Do You Really Need Carpet Pad In A Rental?
Has anyone tried installing carpet without the pad? I know it may void the warrenty and also it wouldn't go over in nice homes. However, in lower income homes where I use a commercial grade carpet, why not? They don't use pad in office buildings. Any feedback?
You are right - they don't use carpet padding under carpet in office buildings - I have never thought about why...
However - I know that the carpet will wear out quicker if you don't use padding... I think it will extend the life of your carpet enough to make it worth while to just purchase the carpet pad and do it right...
Good Luck!
I don't think it makes too much of a difference from a visual/useful standpoint...
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The carpet in office buildings is glue down carpet it is designed to not be used with a pad. If you want to not purchase carpet that requires a pad, purchase glue down carpet which is more expensive or spend the $100 for 1000 sq feet of pad.
It makes no sense to skip the pad for residential carpet, it is the cheapest part of carpet and without it you wasted 90% of the money you spent. Spend the 10% more to do it right.
Thanks for the feedback. Let me pass along a little more information though. The reason I was considering not using it was at least twofold. First, is the extra cost, even though it isn't great. Second, I have pulled up carpet where the pad was extremely deteriorated. It looked like someone may have spilled something onto the carpet and soaked the pad. It was extremely difficult to get this off the floor and the wood was actually damaged.
Even though I have heard that the pad extends the life of carpet, one person told me that they thought that was primarily in regards to a pile carpet, not the short loop used for commercial. Also, I have tenants who have purchased their own carpet(always commercial for some reason) and laid it directly over the wood. It has been there for at least 5 years and doesn't appear to have worn at all. I thought of one last thing. One guy told me once that no matter how good the pad is you get, it deteriorates quickly in traffic areas. I'm still confused about it all, but I hate to spend an extra $150 to buy something that doesn't give me a clear benefit, and may cause extra problems such as water damage and areas that look bad when the pad fails. Thoughts?
I have installed carpet without pad many times, particularly in lower income units. It is MUCH easier to remove the carpet without padding after a tenant leaves. Save your $$ for something else...
I use what is called cut loop commercial carpet in all my rentals simply because of the cost effectiveness and for me it has great wears ability and can handle a lot of abuse and when it comes to padding if I use it I normally deal with 4 to 6-pound, ½ inch pad for rentals.
I only use carpet padding if it will enhance my unit in getting rented.
Alan Fletcher puts out a nice free pdf document on this that may be of help http://www.apartmentownersassociation.com/articles/2004/Mar/10_ways_to_save_on_carpet_replacement.pdf
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Spend more on padding not less. Get a good commercial grade synthetic felt pad. It won't deteriorate like the foam pads do and it makes the carpet feel much softer and more plush. When you get ready to recarpet because the carpet is soiled the pad will still be fine and can be re-used.
There are many grades & styles of commercial carpet, some are actually quite striking and can add a certain feel or character to any space, i.e casino flooring. As far as rental property, a builder grade residential carpet with a 6lb foam pad will hold up to normal wear and tear for many years with regular steam cleaning. Residential carpet with pad is much more presentable than commercial carpeting in most cases. As far as water damage, glue down commercial flooring can usually be left in place after a soaking and will only need to be extracted, cleaned, and sanitized. Residential carpeting will need to be extracted, removed, padding replaced, and then reinstalled, and cleaned which is more costly. No matter what type of padding is installed under a carpet, it's not recommended to leave it in place and replace only the carpet if either were to become heavily soiled or contaminated. If you leave a contaminated pad under new carpet, expecially if it has been soiled by pets, odors from the pad can contaminate the new carpet. and you risk cross contamination from microbial agents, AKA mold. Personally, I prefer a short pile berber style carpeting made of nylon and olefin fibers. It cleans up very well and stands up well to heavy traffic.
Good luck! :-D
Quote:
I have pulled up carpet where the pad was extremely deteriorated. It looked like someone may have spilled something onto the carpet and soaked the pad. It was extremely difficult to get this off the floor and the wood was actually damaged.
This was either very, very old pad, or very, very cheap pad.
Quote:One guy told me once that no matter how good the pad is you get, it deteriorates quickly in traffic areas.
Deteriorates at what rate? 5 years? 10 years, 20 years? Cheap pad will get matted down quicker than good pad.
Quote:I'm still confused about it all, but I hate to spend an extra $150 to buy something that doesn't give me a clear benefit, and may cause extra problems such as water damage and areas that look bad when the pad fails. Thoughts?
- first off it won't cause you problems of any sort, it will solve your problems. You're sounding like someone who buys a car for $200 and then when it leaks oil all over their driveway complains that all cars are bad.
- You really need to find a really competent carpet sales person and talk to them for 10 minutes. You are all upside down and backwards in regard to this issue which should even be an issue.
Good luck.
Rehabinator,
You have some valid points, but I think we may be looking at this differently. I'm not trying to be stingy. Afterall, I'm the only landlord I know of who adds extra insulation to each of my rentals, sometimes costing well over 1k/ unit. That's what I was told by the guy who does much of the work in town. The reason I do that is another story. I have found that salespeople and conventional wisdom are not always best. For example, I repaired appliances part time when I was going through college. Now the sales people were always touting the latest top model washing machines with the 5 yr warranty and how superior they were. What they didn't tell you was that the top of the line used the same parts as the bottom of the line inside and they were also more prone to expensive problems later on because of the added electronics that were very unreliable because water and electronics don't mix well. Also the warranty was simply a gimick. They simply raised the price of the appliance to offset the additional costs of repairs during the 5 years(straight out of the mouth of the manufacturers rep.). So as you can see, I have found it much more useful to go behind the scenes and talk to people who don't have a vested interest in selling you something. I do appreciate the feedback though.