My Carpet/floorboard - pictures

[mo]

Right, after major hassle of getting my wardrobe and bed (plus desk) out of my room and removing my carpet, I have managed to take some photos of the problem (no digicam available so got some poor quality ones with my nokia6230)

This is what i found - generally the boards are flat but the problem areas are unfortunatly exactly over the path into the room and directly where my feet are when i sit on the PC so I really notice them - in the past I screwed some screws in to stop creaking which worked (i will cover the whole room, as last tiem i couldnt be arsed to take everything out...) which you can also see...

Anyway:

This is a general layout of the floor.

is one that is under my feet, its lower than the rest and I can definitley feel it from another angle so you can see the gap.... And then on the entrance to the room, there seems to be a couple of 'new' boards ?loc=loc24&image=b1d_Image026.jpghttp://img103.imagevenue.com/img.php?loc=loc24&image=75d_Image027.jpghttp://img20.imagevenue.com/img.php?loc=loc24&image=8af_Image020.jpgThe one that is new is a slightly different colour - it is higher than the rest.

Now rather than hardboarding it I think its easier and quicker to fill the low one with a sheet of hardboard and sand it - and for the one that is higher than the rest it should be ok to just sand it down a little - and for good measure screw in every board to stop creaking.

Any other options?

In terms of GAPS between boards - the biggest being this one

cannot remember it being a major problem as the board is higher than is what I felt, i dont THINK the gap will present a problem as hopefully the underlay will sort it out.....

I am feeling this sander- should be OK?

would one of the rectangle shape ones be better to work with? the second one comes with 50 sheets as opposed to 10 with the first...

[mo]

Oh yea, the only major carpet shop I know of near me is Carpet Right - the underlay I am probably gonna go for is Cloud 9 as I have read good things about it on eBya anyone know if they stock it? and how much they are likely to charge for it?

And what thickness should I get? :)

[John Rumm]

These bods will charge less and deliver it to you...

And what thickness should I get? :)

IIRC I used 9mm myself (Cirrus?)- very pleased with it.

[John Rumm]

back down.

Common problem... simplest solution is to lift the board and run it through a thicknesser, or failing that since we are only talking about small number of boards you could set about it with a (powered) plane.

A random orbit sander ot a belt sander would be my choice here. Probably the former since getting a belt sander that is usable works out a bit pricey usually.

(have a look at

background on types of sander)

A good choice would be:

if you want something cheaper and onyl have this job in mind then something like:

[mo]

Thanks for the tips John,

Unfortunatley I have to do everything by tomorrow because

1) All the shit from my room is all over the house and I need it back in before everyone who is away comes back by Monday! 2) Well, I am a busy man :)

So no waiting around for deliveries unfortunately.

I relise the sander will probably be rubbish but I only need it literally for a few minutes I think...

What are 'packers'? Does they sell em at B and Q? which is wwere I will be buying all my stuff from tomorrow...

Do you suggest one of these planers over a sander?

- bit more expensive - will it be harder to use? I do NOT intend of taking the board out of the ground when I work on it...

[Rob Morley]

For the low boards - lift them and place scraps of hardboard on the joists to raise them.

For the high boards you could lift them and remove some wood from the bottom just where they sit on the joists rather than reducing the entire thickness. A power planer would be quite good for this.

Screw down any loose boards, taking care not to screw through pipes or cables.

Cover entire floor with hardboard, tack it down.

Fit carpet gripper about a quarter inch from the skirting.

Lay underlay inside the gripper, tape any joins.

Lay the carpet out and trim all edges to a couple of inches over.

Press the carpet onto the grippers along one side of the room. Starting in the middle of that side stretch the carpet onto the grippers on the opposite side. Starting in the middle of the room stretch the carpet onto the grippers on one of the other sides, then repeat for the last side. If there's any slack stretch again until it's flat and evenly tensioned. Tread the carpet onto the gripper all the way round.

Trim the edges so there's about an eighth of an inch extra, and tuck that down between the skirting and the gripper.

The sanders that you linked to are only suitable for finishing, and would take forever to remove a significant amount of material.

[Dave Liquorice]

Good choice but eBay don't stock anything. When buying from eBay you are buying direct from private individuals or traders. eBay only offer a venue and take a cut.

Search the web, I think I bought from the place previously mentioned. Won't arrive by today though...

The 9mm stuff we put in our bedrooms is rather nice under decentish carpet.

I now get the impression that this is more of a bedsitting room rather than a pure bedroom though. The area around the desk with a chair will come in for significant abuse and high wear. Might be well worth getting one of those plastic carpet protector things or buying more carpet that you require so you can put a loose piece under the chair to take the abuse and replace it when it's knackered.

[John Rumm]

;-)

I only linked to Axminster because it was easy to find what I wanted (the argos site was partially down when I was sending the message). The Bosch PEX400 sander is widely available in DIY shops etc.

Or hours if you are using the delta sander!

"packers" are small bits of wood, cardboard, hardboard etc. e.g. anything that you can lay your hands on that bring it up to the required level (or a tad above so you can plane it back to level)

Yup, a planer will do the job faster. You will probably end up with a few scars on the board, but since it is going under carpet that hardly matters.

Make sure you remove *all* screws and nails from the board (and any adjacent ones you may plane over the edge of). Unlike a bit of sandpaper the TCT plane blades will not be at all forgiving if you hit a nail head!

Don't try to plane too much off in one pass, use shallow cuts an take your time, and you should get a decent result.

[david lang]

Do let us know the finished result - this is getting more interesting than Emmerdale :-)

Dave

[mo]

I am running seriously behind schedule, only just managed to get my carpet and underlay before the shops closed!

Hopefully I can get a photo of the finished product by tonight!