Carpet

[Newt]

Hello all, i am new here buti have been reading a lot. I am in Iraq and looking at some projects when i get home soon. I have already pulled most of the carpet and replaced some areas with laminate. I want to put carpet in my living room but the old carpet was just stapled down(I did pull all the old staples out). Is it best to just restaple or to put down tacstrips and stretch it like you would in a stick built home? Figured someone here has done this already so thought i would solicit advice. Also, in my bathroom i want to pull the carpet and put down some linoleum. Any recommendations on type. I have seen some stuff that is a little thicker(at Southerlands). Also with that project should i pull the toilet and all that?

Thanks for any advice,

Newt

[Greg]

Hi & welcome. Most homes use tac strips along the edge just as a stick built house.
You are right about the bathroom, sheet vinyl is the best bet, you want to keep the subfloors as dry as possible. Stay safe, Greg

[Newt]

Okay good deal thats what i was thinking. I think i will add some sealer apparently the is an animal odor from my exwife letting animals go whereever. A sealer should take care of that. My neighbor cleaned up the house and did tell me that the subfloors are fine just kind of smelly where the animals went on one section of the subfloor.

As for the carpet, since i will be stretching it do you cut the carpet the dimensions of the room and stretch or slightly shorter?

What thickness of vinyl would you recommend? I have seen some pretty thick at SUtherlands but as i recall it wasnt glue down. As for that should i go ahead and pull the tub and cabinet vanities and stuff and lay then put them back in?

You all are awesome! One big reason i am keeping my manufactured(aside from the housing crisis) is this site has motivated me to fix it up and its lookin real good. I bought it 5 yrs old, some renters trashed it bad so i figured ill get it up to a better standard with all i have learned here and i can actually do it on a military paycheck Heh.

[Greg S]

Cut it larger than the room, stretch and hook onto carpet strips then trim excess along wall. You will need a "kicker" (I think that is it's name) to stretch the carpet.

[LisaNCarolina]

We recently put laminate in our bathroom, but if I had it to do over I would have put sheet vinyl (hardwood look) or plank vinyl (new hardwood look at Home Depot). Vinyl is waterproof and so easy to care for. We put the vinyl sheet in our sunroom and it looks great! It was in stock at Home Depot and very resonable.

Thank you for your service in Iraq!

[Yanita]

Hi,

Just a word of caution on stretching the carpet. I have seen where someone used a stretcher that pushed to hard and damaged a stud on an interior wall. Sometimes these interior studs are nothing more than 1x3.

Also you do not have to glue your vinyl down, in fact none are glued in my home. You do need to make sure that all seams of the subfloor have been floated and nail/screw heads covered as well.

To get a real clean look I prefer the toilet be removed, a wax seal is cheap. As for vinyl, most Home Depots or Lowe's have discounted bins with large remnants available. I bought one that was 8x12 mannington and it worked great! The cost was less than 50.00.

Good luck and keep us posted on your renovations.

Yanita