Removable carpet for basement

[superspongegirl]

We are finishing our very dry basement and would love to put down wall to wall carpet, but we worry about potential flooding in the future (we've lived in the house only 4 years). The floor is covered in old vinyl tile. I'm leaning against the modular carpet squares for aesthetic reasons. I am wondering if it is possible to install a carpet and pad with minimal tacking and glueing so that it could be removed if necessary? Or can we purchase the carpet and have it cut to fit and edges bound so that it is like a giant area rug?

[Todd H.]

You could, and it would work. You wouldn't have padding though... but I guess you could lay it under. Binding those edges will be prices for that perimeter, I suspect. You may end up being cheaper just installing wall to wall.

With the right installer/seller without a big showroom as overhead, wall to wall carpet installed is pretty reasonable. If it hasn't flooded in 4 years, odds are it won't, and if it does, it's simple enough to rip out and redo. For instance, 58sy of carpeting with padding was replaced in my basement a couple months ago for under $900.

-- Todd H.

[Banty]

That might work.

I have wall-to-wall commercial grade carpet (polypro, short loop) conventially installed in the finished area of my basement I'm happy with it. It flooded once - I got Servpro in within 12 hours to pull it up, they dried it, and reinstalled it over new padding. That was in 1997 and it's still down with no problems.

To looselay carpet over a looselaid pad sounds like a pretty good idea (your giant area rug idea, plus the pad you'll need.) I've seen that done in rentals and one would have to pay a lot of attention to notice it's not actually installed. Or, since you're very dry and any problems would be low-probability, you could install what you want, and take the attitude that in the event of flood you'll simply pull it up and replace it. You may or may not be able to catch a flooding problem and get a looselaid carpet (or anything else for that matter) up and out of there anyway.

Banty

[Christine Cato]

We just did the large area rug idea in our basement. We got a remnant that was 12x14 and had it bound. We have regular padding underneath it. The floor itself is concrete so we painted it and there is about a 1 foot perimeter on all sides. It is working very well so far and it does not move around at all. Hope this helps!

[superspongegirl]

Did you attach your pad to the concrete at all? Or is it just sitting on top?

[Christine Cato]

Nope - it just sits on top - the carpet is so heavy that it stays in place. I have two dogs that like to run around a lot and they haven't lifted it up. I think the total was about $250. Its good quality carpet, but it was in the remnant section and on sale. I've been thinking about doing the same thing in our bedroom!

[CL (dnoyeB) Gilbert]

We are using carpet tiles that will be stuck down with sticky tape. They will be easily removeable as I have foundation drain cleanouts to clean every 6 months.

Carpet is pretty much water proof as well.

[djh7097]

I've just reached this point in my basement reno and I'm planning to try simply cutting the carpet to size and rely on the weight of the carpet itself and the furniture to keep it in place. It'll not be a high traffic area so I don't expect much movement.

If this doesn't prove effective I'll simply peel it back at the edges and put down tack strips to fix it properly.