Lay carpet on top of laminate?

[Coldfeetinsummer]

We have a downstairs room that has laminate flooring laid. The previous owners put it down and at the same time replaced skirting, so the skirting sits on top of the laminate IYSIWM.

I want to carpet the room but assume if we take up the laminate we could end up damaging the skirting and/ or have a gap between the bottom of the skirting and the original floorboards which we then lay the underlay and carpet on. Depending on the thickness of the carpet this may look weird.

I’d like to avoid the expense of replacing the skirting which is in pretty good nick.

Added to this, the room is the coldest in the house and the laminate flooring is freezing in the winter.

So I am wondering if we should just fit the new underlay and carpet on top of the laminate which would avoid any gapping issues and also could help make the room warmer with essentially an extra barrier to the cold.

What am I not thinking of that would make this a dumb idea?

I assume we’d need to shave a bit off the bottom of the door to accommodate the carpet...

Anyone?

I have been wondering the exact same question!

I don't think this will work. Fitted carpet needs gripper rod things round the edge of the room to maintain the stretch of the carpet. The underlay and carpet will be thicker than the laminate so if you can slide the laminate out from under the skirting the carpet should cover the gap.

I've done this in the past and it worked fine. We did have to skim the bottom of the doors (did it in two rooms) to make them open and close easily but other than that it was straightforward. The carpet fitters were perfectly happy doing it. Just get a fitter to look at it and check it'll work for your room.

I can't really explain why but I don't think this would work. You should be able to get the laminate up without damaging the skirting. Then choose a carpet + underlay thickness that will cover the gap.

Laminate is a floating floor and carpet should be fitted to a fixed floor. I'd take up the laminate and use thick underlay. You should be able to remove the laminate without damaging the skirtings.

I’d assumed we could add gripper rod to the laminate and it would work fine. The laminate doesn’t move or anything so wouldn’t be different from main floorboards...?

Maybe will call carpet shop and ask them...

The main floorboards are fixed and don't move. Laminate is not fixed to the subfloor.

I have the same issue! Can anyone explain how you get the laminate up without taking the skirting off? Our laminate looks like it was laid in strips that interlock at the edges but without being able to get under an edge of it I can't get any of it up, if that makes sense?

@Amber17

In my limited non-professional experience, I'd suggest getting a chisel or crowbar in a join to pull up the first bit (don't choose a bit near the skirting), then you should be able to slide and pull the other bits out. Obviously you are likely to break the laminate doing this.

DH found a lose bit on ours (not laid by us) and just pulled the whole lot up with his hands.

If you take up the threshold plate where the door is, you should be able to remove it pretty easily. I removed the laminate from our old living room in half an hour.

I did this in my living room. The original laminate floor was good quality Quickstep and there were no problems fitting the grippers to it.

My carpet has been down for about 12 years now and not had any trouble with it.