Need advice from flooring experts please

Hi All,

I'm working on a low-end, mobile home rental property. The water heater sprang a leak sometime in the past and destroyed 100+ sq ft of particle board flooring.

Ripping up the ancient carpeting reveals that the pad and carpet were the originals and were installed on bare particle board. No previous flooring was noted.

My natural tendency is to put down linoleum. This this would have the added benefit of waterproofing the particleboard decking and be easier to clean. Unfortunately, in the last decade, we are getting significant numbers of rentals with torn and ripped linoleum. Another part of me wants to glue down some indoor/outdoor carpet. So .... given that this unit has poor, sometimes destructive tenants ..... what's the best long wearing, indestructible flooring I can put down?

Reply to
David Moore
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If carpet has lasted so long that it can be called ancient, then apparently the tenants were not all that destructive, so I don't see the reluctance to use carpet again. If it's a mobile home, it's not that much carpet and won't cost that much to replace when necessary.

 No previous

If they can destroy linoleum, they can probably destroy anything else you put down. And linoleum is harder to replace than carpet. But it easy to clean, waterproof, and doesn't absorb odors, etc.

 Another part of me

Not only would that look like hell, if it's glued down it's going to be much harder to change than regular carpet.

 So .... given that this

I'd go with a commercial or berber type carpet, ie one that doesn't have a deep pile. If you replace it every 7 years or so, is that so bad?

Reply to
trader4

Steel plate? Like from a battleship being scrapped.

Although Trader has a point, and if the place looks bad, that may tend to make the tenants treat it worse. And maybe not just the floor which can take it (if it's steel plate) but the walls too.

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Reply to
micky

Lol. I'd try it if I could. :-)

Reply to
David Moore

I'm no expert, just experience with researching options and installing tile. First, when laying carpet, one can install a waterproofing membrane under it....it may cost more, but may be a good investment in the longrun. I understand that plywood is much more durable and resistant to moisture than particlejunk. Vinyl flooring isn't very resistant to wear and tear, IMO. If your goal is to spend the minimum, then you will get minimum quality. Low cost ceramic tile might even be a good idea. Indoor/outdoor carpet, for poor folks, is a reasonable consideration. And cheap.

I'm sure particle board has sound uses, but in areas subject to any water damage (every bathroom and kitchen I have lived in), it is crap.

Reply to
Norminn

If it was me, I would nail down 3/8 fir underlayment no matter what you do.

That way, if the tenant decides for themselves to glue down some sort of flooring, you can always get it up by prying up the underlayment, no matter what kind of epoxy the tenant uses to glue their flooring down.

The strongest flexible flooring I know of is synthetic rubber flooring.

3/8 inch thick synthetic rubber flooring is the only flooring I know of that's used in skating rinks where people will be walking on it with skates on, and in Golf shops where people will be walking on it with spiked shoes.

Johnsonite is the biggest name in synthetic rubber flooring, and they have everything from cushioned synthetic rubber flooring (for softness, and in terrariums because lizards sense the approach of prey and predators by the vibrations they feel in the ground with their feet), safety flooring for installation in wet areas and around swimming pools, attractive rubber flooring for a weight lifting room, kids rumpus rooms, and super durable synthetic rubber flooring for commercial settings. The stuff is expensive, but it's super strong.

'Johnsonite | Commercial Flooring | The Ultimate Flooring Experience'

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If it wuz me, I and I wanted something in a residential flooring instead of a commercial flooring, I would opt for a level loop solution dyed nylon carpet. Over 80 percent of the commercial carpet made in North America is made of nylon. For a full explanation of why I'd opt for that kind of carpet, use the Search tool at the top of the page to search for a post in this Home Repair forum entitled "Carpet or Hardwood flooring" posted by Gordon Shumway. Read my response to Gordon in that thread and you'll be an expert on solution dyed nylon carpet.

Reply to
nestork

3/8" is pretty thick for that purpose. Typically 1/4" luan is the normal underlayment, used to even up floors for vinyl flooring, and such.
Reply to
krw

I would put down carpet squares, and have several spares handy if the originals get really dirty/dmaged. Then you can use the spares while the dirty squares are getting cleaned.

Reply to
hrhofmann

Sheet steel or aluminum diamond plate???

Reply to
clare
5/16 inch fir underlayment is very common up here in Canada. I didn't know if it was in the States or not because it's made in Canada by Riverside Forest Products in Riverside, Ontario.

The difference between "fir plywood" and "fir underlayment" is that plywood is allowed to have voids in the interior plies, whereas those are filled with water putty in underlayment because they could cause "soft spots" on the floor, where the flooring wouldn't have proper support.

I disagree with the recommendation to install carpet squares.

The whole idea behind carpet squares is that they're supposed to be moved around periodically so that they all receive the same amount of wear. The idea is that while a carpet will wear out only in the traffic lanes, with carpet squares you can rotate the squares just like you rotate your car tires to get uniform wear over the entire carpet. That might work OK where you have a large floor, like the show room of a car dealership. The problem in a residence is that the rooms are much smaller, and that makes carpet squares less appropriate because so many of the carpet squares are cut in unique ways to fit around corners or to fit up to walls and the toe kick on a cabinet. Rooms are seldom "symmetrical" around any axis, so the squares cut to fit up to a wall on one side of the room won't necessarily fit around the baseboard radiators or floor heating vents on the other side of the room. That is, the cut squares often can't be moved because the cuts are unique, so there's only one place that piece of cut carpet can go. You can really only rotate the full squares, and so carpet squares lend themselves more to large carpeted floors which are mostly full squares.

Reply to
nestork

carpet squares in my office are glued down. they are never rotated or moved.

Reply to
chaniarts

That negates much of the advantage that a carpet square floor has to offer.

I supposed that carpet squares still allow you to replaced damaged squares, but if they're glued down you're only going to be replacing the damaged square, and then only when it is damaged. And, having a brand new square on the floor is going to make the rest of the carpet squares look worse by comparison. I think it would be better to rotate the full squares periodically so that you get something more like uniform wear on all the squares; and therefore a much longer lasting carpet.

Apart from the fact that you CAN replace a damaged square, your carpet square floor won't last significanly longer than regular carpet. That's because ALL of the carpet squares are going to need replacement when the carpet squares in the traffic lanes are worn out. If that's the case, why not just install regular carpet then?

Reply to
nestork

Especially if you use chairs with wheels on them. They are like rolling pins rolling out the pie crust dough. My vinyl floors were doing just fine until I bought two of those chairs.

Reply to
micky

Me too, for completely different reasons though. Never heard of "rotating" carpet squares for even wear...

My problem is that if you can remove the squares easily, a tenant can remove them easily...

Reply to
dennisgauge

I said to have some extras so you can rotate through the dirty squares and get them cleaned.

Reply to
hrhofmann

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