OK. So then I don’t have to get all the glue or anything off? Because I’m just going to cover that with …
TOM: No, as long as it’s relatively flat. Then you put the underlayment down. It’ll be fine.
REX: OK. Because the Berber seems pretty sturdy. There’s not any padding under it; it’s just the vinyl and then the Berber and I was thinking that that might work.
TOM: (overlapping voices) Right.
REX: But I also thought of that because the floor is just floating; you know, it’s not attached to anything.
TOM: It might work but I prefer to see you take it up, if possible.
REX: OK. Thanks for the advice. Appreciate it.
TOM: You’re welcome, Rex. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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