Carpet Tiles

[SeltPerner]

I am in the process of building a playroom and am about ready to add carpet. I have some questions about carpet tiles.

The play room is in the basement. The current floor is painted cement, level, and dry. I'm assuming at some point in the next few years the kids will drop a science fair project on the floor, the dog will throw up a half eaten rodent, and I like the idea that I can replace just one tile instead of trying to patch up an entire rug or carpet.

How easy are they to get up without damaging the surrounding carpet tiles? And if they're really easy to pull up, does that mean they're not very secure and won't stay in place when faced with the day to day activities of

3 kids and a dog and their friends?

Any recommendations on brands? Is the selection at Lowes Depot OK? I'm looking more for durability than look and feel.

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[Worn Out Retread]

The tiles are easy to get up without damaging surrounding tiles. The tiles are thick enough and they fit very well together so they stay put when properly laid down. The office building where I worked had carpet tiles of many different types and they never caused a problem and they always looked great as worn or damaged tiles could be easily replaced.

[notbob]

Seems if they are easy to remove on purpose, they'll be easy to remove accidently. Hard to have it any other way.

I knew a young lady, back in the late hippie era, that could do gorgeous things with irregular carpet scraps. Different pieces, colors, textures, she could make a work of art of your room's floor, for dirt cheap. Durable, too, as she used heavy duty carpet glue. I mean that stuff was STRONG! I always wondered what nightmare future owners might be in for, should they need to redo her handiwork. ;)

nb

[Red Green]

notbob wrote in news:rHdDo.14988$ [e-mail]:

And I knew a young lady, back in the late hippie era, that could do...errr...nevermind.

[notbob]

Did she use carpet glue, too? Yikes!

nb

[HeyBub]

Obviously it depends on the glue. If you use the right kind, the tiles won't come up in even extraordinary use, but can be removed with some effort.

I salvaged some from a store that replaced their flooring after Hurricane Yikes and installed them in my library. After installing them, some didn't look so hot (worn), so I peeled 'em up and put down better looking ones. No problem.

[mg]

We used Interface carpet tiles in the social hall at our church. It gets used a lot. We've had tables and chairs slid around without any movement of the tiles. But one can also get down and get a corner to come up with a knife of paint scraper and the whole tile comes up. The tiles we ordered from Interface can be cleaned, dried and put back down. We have extra tiles, but have not had to use any.

[aemeijers]

Commercial grade NEW tiles have a tacky back, and don't use glue except in problem areas like near doors where rotating loads are applied. Most of my HUGE office building has the things, and it has mostly worked out okay. A few, like under the damn tinkertoy modular walls, slide out of place if you lean on the wall, and shoving a 14-foot conference table can have the same effect. But even the glued-down ones seem to come up easy and clean with a big putty knife and heat gun. I think they have a special-purpose glue to use instead of forever flooring cement. A carpet store that deals with the trade could tell you.

I have been tempted by skids of used ones I have seen go for fifty bucks at the auctions, but since I don't have a truck, have resisted the temptation. Come sale time, it would probably make my half-ass previous-owner-finished basement look a lot more palatable to the SWMBOs involved, versus the 1970ish multicolored stripe stuff that is there now, but mostly disintegrated.

[hrhofmann]

About 15 years ago, Mr Todesco might remember, I did an entire office floor with carpet tiles. If they are fitted carefully they don't move around, and can be lifted up and replaced without any problem. But, these were very heavy carpet tiles, not thin lightweight ones.

[HeyBub]

The tiles I salavaged after the hurricane retailed for $34/yd!

One can infer from that price that they were designed and manufactured well and intended to hold up under trying conditions. The minor flooding they experienced - which was, no doubt, the reason for the replacement - didn't bother them at all; after drying, they were exactly as they were when in use.

In your case, buy the pallet. Have the auctioneer set it down next to your car. Fill up every available space in your car with carpet tiles. Abandon the rest in the parking lot.

[Lisa BB.]

"HeyBub" wrote in news:nZednYbu59cvmkLRnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]:

Many years ago I worked at a store kinda like Walmart. A cutomer was buying hundreds of carpet tiles. I asked my boss if I could ring them as one price (total). He told me NO to ring them individually. How dumb was that! It took about 45 minutes to count and ring them up.

[HeyBub]

Walmart is positively anal about inventory. Had you rung it up as one price the inventory would have been reduce by 1 instead of 100.

That said, it's a piss-poor point-of-sale system that doesn't allow a multiplier to be entered for the quantity, i.e., "100 * [SKU]"

[Red Green]

harry wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Guess you could always move soiled ones under furniture :-)

[David Combs]

Grocery store chain Stop and Shop: They're *required* to scan each item, individually.

Takes forever.

David