carpet — Setting tack strip in concrete
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3 years, 1 month ago
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I would like to have carpet installed in the bedroom of my basement apartment which now has a concrete floor. I don’t trust the carpet guy with this part because he suggested cutting corners and just gluing it and I don’t trust the glue for this application.
I was thinking to drill small holes in the strip, use it as stencil to project spots in the concrete, then drill holes with my jackhammer, set lead anchors and then attach the strip with screws into the anchors. That way the strip is as firm as it would be against an OSB subfloor.
But it also seems a bit labor intensive. Is there a better way to attach carpet tack strip to a concrete floor? Like maybe drilling holes and filling them with some kind of epoxy that nails can be hammered into? That’s a little easier but not much.
- concrete
- carpet
3
I have used a combination of construction adhesive and concrete nails. Doing it by drilling and an insert or a concrete screw would be awesome but that is really going to take some time
1
Yes way too much labor.
Use powder actuated fasteners and loads specific for concrete. I’ve removed the tack strips from concrete and this is what held them down. The fasteners were maybe 1″ long.
https://www.ramset.com/Portals/0/pdf/RamsetPdrFastener_LoadChart.pdf
2
Tack strip for concrete, plus construction adhesive
They make tack strip with nails specifically for concrete. They’re thicker and harder than what’s in the usual stuff, but nowhere near as large as actual concrete (cut) nails.
That said, in older concrete many of the nails will spall out and not hold. The few that do can be considered temporary if you use heavy-duty construction adhesive also and give it a day to cure.
3
I worked alot of high rise concrete buildings in my day. when it came down to securing plates and bracing for the next level form work [concrete cast in place columns and walls] we would use a #8 duplex nail and a couple strands of wire 16 gauge I believe [rebar tie wire] drill a 3/16 hole using a real hammer drill with a real carbide tipped concrete bit and drill down the depth of the nail length drop in the strands of tie wire insert the nail and drive it home. this is one of the best anchors I have ever used very cheap and can be removed if required leaving a small hole behind. drilling is simple and if you use the proper drill and bits it no more effort than if you were drilling into wood no matter how old the concrete is.
try it on vertical or horizontal attachments it is a very good anchor for thin pcs. up to 3/4″ thick. use a #16 duplex and 1 strand of wire on 2×4’s same 3/16 bit dia. you’ll be surprised with the holding power
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flooring — How can I pull up tack strips nailed to concrete?
Asked
Modified
4 years, 10 months ago
Viewed
3k times
I am pulling up carpet and putting down a floating, vinyl plank floor in a three-season room built on slap.
The tack strips are nailed into the concrete. I see How to repair concrete damage from pulling up nail strips but am looking for advice on the easiest way to get the tack strips up to begin with. Any thoughts?
- flooring
Jim and Taylor are correct.
Use a small pry par because it is not as thick and will get under the tack strip better. Hold the the long straight part or the pry bar and place the curved end so that the but is against the floor and the wedge part is up against the tack strip directly in front of the nail. Whack the the curved part of the pry bar with a hammer, it usually only takes one or two hits to pop up the nail.
It helps to hold the bar at an angle so the bar goes under the strip and to not hit to hard, sometimes you can drive the end of the bar into the wall or trim if you get to aggressive.
Do not pry up once the nail is free as this will splinter or break the strip at the next nail location, just continue whacking all the nails and when you get them all the whole tack strip will be free and easy to dispose of.
1
Prybar, hammer, elbow grease. There are many prybar styles, but this is the one I would choose.
I use a prybar and hammer the end of the bar parallel to the floor. I removed a bunch of tack strip from a slab floor and experimented with various techniques. we were thinking about staining the concrete and hoped to get the tack strips up with minimal damage, but nothing would do it. I have read that driving the hardened nails into the concrete in the first place fractures the concrete and so there is no way to remove the nails and leave only a nail sized hole. Perhaps tack strips installed on barely set concrete could be coaxed out with only a nail sized hole.
