Hey everyone! I'm looking to replace the carpet in the first 10 feet of my apartment with tile because the carpet has seen better days. I plan to do the installation myself, but I've got a couple of questions:
1. Under my carpet, there's a foam layer and then some kind of board—maybe DuRock? Can I just remove the carpet and foam and put tile directly on that board, or should I check if I need to replace it with fresh DuRock?
2. Should I take out the baseboards? I'd rather leave them in place and use the half-inch space underneath for movement joints. Will the sealant work well with the backer rod and stick to both the tile and the baseboards?
2 Answers
To answer your first question, if that subfloor is cement, you don't need to add DuRock; an isolation layer should be enough. If it’s wood, it sounds like you might be good to go, but double-check the deflection to make sure it's stable.
As for the baseboards, removing them definitely gives a cleaner finish, but it’s not a must. You can just grout right up to them if you prefer to leave them in place.
Yes, if it's wood, you can lay tiles right over it! Just make sure to check for deflection by jumping on the floor or using a deflection calculator online to see if it's sturdy enough for tile. And for sealing the backer rod, grout should work fine, but using a separate sealant can give you that extra peace of mind.