8mm Laminate on OSB Over Berber — Genius Hack or Disaster Waiting?

[aveatry]

This is roughly the type of carpet I will deal with. The seller says it's 6mm backing + pile.

View attachment 391772
View attachment 391773

@crazydaze does that give me a chance?

Looks too soft to me - I was thinking more like the industrial carpet tile stuff that has a hard backing

 

[Doist]

Yes, that’s how they are designed, they have expansion gap all round the outside, however, your proposal will cause the floor to flex up and down and expand/move across and around the space

OSB P5 is engineered to be quite dimensionally stable. It will not usually curl like thin plywood. A 18–22 mm T&G P5 panel, floating, tends to stay flat as long as the whole “raft” can move. Due to central HVAC system and stable conditions I wouldn't expect this setup to noticeably wobble. But only time will tell...

 

[crazydaze]

OSB P5 is engineered to be quite dimensionally stable. It will not usually curl like thin plywood. A 18–22 mm T&G P5 panel, floating, tends to stay flat as long as the whole “raft” can move. Due to central HVAC system and stable conditions I wouldn't expect this setup to noticeably wobble. But only time will tell...

It will be laid on a spongy carpet and not be attached to anything, of course it will move and amplify movement of the laminate.

 

[Doist]

It will be laid on a spongy carpet and not be attached to anything, of course it will move and amplify movement of the laminate.

Does it mean that laying the laminate directly on the "spongy" carpet is better or equal to having the OSB in between? Look, if I didn't make it clear - I'm not choosing between the best (get rid of the carpet) and a 2nd best option. I'm choosing between two evils - direct laminate or OSB+laminate. Sorry, this is my reality.

 

[aveatry]

OSb will help but I am concerned about the step as you walk in as per your design, espicually as it sounds like you will be having customers walking in - setting yourself up for being sued. Is this because you are not allowed to cut the door down

 

[Doist]

OSb will help but I am concerned about the step as you walk in as per your design, espicually as it sounds like you will be having customers walking in - setting yourself up for being sued. Is this because you are not allowed to cut the door down

That's a valid concern of course. The floor will be raised by 30 mm roughly, compared to the outside, but there will be two "steps"
1. The laminate (no OSB, directly on the carpet) in the door swing area. That is 8mm, so a pretty standard reducer needed. Hardly a trip hazard
2. The raised floor, surrounding the first step at the top and left (see the plan). The right side will be just wall. The main trip points are the top and left, and for the top edge there will be a gradual 50 - 100mm wide ramp that will bridge the height of about 20 mm. On the left edge, there will be something stopping people to turn left once they are in, a flower or a chair, and then a yellow-black sticker on the edge of the raised floor trim. So I can hardly imagine people walking there - the wall and the obstacle will direct them towards the ramp, where tripping is unlikely.

 

[Doist]

Is this because you are not allowed to cut the door down

I can cut it down, but will have to pay for restoring it back to normal. And it's an electronic lock door, will probably add to the costs of restoring. To the point that getting rid of the carpet and restoring it later would be a comparable investment. Unless I'm overthinking it

 

[aveatry]

Trip hazard what I can see it the lower section to provide swing for the door to open.
You may as well keep the carpet only just there.
But as it sounds like you need to have a hard floor for H&S then I doubt that you could just get away with some hard flooring to take the weight of your bench thing

 

[Doist]

But as it sounds like you need to have a hard floor for H&S then I doubt that you could just get away with some hard flooring to take the weight of your bench thing

That chair I mentioned is 85 kilos, and if sitting on top of OSB-backed laminate it should be ok?

 

[cdbe]

Sounds metal to me!

Remove carpet, fit commercial vinyl flooring, replace cheap contract carpet at end of tenancy. Find time during tenancy to locate cheaper carpet fitter.

 

[Doist]

@cdbe after inspecting the office again a few hours ago, I tend to agree with you! @crazydaze @aveatry I have an update:

First of all, I did what I should've done earlier - raised the carpet tiles and they came off surprisingly easy. So no terrible thick layers of glue, just a brownish layer on the slab (which looks to me a feather finish btw). It seems to be made of 50 by 50cm tiles, and it's Desso by Tarkett, the closest found online is this: https://www.dctuk.com/carpet-tiles/desso/essence/9005

Secondly, the carpet is really thin as you can see and the black base is probably PVC or similar - very rigid. Then the pile is 2mm ish (ignore the piece of paper above - I added it for contrast).

So, on one hand, this carpet is good news for the OSB solution I was pedalling (or even laying directly, huh?). On the other hand the carpet is apparently easy to remove (doing that for the first time seemed a bit scary to be honest). So if OSB-based solution is same price as carpet re-laying but delivers worse quality then I'm ok to reconsider.

One thing that worries me though: should I seek an approval to re-carpet with my own contractor or myself? I know I can just ask the landlord, but from your experience, are they likely to only allow "approved" contractors to do the work? Because the approved ones can charge me thousands easily. I know what country I live in...

 

[aveatry]

Are you telling us after all this that they are unglued carpet tiles.
Then just pick them all up and store them at home and put em back when you are done. And if you have layed laminate flooring correctly the landlord may just say - great leave it like that.

 

[Doist]

Are you telling us after all this that they are unglued carpet tiles.
Then just pick them all up and store them at home and put em back when you are done. And if you have layed laminate flooring correctly the landlord may just say - great leave it like that.

They are glued, just some of them are not
It's a 100% correct intel that the landlord will ask their precious carpets back at the end of tenancy!