Carpeting Under an Existing Layout?

[Anonymous]

My bride and I spent the day shopping for new carpet for the downstairs, but got talking with a decorator about the eventuality of carpeting upstairs, too. It's all the same age, and we have an open floor plan, so it makes sense to do the same or similar carpet. Simply put, we'll be going from a 12 year old Rose carpet to a yellow to fit our new scheme.....

The problem is the open floor plan, and my layout upstairs in what most people would call the game room. I have a 12 X 17 layout of traditional construction, with about 10 2 X 4 legs, sitting on the existing carpet. With plaster mountains, its too heavy to move, I think.

Any solutions?

Can you jack it up one leg at a time?

Carpet around the legs, leaving the next owner with some divots in the carpet?

Or just carpet up to the front of the layout, and cover the seam with drapes or whatever, again delaying the problem until we move (or I die, 'cause its too painful to even consider tearing down or moving the layout!)

Jeff

[Anonymous]

My bride and I spent the day shopping for new carpet for the downstairs, but got talking with a decorator about the eventuality of carpeting upstairs, too. It's all the same age, and we have an open floor plan, so it makes sense to do the same or similar carpet. Simply put, we'll be going from a 12 year old Rose carpet to a yellow to fit our new scheme.....

The problem is the open floor plan, and my layout upstairs in what most people would call the game room. I have a 12 X 17 layout of traditional construction, with about 10 2 X 4 legs, sitting on the existing carpet. With plaster mountains, its too heavy to move, I think.

Any solutions?

Can you jack it up one leg at a time?

Carpet around the legs, leaving the next owner with some divots in the carpet?

Or just carpet up to the front of the layout, and cover the seam with drapes or whatever, again delaying the problem until we move (or I die, 'cause its too painful to even consider tearing down or moving the layout!)

Jeff

[Anonymous]

One idea, depending on how the layout is constructed- remove one leg at a time and carpet underneath that, then replace the leg.

Just an idea... Jacking up the layout - depending on the degree is is finished, is that scenery could crack, track could bend/warp, etc.

Rob

[Anonymous]

One idea, depending on how the layout is constructed- remove one leg at a time and carpet underneath that, then replace the leg.

Just an idea... Jacking up the layout - depending on the degree is is finished, is that scenery could crack, track could bend/warp, etc.

Rob

[DavidH]

Jeff, I think you are hooped! Even if you were able to get the carpet under one leg or set of legs at a time, how are you going to kick it into place wtih the layout weight on it? If you want to get really radical, you could use eyebolts to temporarily suspend it from the ceiling, but that will produce its own set of problems depending on what sort of ceiling you have.

David

[DavidH]

Jeff, I think you are hooped! Even if you were able to get the carpet under one leg or set of legs at a time, how are you going to kick it into place wtih the layout weight on it? If you want to get really radical, you could use eyebolts to temporarily suspend it from the ceiling, but that will produce its own set of problems depending on what sort of ceiling you have.

David

[Anonymous]

Jeff, don't worry about the carpet. If you were going to move, what would you do with the layout anyway? Tear it out? Cut it into modules? Include it in the sale of the house? All options that are considered IF you move. But you're not moving. Don't risk mechanical/operational problems by jacking, lifting, or suspending your pike. Too much $$$ and time has gone into it. Run the new stuff up to the first set of legs. I'm sure no one is looking at the floor when they see your layout. When the time comes to move, lay down some tile. Tell em ya had a pool table. It was a game room right?
Cheers.
Rossco

[Anonymous]

Jeff, don't worry about the carpet. If you were going to move, what would you do with the layout anyway? Tear it out? Cut it into modules? Include it in the sale of the house? All options that are considered IF you move. But you're not moving. Don't risk mechanical/operational problems by jacking, lifting, or suspending your pike. Too much $$$ and time has gone into it. Run the new stuff up to the first set of legs. I'm sure no one is looking at the floor when they see your layout. When the time comes to move, lay down some tile. Tell em ya had a pool table. It was a game room right?
Cheers.
Rossco

