Carpet w/out padding?

[chana]

A neighbor told me that I could lay my carpet down w/out padding and it would look ok but would not be as soft. I worry it won't look right and with the original particle board floors or what have you in the trailer I worry if I steam clean it'll damage the floors. Any suggestions on how to do the floor w/out putting down plywood yet I'm still doing Hurricane Ike repairs to our home and money is fast going. I just want to see another alternative to doing the floors as in cosmetic stuff.

[68Marlette]

G'morning! How do you propose to lay the carpet? Just laying it loose or using adhesive or double sided tape? Actionbac carpet is the most common, it is the kind with the polypropylene net on the back that looks like jute. This carpet is designed to be power stretched on tack strip over cushion...not just kicked!! Performance of carpet is directly related to the quality of the cushion. In absence of the cushion most carpets have to be a total glue down. There may be an economical alternative, look into Kanga Back carpet. It is a pad attached carpet that can not be power stretched on tack, it is designed as a professional total glue down also but for budget reasons and putting better carpet in later you could use a double sided carpet tape around the perimeter of the room and depending on the room size can use the tape in one or multiple "X" shapes in the field or in lineal strips. This will help the carpet from buckling and rolling and will make tear out easy when you can finally put in the better carpet. WWW.kangaback.com shows you everything about it. At my Lowe's we only carry one color but you may try other retailers too. Best of all it really is designed as a DIY project. Also in lieu of steam cleaning try a dry cleaning system like Capture, works great! Spots and spills use Folex. Folex is fantastic and will remove just about anything! Hope this helps...