Laminate on outer perimeter of room only?

mark2741

This is kind of a follow-on question to another thread/question I started the other day. After getting more estimates I'm finding that the price to carpet my 14x15 room + stairwell will be in the $900 range total. While I could pay it, I had another idea:

I'm pretty handy with laminate flooring. Has anyone here ever installed laminate flooring on the outer perimeter of a room only, with the majority of the floor being left bare and then covered over with a bound carpet/large area rug?

Here's my thinking on the benefits of this:

1. In case of water entry, it's easily replaceable.

So if there is a leak (no, there is no leaking/water/condensation/moisture issue now but let's face it, this is a basement), the leak would be on the perimeter and I could easily disassemble the laminate boards affected, toss and replace.

2. Same for the rug/bound carpet remnant - I could replace it easily, on my own.

I've installed entire laminate floors but never just a laminate 'perimeter' floor (say, two to three feet in from the perimeter on all sides.

This would still require me to have a pro carpet the stairs, but the net/net would the same total cost but more piece of mind in the event of water entry.

Anyone ever tried this? Or is it the dumbest idea you've seen on this forum this week? : )