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types and installation — Articles — Salon flooring PRO FLOOR
Not so long ago, another type of flooring appeared on the market — PVC tiles.
The composition of PVC tiles (vinyl tiles) is similar to the linoleum we are used to, but the production technology is different, as is the form of release. This material is cut into triangles or squares, it can be on an adhesive base or without it. In appearance, this tile may not differ from parquet or, for example, marble. It all depends on the design features that the buyer prefers. The shape of the product is also different: square, rectangular, mosaic. The use of vinyl elements opens up great scope for creativity when laying the floor, since they not only differ in color and texture, but are also very well cut. Therefore, it is not at all difficult to lay out any drawings under your feet.
Please note! Unlike linoleum, cork, laminate or parquet, vinyl tiles can be used even in rooms with high humidity, such as a bathroom or bath. Mold will not form on this floor.
PVC floor tiles consist of vinyl and resin, to which stabilizers, plasticizers, and sometimes fillers are added (to give specific properties or a special appearance).
The heated mixture is pressed. The resulting material has a high density, but remains flexible and ductile.
PVC tiles consist of several layers:
- two base layers;
- printed film;
- transparent PVC protective layer;
- polyurethane wear layer.
According to the composition, there are two types of linoleum tiles: vinyl and quartz vinyl (vinyl quartz). The second option is more expensive, but also more dense, with increased wear resistance.
According to the laying method, there are PVC floor tiles on self-adhesive backing , there is regular (adhesive is required for mounting the second type). Finishing material for this type of floor is glued end-to-end on a flat, clean base. With this method of installation, the floor covering forms a monolith with the base.
There are tiles with locks — mechanical and adhesive . The elements are interconnected using these locks, and the coating itself is obtained unrelated to the base.
This option is called a «floating» floor.
Like linoleum, PVC floor tiles are classified according to the degree of load:
- Class 23-31 is suitable for rooms with a small number of visitors. It can also be called domestic. Linoleum tiles of this class are the cheapest, have a thickness of up to 2 mm and a not very thick protective layer. On such a coating, furniture on wheels cannot be used.
- Class 32-42 PVC floor tiles are designed for areas with heavy use. Its thickness is from 2 mm to 2.5 mm, the thickness of the protective layer is sufficient to withstand any furniture, including those on wheels. This class is optimal for apartments and private houses, and the thickness of the protective layer should be from 0.3 mm (more is better, but also more expensive).
- Grade 43 is a super abrasion resistant coating that even withstands traffic. Scope — shops and industrial premises.
In any of the classes, the choice of color and texture is very wide.
There is an imitation of natural materials — wood, various types of stone, etc., there are plain ones, with and without decorative additives. Most often there is a rectangular shape, and with different side lengths, there are squares. Rectangles are most often made «under the tree», imitate parquet or wooden floor, but squares are more often plain. They collect interesting panels. When choosing at the same time as the class, you need to look at the thickness of the protective coating. The thicker it is, the more durable the coating will be. The optimal choice for houses and apartments — tile thickness 3 mm, protective layer thickness — 0.3 mm.
Laying
The actual laying of vinyl tiles is not a very difficult process, but requires precision. Pay special attention to laying the first two rows, on which all the rest then rely. There is also a difference in the technique of gluing vinyl tiles with glue, laying self-adhesive or with locks. But there are also general requirements.
Let’s consider all the questions in more detail.
You will need a decent set of tools for the job, but they are all inexpensive, many are on the farm. So, you will need:
- One meter steel ruler. Glue a few pieces of double-sided tape to the back of it. This is necessary so that she «does not go.» And so that the tape is not very sticky, sprinkle it with dust, gis, etc.
- Stationery knife with replaceable blade. The knife should be good and comfortable, the blade holders should be steel, the blades themselves should be strong and sharp.
