Flooring for boathouse

buddy333 · 02-17-2009, 01:38 PM

I am in the midst of remodeling a boathouse/floating home. It floats on a river. Currently in the living area there is glued down carpet and the kitchen has linoleum. Both seem to have held up well. The subflooring consists of t&g cedar with cdx on top of that. I have pulled up the carpeting leaving the cdx that is still completely covered in the adhesive that was used to hold down the carpet. I has also left the linoleum down so far. Question is what would be some good options for flooring. The place is heated and stays pretty dry, very little mold or mildew to speak of but I would guess the moisture content is there. It is finished just like any other apartment you would go into, sheetrocked walls, granite counters, ect. In the kitchen I would like to put down wood/laminent flooring, maybe over the linoleum? I might like to do the living area as well in the same material. I may end up using a durable carpet in the living area. Can anyone give me any ideas on what to use or what not to use. Thanks

Nestor_Kelebay · 02-18-2009, 01:30 AM

I'd probably go with a 100% Olefin carpet in the living area, and stick with linoleum in the kitchen. Both are practical choices, which is why these floorings is what you already had.

The word "Olefin" means "a double carbon=carbon bond" to a chemist, and the reason Olefin carpets are so named is that they're made from ethylene and propylene gasses to form a plastic that has lots of those double carbon=carbon bonds in it.

The benefit to you in installing a 100% Olefin carpet is that it's the most water resistant fiber used to make carpet. So, Olefin carpets won't be affected by getting wet. That also means they're the most naturally resistant to water based stains, too, which includes most food stains except oil based salad dressings and such.

Olefin fiber can't be coloured by conventional dying techniques. It can only be coloured by adding tiny coloured particles (called "pigments") to the hot molten plastic before drawing it into a fiber. The result is that the coloured pigments are encased in the plastic fiber much like raisins in raisin bread. And, the result of that is that you can use bleach straight out of the jug on a 100% Olefin carpet to remove otherwise impossible stains (like candle wax dye) from it without harming the carpet. And, if mold or mildew ever does start growing in a frequently wet area of your carpet, you can clean that area with bleach to kill anything growing in it without harming the carpet.

Olefin isn't the longest wearing carpet, but if you normally just wear socks or go barefoot indoors, it'll last a long time.

If you want BOTH a long wearing carpet AND the ability to use bleach on the carpet to remove stains, then look for a "solution dyed nylon" carpet in the commercial carpeting section of the flooring store. Nylon is the strongest fiber used to make carpet, so nylon carpets are the longest wearing carpets. And, if they're coloured the same way as Olefin carpets (by solution dying), then the pigments which give the carpet it's colour will be encased in nylon plastic to protect them from the bleach.

You have little to lose by getting one of those car floor mat samples of 100% Olefin or solution dyed nylon and torturing it with bleach just to confirm it won't harm the carpet.

The benefit to you of using such a carpet

buddy333 · 02-18-2009, 02:03 PM

Thank you for the reply. I was looking closer to the floor yesterday and there is a vapor barrier in place between the cdx and the cedar, and the floor is very dry. There is a vapor barrier, then 3/4' cedar, another vapor barrior, and then cdx. Looks like it is done about as well as can be expected. Traffic on the floor should be pretty minimum as it is really only used 4 -5 months a year and everyone is barefoot for the most part. I would really like to use a wood looking material in the kitchen area as there is beadboard on the ceiling and I think it would match nicely to a wood floor.

Mudd · 02-19-2009, 10:56 PM

Check out Karndean...