I’ve got a basement with a solid concrete floor – it’s dry and in fairly good condition. At the moment it’s got a nasty carpet laid over some sort of high density foam underlay pads, probably around 8-10mm thick.

I’ve got to take the lot up for the ongoing renovations, but I had planned to lay carpet tiles (mainly for ease) when the work has been done.

Is there some sort of underlay/insulation that I can put down under carpet tiles? I’m concerned that the current foam stuff is probably offering quite a bit of insulation and would like to maintain that if possible…

Thanks!

*non carpet expert

you can get standard underlay, my point is im(very limited)e carpet tiles need to be stuck down or they move/lift – so could you stick down underlay then a real cheap lino etc layer and stick em to that ??

Hmmm… I did wonder if that might be the case… I’ve seen insulated carpet tiles but they’re very expensive, would be cheaper to carpet it!

Might just have to use tiles straight onto the concrete…

AFAIK, (no experience other than helping a mate lay a few thousand carpet tiles over a weekend once – riveting few days that was, I can tell you) carpet tiles have to go down onto a hard surface. We used rollered out adhesive which could be walked on, but once you popped the tile down, it stayed stuck. Hence why they’re used on things like massive open plan offices on suspended concrete floors. I imagine if it’s a basement, the floor might be quite cold. If you need it to be cosy, then carpet tiles might not be the best option. If you need it easy to maintain, would a vinyl or rubber floor work a bit better?

I’ve just spent the evening taking up the old carpet – the floor is bone dry, but a little uneven… Just badly screeded, not breaking up.

I might just go down the route of replacing the foam underlay and then getting a contract chord-type carpet fitted.

I’d much rather have the warmth of carpet…

If it’s uneven, then, yeah, carpet tiles are best avoided. The corners will be lifting and fraying in no time. You’d need it latexed first for tiles or vinyl.

I thought so, carpet it is… Probably won’t work out ant more expensive than a latex screed and tiles and will be much warmer… 🙂