- If a linoleum floor tile is selected to be glued, a fine-toothed notched trowel is required. A tool for laying ceramic tiles will not work — the «tooth» should be triangular and a few millimeters high. If you don’t find this, buy a regular one, make the necessary cuts with a file on the blade — 1-2 mm.
- Roulette.
- Wide paper tape — 5 cm, several rolls. It is needed if the vinyl tile will be laid on the adhesive.
- Lapping block — a wooden block upholstered with felt, carpet, two or three layers of hard fabric.
It would also be nice to have a construction hair dryer. In difficult places — when bypassing pipes — it is more convenient to cut the tile when it is heated. Then it’s no more difficult than cutting household linoleum. And you can warm it up only with a building hair dryer. You cut the heated tile, wrap it around the pipe, cut off the excess.
How to cut PVC tiles?
Although linoleum tiles are dense, they are easy to cut in a straight line. If you need a cut that won’t meet the edge of the tile, it’s easier to work with. Pass the blade along the front side with force, bend it at the cut point, cut the rest with a knife along the fold line. If the cut needs to be even — to join with the next tile, you will need a ruler on scotch tape — so that it does not move. In this case, you will have to cut through everything from the front side.
This cannot be done at one time, but since the ruler will not move, it will be possible to draw with the blade two or three times.
Substrate preparation
You can install vinyl tiles on the floor yourself. It is only important that the base is properly prepared. It should be smooth, clean, dry and hard. PVC floor tiles can be laid on concrete, any type of screed, plywood, fiberboard, OBP, GVL and other similar materials. With a concrete floor and screed there is one caveat. The screed from the DSP is too loose and not rigid enough. Under vinyl tiles, it is better to level it with a self-levelling gypsum-based mixture. It is not difficult and not very expensive, but the result will be excellent. When laying vinyl tiles on a wooden floor, it is leveled with plywood 12-15 mm thick. You can use GVL or OSB. All fasteners must be recessed, the holes are puttied. The joints between the sheets are also puttied (do not forget to lay the plates in a run-up and leave seams of 2-3 mm — to compensate for thermal expansion).
For puttying joints, it is better to use acrylic putty — it is more elastic and smooth, adhesive tiles adhere better to it. In general, it is better to lay not adhesive tiles on wooden floors, but floating tiles with locks of any type (mechanical or adhesive). There is less chance that the coating will swell somewhere due to the difference in the amount of thermal expansion. The last step in preparing the base is impregnation with a suitable soil. The base will become even stronger, the absorbency will decrease and even out, and the consumption of glue will decrease.
Ways of laying
If PVC tiles are to be laid by hand and you use «boards» imitating wood, there is no experience with such material, it is better to start with the simplest scheme — with an offset. For this method of laying, it is better if the offset is arbitrary — no joints are visible. When using this scheme, it is only important that the joints of the “boards” are spaced at least 15 cm apart.
This laying method is also economical — a cut piece from the last element in a row can serve as a starting plate in the next (or after one, if the joint is closer than after 15 cm). Other common offset options are 1/3 and 1/2 board lengths. In this case, the pattern is more regular and the joints stand out more.
With this layout, the planks are usually placed along the long wall of the room. When using lockless PVC tiles, the layout starts from the middle. To determine the location of the starting strip, find the middle of the room. Then a line is drawn through it, parallel to the walls. Do this with a paint cord or a ruler and a pencil. This line is guided when laying the first two rows of vinyl tiles, combining the edges of the tiles with it. With other layout methods, everything is more difficult — you have to calculate, draw, and this is not so simple.
Laying PVC tiles with adhesive
The adhesive is applied in an even layer on a dry and clean substrate along the strip marked on the floor.