[Anonymous]

jeff,
carpet the area up to the layout, skirt around the layout so underneath doesn't show,
buy enough extra carpet to do the room if the layout is ever moved.
a carpet layers idea

[Anonymous]

jeff,
carpet the area up to the layout, skirt around the layout so underneath doesn't show,
buy enough extra carpet to do the room if the layout is ever moved.
a carpet layers idea

[Anonymous]

This is what I do: Keep the wife out of the "game" room, and voila! No more decorating nonsense. The only down side is that she goes to WalMart and spends my train money!

[Anonymous]

This is what I do: Keep the wife out of the "game" room, and voila! No more decorating nonsense. The only down side is that she goes to WalMart and spends my train money!

[BR60103]

I did my previous layout in the basement with masonite panels across the end and we carpeted up to the panels. The person we sold the house to had visions of putting his shop in that area.
My wife wants to carpet our current basement and we have the same problem.
Can you get carpet in one foot squares like floor tiles? Then you could leave the divots around the legs.

[BR60103]

I did my previous layout in the basement with masonite panels across the end and we carpeted up to the panels. The person we sold the house to had visions of putting his shop in that area.
My wife wants to carpet our current basement and we have the same problem.
Can you get carpet in one foot squares like floor tiles? Then you could leave the divots around the legs.

[Anonymous]

If the carpet is for the basement and doesn't have to "Match" you could buy the sample squares from a flooring store and use double sided tape to hold it down. I remember doing this as a teen (cough a couple of years ago [;)] ) it work pretty well and if something got spilled or stained, you could pull up the damages square and replace it with another.

Steve

[Anonymous]

If the carpet is for the basement and doesn't have to "Match" you could buy the sample squares from a flooring store and use double sided tape to hold it down. I remember doing this as a teen (cough a couple of years ago [;)] ) it work pretty well and if something got spilled or stained, you could pull up the damages square and replace it with another.

Steve

[vsmith]

Heres one more option to confuse you, you could floor under the layout with 12x12 VCT tiles. Cut out the existing carpet right up the the legs, when you start laying out the VCT tiles you could try jacking up each leg one at a time about an inch to slip the tiles under at each leg. You would eventually replace the carpeting under each leg though I would keep some shim material handy as most carpet is 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick and VCT is 1/8 inch. might cause some level problems with your layout.

I would personaly go with the skirt idea first and see how it looks before I replace anything, always try the stupidly simple answer first, thats cause most of the time it works! Use an old sheet or a sample of material and just do as much as the sheet will allow, that will give you a rough idea of how it will look when done. You might like it or hate it, but you'll have an answer about what to do next. Unfortunatly, you've kind of built yourself into a corner. I would have removed the carpet and tiled it before I started any benchwork or designed the layout to be able to break it down easily, but you got to work with what you got, so try skirting it first and see how that works.

[vsmith]

Heres one more option to confuse you, you could floor under the layout with 12x12 VCT tiles. Cut out the existing carpet right up the the legs, when you start laying out the VCT tiles you could try jacking up each leg one at a time about an inch to slip the tiles under at each leg. You would eventually replace the carpeting under each leg though I would keep some shim material handy as most carpet is 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick and VCT is 1/8 inch. might cause some level problems with your layout.

I would personaly go with the skirt idea first and see how it looks before I replace anything, always try the stupidly simple answer first, thats cause most of the time it works! Use an old sheet or a sample of material and just do as much as the sheet will allow, that will give you a rough idea of how it will look when done. You might like it or hate it, but you'll have an answer about what to do next. Unfortunatly, you've kind of built yourself into a corner. I would have removed the carpet and tiled it before I started any benchwork or designed the layout to be able to break it down easily, but you got to work with what you got, so try skirting it first and see how that works.