We're Building a New Train Room and I Need Help Deciding on Flooring

[mondotrains]

Hi Guys,
My wife and I are building a new home and of course the "train room" is the most important to me. At this point, it looks like I'm going to use 2nd floor space, including the space over our 2-car garage, for trains.....a great amount of space. The subject of flooring came up with the builder. My current train room has regular "living room" carpet, which has always been a pain because it is not very ruggged and it is a light beige color. I've always been paranoid about spilling glue or paint on it.

My question to you folks with more experience than me is what kind of carpet would be best? We've heard that berber carpeting can be rugged but are there other answers? I like the feel of the carpet we have now because it has a nice padding underneath and is certainly better than "standing on concrete".

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Mondo

[Anonymous]

I would suggest using a good industrial grade carpet with padding under it because it is really rugged as well as not being shaggy at all.... so if you drop a coupler spring or something it will be much easier to find.

[Fergmiester]

Part of my layout sits on industrial carpet, with no backing and the other part sits on "aspenite" (particle board), which has been sealed and painted. from a comfort aspect the carpet is better. From a damage control point of view the aspenite wears much better as I really don't care if I stain it, burn it, drop glue on it, etc.

If you want a "finished" look, then "pergo" laminate flooring maybe an option as it looks good and wears well.

Fergie

[Anonymous]

I would advocate a decent underlay (will provide good insulation over the garage area and give a nice "springy" feel to the carpet) and some fairly inexpensive carpet. This way, in the event of spillages, etc you won't have damaged anything expensive but you'll have the "feel" of something far better due to the underlay (which won't be affected by spillages - you won't notice the stains if you have to replace the carpet). Hope this helps!

P.S. Light coloured carpet is a lot better than dark colours - you stand a better chance of spotting the tiny grub screw that leapt out of your loco on a light carpet than a dark one. Also agree with Brian's suggestion about low-pile carpet for the same reason.

[Bikerdad]

Go with cork flooring. Not only can you use the leftovers on the layout, but cork flooring is resilient, just like carpet. It has an advantage over carpet: minimal dust. Otherwise, I'd go with a minimal pile commercial/industrial grade carpet, or indoor/outdoor carpet, single color. Finally, don't worry about paint spills or the like. If you're like most of us, by the time you fini***he layout, the carpet will be worn out anyway and need replacing, even if nary a drop of paint or glue or spaghetti sauce (admit it, you eat in the train room occasionally) or Kool-Aid ever touched it.

[nslakediv]

what about a good lanoleum product. dont have to worry about spills, something falls to the floor and its easily found, not to mention easy to clean. thats my choice.

[Javern]

the berber carpets can take a lot of abuse and come in good colors

[retsignalmtr]

i've got a pergo laminate floor in my layout room which doubles as my family room. it is quiet, adds warmth to the room and is easy to keep clean. you don't have to wory about spilling glue or paint as it cleans up fast. if you have carpeting it will be easy to lose parts in it that will then get sucked up by vacuuming. they have padding underneath for sound deadening and the new types do not even need glue to hold the panels together. i use throw rugs for areas where i'll be standing for a while

[selector]

I'd go with 'hotel hallway' grade short, dense pile with a good quality underlay if I were to decide on carpeting. Short and dense means almost nothing will hide in it, like the tiny screws for your ______________(fill in the blank).

If 'hard' flooring, Pergo is a nice looking, clean, almost clinical material that will add some distinction to the room. Too, it is very tuff stuff. Spill _____________(fill in the blank) on it, and you can wipe it off easily, as you would with linoleum..

[gvdobler]

I put down indoor/outdoor carpet in my garage. It was there for 15 years and still there when I sold the house.

Hardly any pile to hide parts and yet is easy on the feet.

Jon - Las Vegas

[Anonymous]

My vote would also be for the laminate flooring. Another drawback to carpet is that's it's great for collecting & holding dust (no matter how often you vacuum), a problem you wouldn't have with the laminate.

[Leon Silverman]

The responses' here seem to be split between carpeting and a hard floor such as pergo or linoleum. Whatch out for Murphy's Law (Whatever can go wrong, will). If your prized locomotive or rolling stock derails and hits the floor, a soft surface might minimize the damage. A hard surface will likely destroy it.

[Anonymous]

My layout, for the most part, is cantalevered off the wall. I put a light colored linoleum down with the idea of putting in carpet when I'm done. I was't going to cut any plywood in the trains room so I wouldn't have to worry about dust, that rule lasted until the third piece of plywood and the second track laying. The linoleun was a dream to sweep and all of the saw dust came up. Kadee knuckle springs are a heck of a lot easier to see and find.

Trust me, at 42", when the loco leaves the track, wooden floor or carpet isn't going to make that much of a difference. I KNOW.

Have a good day
Bob

[simon1966]

My basement is all Berber carpet. I have yet to put any flooring in the train room, but it will probably be Berber as I have enough off cuts. Berber is a hard wearing carpet. Dirt tends to sit on the surface and be vacumed up, as it is not as easy for stuff to get down into the pile. My carpet is a neutral color with fecks of all differnt browns, reds and tans in it. It is really hard to see small parts that have fallen on this texture.

[n2mopac]

Personally, I would lay something other than carped while building the layout. Then if you want carpet for foot comfort, buty remnants and lay them in the isle ways. I know this goes against much of the "conventional wisdom" seen on this forum, but I cannot use plaster, paint, etc. without getting it on the carpet. Vinyl cleans up so much easier.

Ron

[grayfox1119]

I searched around for several months before I decided upon industrial grade short pile (very short) carpeting. I purchased it at Home Depot. It cost me $187 to cover an area of 10-6" by 26'. It is used for garage floors. It is tough stuff, and sounds like what Fergie has on part of his floor.
If you ever decide to move your layout ( heaven forbid) in order to turn this room over the garage to a family room, THEN you could add hardwood flooring, or sub-flooring with a nicer carpet, and it would be no big deal, as the investment in industrial carpeting ( no underlay) is very inexpensive as compared to hardwood flooring or better carpeting.

I would make sure that you insulate the ceiling of the garage ( 1st floor) very well, as this will keep heating or air conditioning costs to a minimum.

[CBQ_Guy]

QUOTE: Originally posted by n2mopac

Personally, I would lay something other than carped while building the layout. Then if you want carpet for foot comfort, buty remnants and lay them in the isle ways. I know this goes against much of the "conventional wisdom" seen on this forum, but I cannot use plaster, paint, etc. without getting it on the carpet. Vinyl cleans up so much easier.

Ron

That's what I did in the old house in the layout room. I got some long pieces of "rubber" backed, carpet runner they were throwing out at work. I rolled them out flat in the aisles of the train room. The couple times I got water in the basement I just rolled them up, hauled outside, and hosed off. After the sun dried them back out I rolled them up again and returned them to the train room. I'm probably going to do that again in my current basement train room after painting the concrete floor.