The width of the adhesive strip is for laying two tiles, if they are long and narrow, the length is to the end of the room. Applying glue, it is distributed with a spatula with a fine tooth. There should be no bald spots or puddles. It is necessary to achieve an even distribution. If, according to the instructions for the glue, it must be given time to dry — we wait. If not, you can put it right away. We put the first row, aligning one edge strictly along the drawn line. When applying glue, try not to lubricate it, otherwise you can lay it crooked. They laid the first tile, ironed it with their hands, expelling air from under the material. We step on the laid tile with our foot, put the next one, tightly adjusting the joint. We glue a piece of masking tape about 10 cm long to the newly laid plank. We glue about half of the tile to be laid, pull it tightly to the laid one and fix the adhesive tape. So the tile has no chance to move. Having fixed it, we iron it, expelling the air. We repeat with the next one.
When laying the second row, we also fix it from the sides using 3 strips of adhesive tape. We put the first row, aligning one edge strictly along the drawn line. When applying glue, try not to lubricate it, otherwise you can lay it crooked. They laid the first tile, ironed it with their hands, expelling air from under the material. We step on the laid tile with our foot, put the next one, tightly adjusting the joint. We glue a piece of masking tape about 10 cm long to the newly laid plank. We glue about half of the tile to be laid, pull it tightly to the laid one and fix the adhesive tape. So the tile has no chance to move. Having fixed it, we iron it, expelling the air. We repeat with the next one. When laying the second row, we also fix it from the sides using 3 strips of adhesive tape.
Having laid two rows, we take a pressure bar and rub the laid coating well with it. So we expel the air completely. According to the technology, it is necessary to use a pressure roller weighing 50 kg, with which a freshly laid coating is rolled.
At home, it is not there, you have to get by with a replacement. There is another way to glue linoleum tiles well: after laying, tap it well with a rubber mallet. Next, lay two rows on the other side of the strip. After the laying order is no longer so important, but it is very desirable to remove air in one of the ways. Why do I need fixation with adhesive tape, because it is rarely used? So that the already laid tiles do not move, and this is possible, since the period of complete drying of the glue is 72 hours.
Self-adhesive tiles
Self-adhesive PVC floor tiles can also be installed. The difference is that you don’t need to apply glue. Before installing the tiles, the protective layer is removed, the tiles are laid in place, smoothed. The rest of the procedure is the same.
In this case, the strips do not need to be fixed with adhesive tape, since the substance on the wrong side is sticky enough to keep the coating from shifting immediately after gluing.
An important nuance — you must first press the tiles to the side surface, holding the bar in weight. When the edge is docked, gradually lower the cover, trying to leave as little air as possible.
PVC tile with a lock
The lock on vinyl tiles can be mechanical or adhesive. The difference is only in the principle of fixation. The rest of the rules are the same. The main difference is that the laying of castle vinyl tiles starts from the wall. The slats are arranged so that the locks «look» into the room. The first row is laid back from the wall a few millimeters — to compensate for thermal expansion. This gap can be provided by installing pieces of material of suitable thickness or by finding thick crosses for tiles.
When laying PVC tiles with an adhesive lock, you must first join the end, matching the edges of the boards. Then the lock is joined along the long side and, only after that, the slats are already lowered completely. The edges are ironed, checking the tightness of the entry of the mechanical lock.
Advantages of PVC tiles:
- Easy installation. PVC floor tiles of any type are easy to install, even those that are glued. During laying, there is no need to remove all the furniture from the room, as when laying linoleum. You can move one half, then transfer everything to the already laid one.
- High coating strength. Out of 10 reviews, only one said that small cracks appeared on the surface (when the refrigerator was brought in and in the place where the dining table stands).
- Tight and easy to clean. Do not be afraid that water has spilled — with proper installation, the floor covering is airtight. You can wash by any means. The only thing that was noted was that relief tiles (which imitate not only the pattern of wood, but also its texture) should be washed along the relief. Otherwise, dust will get into the grooves. But at the same time, it was noted that caring for PVC floor tiles is much easier than for laminate and linoleum (dust “sticks” less).
