Carpet replaced with Laminate & under floor heating. Report
Hi all. I have been meaning to post this for a bit. We replaced our carpet in the bedroom and living room with Laminate flooring. We also used the under floor heating pads under the laminate and I figured I would give a project report.
Why. We did it because although the carpet served us well for the last 10 years it was getting tired and a change was due. I kinda liked the carpet and it was nice on the feet.
What. The product we chose was a fairly thick Pergo high grade product.
Who. Angela and I did all the work. We were quoted 1850 to install the product is we did the removal of the carpet (and the little bit of ceramic tile in the front) ourselves. We did it ourselves for about 550 including all products.
How. The removal of the carpet was mostly straight ahead in the bedroom and living room. Getting the carpet out from under the slide took some brute force on Angelas part. She also hammered in or removed a gazillion staples afterwards. The other tricky part was removing a chunk of subfloor underneath the small ceramic tile area at the front steps. That came out with a sling hooked to the golf cart. :)
The install was time consuming as we had to figure out the best position for the under floor heating pads which are available only in 3 X 5 and 1.5 X 5. The bigger is 150 watts and the smaller is 75 watts. We left the seat pedastals in place and worked around them. This allowed the floor to remain a floating floor. We did screw down the first course underneath the slide so it could not grab hold of the first board and drag it back when the slides go in or out. Turns out the floor is actually a little lower than the slides so it probably wasn't necessary/ Lots of goofy cuts and lots of time.
Heads up. What we thought would take 15 to 20 hours labour and it actually took about 30 hours between the two of us.
Results. The product went together as advertised but care must be taken on the edges as they will brake if not put together at at least a 30 degree angle. Smacking them together with a rubber hammer runs the risk of braking the groove on the edge. Tough not to do sometimes when you can't get the edge of the board up for various reasons.
Re the heat pads. These are meant to warm the floor and not really provide room heat. Although the basement is heated ( we set the basement thermostat to 18 degrees celcius when it cold) and tends to keep the floor warm above it there is a section in the front of the motorhome where the fuel tank is and that is open to the ground below The floor used to get cold up here. The under floor heat helps. Here's the thing though, at least for us, the thermostat for the floor needs to be set about 10 degrees warmer than the room and needs to come on three or four hours before you want the floor warm if you want it to be warm. We would do it again but I wouldn't rip up a floor just to put in under floor heating unless I was changing the floor anyway.
Here is the final product. Should be good for another 10 years. Hope this was helpful to someone. Questions welcomed. Merry Christmas all.
Why. We did it because although the carpet served us well for the last 10 years it was getting tired and a change was due. I kinda liked the carpet and it was nice on the feet.
What. The product we chose was a fairly thick Pergo high grade product.
Who. Angela and I did all the work. We were quoted 1850 to install the product is we did the removal of the carpet (and the little bit of ceramic tile in the front) ourselves. We did it ourselves for about 550 including all products.
How. The removal of the carpet was mostly straight ahead in the bedroom and living room. Getting the carpet out from under the slide took some brute force on Angelas part. She also hammered in or removed a gazillion staples afterwards. The other tricky part was removing a chunk of subfloor underneath the small ceramic tile area at the front steps. That came out with a sling hooked to the golf cart. :)
The install was time consuming as we had to figure out the best position for the under floor heating pads which are available only in 3 X 5 and 1.5 X 5. The bigger is 150 watts and the smaller is 75 watts. We left the seat pedastals in place and worked around them. This allowed the floor to remain a floating floor. We did screw down the first course underneath the slide so it could not grab hold of the first board and drag it back when the slides go in or out. Turns out the floor is actually a little lower than the slides so it probably wasn't necessary/ Lots of goofy cuts and lots of time.
Heads up. What we thought would take 15 to 20 hours labour and it actually took about 30 hours between the two of us.
Results. The product went together as advertised but care must be taken on the edges as they will brake if not put together at at least a 30 degree angle. Smacking them together with a rubber hammer runs the risk of braking the groove on the edge. Tough not to do sometimes when you can't get the edge of the board up for various reasons.
Re the heat pads. These are meant to warm the floor and not really provide room heat. Although the basement is heated ( we set the basement thermostat to 18 degrees celcius when it cold) and tends to keep the floor warm above it there is a section in the front of the motorhome where the fuel tank is and that is open to the ground below The floor used to get cold up here. The under floor heat helps. Here's the thing though, at least for us, the thermostat for the floor needs to be set about 10 degrees warmer than the room and needs to come on three or four hours before you want the floor warm if you want it to be warm. We would do it again but I wouldn't rip up a floor just to put in under floor heating unless I was changing the floor anyway.
Here is the final product. Should be good for another 10 years. Hope this was helpful to someone. Questions welcomed. Merry Christmas all.
