Difficult vacation rental carpeting conundrum

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LostInTheFibers

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We have a fairly high-end vacation rental that also gets rented for relocations (1-9 mo). It is located in a condominium complex that requires the LR and BR's be carpeted. Because of the type of guests and rate everything including the carpeting must be or appear new or close to it all of the time.

The flooring gets abused as few if any of the guests ever vacuum although we do extensive cleaning (multiple pass and direction vacuuming, raking and hot water extraction between guests) We have tried several different styles and quality of carpeting but still need to replace it about every three years.

Our carpet sales professional is recommending that we try a commercial style this time around which is worth a go but here is where the problem comes in.

There is a 3/4" difference in height between the LR, BR's and the ceramic tile which is in the center of the unit (kitchen, DR, Bath, Hall) which is perfect for a 7/16 cushion and approximate 1/2" carpet.

Most commercial carpet he is recommending is around 1/4" and the recommended cushion is also around 1/4" which will leave the carpet below the tile height. We prefer it to be just a tad proud of the tile.

We could:
#1- Add a 1/2" sub floor to raise it, but that may be a lot of extra work to remove if the commercial doesn't workout.
#2- Use a very dense (10lb?) 7/16-1/2 cushion which would leave us level with the tile.
#3- Use 1/4 slab rubber (glued down?) with another 2nd thin (1/4?) layer of 8lb rebond cushion.

Each of these and a couple other ideas that I don't recall at the moment have been recommended by the salesman, but obviously he is most interested in selling us rather than how it works out.

Warranties, or the "cush" are extremely low on the importance list.

Transitions, ramps ect don't seem to be a good idea.

Opinions? Ideas? I would love to hear from anyone that has either.

Thanks much in advance.
 
There is a product called Carpet Shims that may be what the doctor ordered. Or I use undercoarse wood shingles to ramp up to ceramic. The thickness of the pad is not going to make a difference as there is tackstrip next to the tile which is 1/4" thick. Either way it is the cheapest route.

Daris
 
Thank you Daris.
I've just looked over the carpet shims, they look to be a good option. I'm wondering if you wouldn't get the feel of "going up a ramp"...

We rarely choose an option because of the initial cost, Actually our experience has been that doing things "right" from the very beginning ends up being the best and least expensive in the long run, rather than doing them over.

Do you (or anyone else) have an opinion on this commercial carpeting option from the wear perspective? Also your opinion on the rubber cushion.
My research so far is that "carpet people" either think it is the very best option or they believe there are other options (namely high quality dense rebond) that are just as good.

We have used commercial type carpeting in the common hallways with both the direct glue method/no pad and stretched in with a jute or hair type cushion with vary good success and incredibly long wear cycles while still maintaining a new look, but it has almost -0- "cush" and we would prefer the flooring in our unit to have at least a little.

Thanks again in advance,
Hunter
 
We have a fairly high-end vacation rental that also gets rented for relocations (1-9 mo). It is located in a condominium complex that requires the LR and BR's be carpeted. Because of the type of guests and rate everything including the carpeting must be or appear new or close to it all of the time.

The flooring gets abused as few if any of the guests ever vacuum although we do extensive cleaning (multiple pass and direction vacuuming, raking and hot water extraction between guests) We have tried several different styles and quality of carpeting but still need to replace it about every three years.

Our carpet sales professional is recommending that we try a commercial style this time around which is worth a go but here is where the problem comes in.

There is a 3/4" difference in height between the LR, BR's and the ceramic tile which is in the center of the unit (kitchen, DR, Bath, Hall) which is perfect for a 7/16 cushion and approximate 1/2" carpet.

Most commercial carpet he is recommending is around 1/4" and the recommended cushion is also around 1/4" which will leave the carpet below the tile height. We prefer it to be just a tad proud of the tile.

We could:
#1- Add a 1/2" sub floor to raise it, but that may be a lot of extra work to remove if the commercial doesn't workout.
#2- Use a very dense (10lb?) 7/16-1/2 cushion which would leave us level with the tile.
#3- Use 1/4 slab rubber (glued down?) with another 2nd thin (1/4?) layer of 8lb rebond cushion.

Each of these and a couple other ideas that I don't recall at the moment have been recommended by the salesman, but obviously he is most interested in selling us rather than how it works out.

Warranties, or the "cush" are extremely low on the importance list.

Transitions, ramps ect don't seem to be a good idea.

Opinions? Ideas? I would love to hear from anyone that has either.

Thanks much in advance.
Just get the cheapest carpet that looks good to you. Put it on a good 8lb pad and ramp it up with the ramps the other guy posted. They work great. You save money and just change it out every couple years. if you get good pad you only need to change carpet for a while. You don't need commercial carpet.it sucks in a residential space anyway.. IMHO
 
Proper ramping with under coarse and/or floating it out with underlayment compound will make the ramp nearly undetectable.

Do some shopping. There are lots of attractive high end commercial grade carpets out there that might suite your needs and also stand up to abuse and multiple cleaning for many years. Karastan is one brand that comes to mind…

Or as mentioned use a quality pad and be prepared to change the lower grade carpet often.
 
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