Carpet Question

[craig333]

A nice carpet guy gave me some carpet squares 20"x20" of some really deluxe carpet to do my camper. Nice rubber backing, short nap you can just sweep out. Expensive stuff. But I"ll have to cut some up to fit and in spite of the rubber backing I'm doubting it will stay in place and I really don't want to glue it down. I'm thinking I should glue it to some kind of backing material so I could just take the whole thing out, hose it off and put it back in but I have no idea what might work well for that. Maybe I should just try it first and see what happens. Any recommendations for glue if I were to glue it down?

 

[EdoHart]

Something that isn't too strong

First, I would see if it stays in place without any glue. That looks like pretty thick stuff, so you never know.

If it needed some kind of adhesive, I would use something that can be easily removed - perhaps a few dots of RTV silicon or a thin layer of spray-on glue, like the kind for doing all kinds of projects from upholstery to mounting a poster to a wall board.

 

[BenG]

Just a idea, how about making a sub floor out of thin ply wood to fit into space you want carpet to go and then glueing the squares onto it? that way could lift it all out to clean or just remove and have original floor still intacked

 

[b team]

I have thin cheap carpet that stays put pretty well. Cut it as exact as you can and it should work well.

If you really want to get crazy sew some 3M dual lock on to the bottom of your carpet and staple the matching pieces onto the floor. You can buy this stuff w/o the sticky backing but either would work.

 

[davinski]

I;ve got cheap carpet that I cut to fit the space. It has never moved. Right now, I have the ARB fridge on it, so it is hard to move! But, sometimes I wish I had cut the carpet into pieces as it would be easier to remove and keep the floor clean.

I don't think you will have problems with that carpet if you take the time to cut it to fit first. Besides, you can always secure it later if it don't fit.

Nice to have carpet when you don't have your socks on, though. It can get mighty cold.....

good luck.

dave

 

[benburnett]

Carpet

At 20" x 20" it is obvious that you are not going to cover the whole floor. I would never consider gluing it down for the following reasons:

It would be a pain to clean up any dirt on one side of the floor that the carpet was blocking.

Possible damage to the floor from any type of glue.

Damage to floor when carpet wears out finally and you want to replace it.

I have had different carpet pieces in my camper and never had a problem with them moving around. I never glued anything down for the above reasons and also just pulled the carpet out to shake it out when dirty and put it back in.

 

[craig333]

I agree with Ben, no glue. And after installing it it doesn't seem to be needed. The only thing with the squares is it makes it hard to just drag it out and shake it out, and in my case, being what it is, hose it off. A friend of mine suggested using duct tape to hold it all together. I'll think I'll give that a try. Whether that'll hold well enough to shake it we'll see. I'll let you know.

Btw, this stuff is going to be really nice to just sweep out. Need to get a small broom. Unfortunately the environment where I installed it was really dusty, so its already dirty ;(

 

[craig333]

Update, tried the duct tape. Doesnt' seem like its going to work very well. Maybe after its "cured" and had an ice chest sitting on it a while. Good part is, it shouldn't be often it needs to come out. I only used about half what the guy gave me in case anyone else wants to try it.

 

[bobg333]

REuct Tape

One of the posts in this thread (sorry, forgot who) talks about using duct tape to tape the carpet pieces together. I am brand new to FWCs, but not to building projects that have to last.
My advice: Stop buying duct tape! It does not matter what your project is, duct tape is not the answer. What you want instead is Gaffer Tape; a product that comes out of the movie industry. It will cost you three to five times as much but it really works and it really lasts. It is weatherproof. You could tape something to the hood of your truck all winter, pull the tape off in the spring, the paint on your hood would be good as new and there would be no adhesive residue.
I could go on and on about the deficiencies of "duct" tape, but let me leave it at this: Not even people who install ducts, use duct tape.

Gaffer tape is made by several companies. The one I am familiar with is Permacel P-672 which is available on Amazon. I buy it at OSH in So CA.

PS: I finally brought home my Grandby yesterday. But I still need a truck to put under it.

Happy holidays to all, Bob in LA

 

[pvstoy]

Craig those fit nice. If you take them all out maybe think of putting a number grid system with North arrow on the back so you can put them back fast and easy.

 

[craig333]

I was thinking of numbering them since they are kind of a custom fit. There was a 1/4 inch difference from the front to the back.

Never heard of gaffer tape. I"ll check that stuff out.

 

[Kilroy]

I wouldn't tape the carpet together. I think your idea to identify where the pieces go is the best idea. I use these squares on a pad in the bed of my truck. They work great and stay in place really well. I just take them out one at a time and put them back the same way. I've occasionally found them pretty reasonable at discount building material store in Milwaukee, WI. I'm sure there are similar stores other areas.