DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Dear floor experts, I'd like to put in laminate flooring in my bedroom to replace the fitted carpet. The carpet is short pile. Can I just put the floor on top of the carpet or is it better to take it out and put underlay instead? thanks for your help,
Martin

Hi russellmre,
Probably better to take up carpet an underlay (if fitted) so you can check the evenness of the existing floor. Manufacturers of laminate floor will specify how much out of flat their laminate will accommodate.
Rahrds S

Thanks! I took up a bit of the carpet and the concrete floor is quite even. On the packaging it says up to 2mm tolerance. Do you think the carpet will be good enough or i should get underlay instead? Carpet is 6 mm thick, it doesn’t have any underlay itself. See pictures below. On the one hand, putting in underlay will be more work, on the other, if it gives a better result it will be worth it.

Hi russellmre.
Laminate floor foam type underlay is about 3mm thick max. I guess whether to use existing carpet will depend on the quality of your laminate and it’s flexibiliy.
If you decide to use the carpet you will have to remove the gripper strips because these create an edge lump.
Regards S.

Thanks Stoneyboy. I think the carpet would work as underlay but the opinions I’ve read on the Internet are divided on this, so i suppose I’d better not take the risk- using proper underlay will not be that much extra expense and work