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Carpet tile recommendations

14 years ago

We've finally decided on putting a commercial-type carpet tile in our basement. We used to have wall-to-wall with a pad, which got ruined when the bathroom sink backed up. We figure that with carpet tiles, we can clean them or replace them a lot easier than a whole sheet of carpet (we already decided against hard tile due to cost hardness).

Can any recommend a decent, yet reasonable, carpet tile for a basement application - with emphasis on reasonable. I know Flor tiles are really nice, but they also are really expensive.

Thanks,

Bert

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Comments (7)

suburbanhandyman
14 years ago
Bert, try looking into building salvage yards if you want "reasonable" lots of times renovators turn to them to recycle and get rid of what is debris to them otherwise. I use them, many pros in my area do.

They often sell carpet tiles from commercial office buildings for 25 cents each. Check your yellow pages under salvage.

they're not typically the most beautiful things.. but they don't cost $8-22 per tile either.
bert76
Original Author
14 years ago
I have a friend who is an office furniture/flooring salesperson. She has FLOR Interface/Nikko/Kanto for about $1.10/sq foot from an over-order situation.

Our other option is Milliken Legato Touch in Tradewinds for $1.99/sq foot.

The Legato has an integrated pad, which would make it softer, but also more likely to absorb moisture. The FLOR tiles are cheaper and easier to clean if an accident happens, but it won't be as soft to play on.

Thoughts?
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Does she want to replace the carpet b/c of food spills that may occur in the DR? Since the carpet is new, maybe she should consider a nice area rug to go under the table that would be easy to clean and hide any spills that may stain. I couldn't see recommending anyone replace newly laid carpet. My budget conscience thinking says to live with it. Also, in my mind it would be a bit visually off to have the floor surface change in the middle. If two rooms in that area were the same it would be ok, but the tile/carpet sandwich would be odd.
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Love the oatmeal “sample”. Before you decide, and I strongly advise you to have the store get you larger samples of the both. Wool is expensive and will last you a lifetime….don’t judge by those little pieces. I did find larger photos on-line from Home Depot and on my monitor, B.M. Taupe looks like tit would work on the walls, The rug itself, is made by Mohawk. Which leads me to the best ever rug pad…Mohawk SmartStep. My entire lower level and my master bedroom is wool carpet. I was advised by the store manager to invest in the SmartStep. It is far and away better than any pad I have ever used. The top is waterproof. As I was educated, it isn’t what lands on the rug which makes the stain. It is what seeps into the pad which does the damage. He even has his installers duct tape any seams.
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lsst
14 years ago
We have Milliken Legato and have been pleased with it.
We installed it ourselves 5 years ago.
We have only replaced a couple of squares due to our 7 year old painting on them. LOL
barbcollins
14 years ago
We installed these Berber Carpet Tiles in our basement:
http://www.carpet-usa.com/ctile.php
(Scroll down to where it says Pressure-sensitive Backing)

They were peel & stick. The only place we had trouble with them coming up was under my recliner. It seems to move around alot and the tile under one the the feet comes loose occasionally.

We went with carpet tiles for the same reason as you are. We had a flood and had to rip out all of our wall to wall. I liked doing the carpet tiles because I could do a section, shift furniture, do another section, shift furniture and so on.

After 5 years, 3 kids, and 1 dog it's looking worn. But it is a high traffic family room and does not get a lot of vacuuming. A better housekeeper would probably have kept it looking better.
DIYFlooring
13 years ago
I have loved reading the comments on this site and found the information quite useful. I didn't think about not having to purchase or install padding that could get moldy. I did a little research on cost and found nice quality tile on the Internet for 29 cents a square foot, which means you can carpet an entire 200 square foot room for under $60 and have tiles left over as replacements. I am adding a link to this post that goes to my email in case you have any questions for me. I am not the greatest DIY, but I try...
shiane
13 years ago
DIYFlooring could you please provide the link to the inexpensive carpet tiles that you menioned. Thanks!
steve_o
13 years ago
shiane, I bought carpet from Carpet Bargains for a rental property of mine. It wasn't their 69-cent carpet -- it was one of their small odd lots -- but it was delivered promptly by real people and has been terrific in service. I'd buy from them again.

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