That’s an interesting idea and it looks nice, however: 1. You should never install laminate flooring over carpet. 2. Why would anyone spend that kind of money on a home they don’t own?Most landlords would work out a deal to knock off some of your rent if you install new flooring properly and leave it…it’d save you money on the total cost and it’s not like you’d really be taking that floor with you anyway.
I’m feeling like this is a bad idea. The flooring will start to buckle and warp within weeks (even over a very flat carpet), leaving you without a real way to take it with you and re-install in another rental or home and being a complete waste of money.Asking your landlord for a new, cleaner carpet if dirt is the issue or for an allowance from the rent to have the carpets professionally cleaned is a better idea.I don’t care where people live, how much money they have for rent, etc, nobody can afford to waste money and I’m afraid this is like throwing money (and effort) right out the window!
Basu=my hero!I still maintain that going the route of proposing doing significant work on a rental unit to a landlord is dicey business.I see Dewey’s point about tossing money away, but there’s thousands of dollars of difference and years of saving between buying a home and a modest investment to make your rental nice, especially if you’re planning on staying a few years. For me, putting a wooden floor over nasty rental carpeting would save me thousands in talk therapy.
I think this is great, but would definitely put down some sort of waterproof layer between the panels and the carpet to prevent mold. Some landlords won’t budget/don’t care, and if you are planning on staying put for more than a few years I definitely think it’s worth it, carpet is so icky and rugs can’t always help that.
I think it would be less trouble and expense to simply rent a another apartment with wood floors when the lease expires.
The family living below my stepaunt decided to put in hardwood floors in their rental, and it completely changed the sound dynamics in her unit. She used to have a peaceful, quiet home, but now she can hear all this family’s squabbles, snoring, TV shows, and the like, and she feels the reverberations from their movements. She had to stay at our house during the summer just to sleep because the preteen son was up all night playing Wii and making her room feel like she was on top of an earthquake.I know people prefer hardwood floors, but seriously, I would much rather deal with carpet than all the neighbor’s noise. Hopefully, since this guy put the floors over the carpet the sound would be absorbed better, but still I don’t really understand the point in investing that much time, money, and energy into a rental.
How can the click-in seams possibly hold up over time when the floor is installed on a non-solid surface? I disagree with this install on so many levels…
most laminate flooring is no more than 3/8″ thick. they have very thin and fragile click locks, we’re not talking about 3/4″ hardwood with a nice thick tongue and groove to keep them together, we’re talking about a super thin click lock which will eventually crack/split/break away from the lack of a solid base surface.I agree with others, chances are you will not take the flooring with you to the next place (you’ve already cut up pieces to fit your specific layout). A better approach would be asking a landlord if you can remove the carpet and install it, you’re paying for the floor anyways. If I was a landlord with a unit that had old/cheap carpet and a tenant was offering to put in a new floor (even if it is also cheap laminate), i’d definitely let them as long as I could supervise the installation and it it was in fact an improvement upon the space (which from the pictures of this project appear they would have been). As said above, some landlords may even cut you a deal on rent or split some of the costs with you.
I’m temporarily living in an apartment with horrible carpet. I won’t be here long enough to ask for new carpet, plus I have cats. So I ran a carpet runner over the hallway and found for $20 on Kijijiji a nice 8′x10′ rug that covers the majority of the living area. This is what I’d do even in a longer term rental.I hate carpet, but I agree with SkylarkMelody; carpet is the way to go if you want any hope of quiet if your housing unit is next or above or below someone else’s.
I once “installed” linoleum in my apartment bathroom over tile. It was the ugliest puke-green and brown splattered tile you’ve ever seen. I can’t imagine why anyone ever installed it, unless their idea was to make sure someone could have an “accident’ in the bathroom without anyone noticing.It was a small space, so I just cut it as perfectly as I could and then taped the whole edge down with double sided tape. Worked fine, was cheap, and was easy to remove when I left.I actually think throwing a vinyl or linoleum over a truly god-awful carpet wouldn’t be that bad an idea if the space was small – I knew someone who did that where her apartment kitchen area was, and it actually felt great to step on.
I would also buy some cool throw rugs and take them with me when I leave. Less fuss, less muss and I like the warmth and funkiness area rugs can bring in…
After living in Seattle for a few years, I can say this is a horrible idea. There is a lot of moisture in the area and very few walls are insulated. After leaving a bag against an outside wall for several months in my bedroom, I picked it up to discover mold was growing on it. I can’t imagine how much mold will grow on that carpet.
At last someone finally proved my point, that carpet can be covered by hard flooring, even the nicest area rugs cannot cover the hideous carpet and stains in my apartment, I can’t wait to try this in my home.
We recently installed laminate in our place, and I was surprised to see on the installation instructions that came with the laminate that they claimed you could install it over carpet. I would have used a moisture barrier, though. And I don’t know if they were promising the carpet would be in great condition when you removed the laminate later.
I’m pretty sure theres carpet under my laminate floor in my rental. Its kinda strange that the landlords didn’t just rip up the carpet but eh, I haven’t noticed any ill effects.