Flooring for train room..

Woodson,    True, most of the floor will be covered by the benchwork, not being walked on.  But, when you are under the benchwork for wiring and other necessary work as the layout progresses.  For that reason alone, I chose wood tongue in groove flooring.  Easier to roll around on with a creeper and stands up to use.  Be certain to pick a good type, my opinion, do NOT use Pergo.  Have used in past in house, and, as with others, took it out and replaced with better, much better.  For standing comfort, no matter what type flooring, a proper mat for standing is needed.  But, with a wooden floor, you can move around, and move boxes/materials much easier.

My opinion and choice for my train room....

Jesse   TCA

First off Happy birthday!

I have used inter locking floor mats around my layout. very easy on the knees as we age.

Over hardwood floors concrete floors and tile.

Not too expensive

Bill

I know this is not what you are looking for, but I have concrete. There is nothing better for kit bashing or thinning out your over stock then that!

Dennis

This was a joke.

Carpet is relatively cheap and easy to install and makes a room quieter, as compared to a hard-surface floor.

Mine is concrete covered with a good quality indoor-outdoor carpet with a good pad. I spend a lot of time underneath, as do my grandkids with their floor layout. It is well worth the comfort.

Ace posted:

Carpet is relatively cheap and easy to install and makes a room quieter, as compared to a hard-surface floor.

One of my thoughts is a commercial grade carpet.. Thanks for your input!!

Hartman posted:

I know this is not what you are looking for, but I have concrete. There is nothing better for kit bashing or thinning out your over stock then that!

Dennis

 

In my situation, concrete is not an option..

bptBill posted:

First off Happy birthday!

I have used inter locking floor mats around my layout. very easy on the knees as we age.

Over hardwood floors concrete floors and tile.

Not too expensive

 

Bill

Thanks for the "Happy Birthday"!! I celebrating my 40th birthday for the 27th time.. lol Great idea.. Thanks for the input!!

Carpet tile, easy to put down and change if wanted. The best asset is if one gets really nasty from spills, etc it is just a matter of replacing one piece. 

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 Knowing you have big things in mind vs just a table, it will help the build if legs are sitting on that hard surface vs carpet. You may want to lay carpet round the legs!? The drawback of wood floors, will be more noise in the room, and in the rest of the house too. It will telegraph the sound anywhere the layout is making firm contact with the building. Carpet absorbs lots of sound just being in the same room.

You could do both. 

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Adriatic posted:

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 Knowing you have big things in mind vs just a table, it will help the build if legs are sitting on that hard surface vs carpet. You may want to lay carpet round the legs!? The drawback of wood floors, will be more noise in the room, and in the rest of the house too. It will telegraph the sound anywhere the layout is making firm contact with the building. Carpet absorbs lots of sound just being in the same room.

You could do both. 

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Thanks!! You've been a great help!! Thanks for hanging in there with me!! This is not a 'wet' dream.. It is becoming, slowly the real deal!!

I went with low budget carpet tile. My original thought was sheet vinyl, but the installation cost is about the same price as the product. Same story for rolled carpet. My sub-floor is T&G plywood. After multiple times vacuuming, I sealed the floor to prepare it for the self adhesive tiles. I don't remember the name of the sealer, but it is available at one of the big box stores.

Doug W. posted:

Carpet tile, easy to put down and change if wanted. The best asset is if one gets really nasty from spills, etc it is just a matter of replacing one piece. 

I love mine!

Oman posted:

I went with low budget carpet tile. My original thought was sheet vinyl, but the installation cost is about the same price as the product. Same story for rolled carpet. My sub-floor is T&G plywood. After multiple times vacuuming, I sealed the floor to prepare it for the self adhesive tiles. I don't remember the name of the sealer, but it is available at one of the big box stores.

Thanks for the tip!! I'll check into it!! Any particular brand of tile that you are pleased with??

I cannot recommend the carpet tile that I used because they were not exactly square which resulted in a lot of cutting to maintain the pattern. Regardless, if you like carpet, this is a low cost approach to carpet. There are a lot of really good carpet tiles out there.

Another vote for commercial carpet tiles.  I found a surplus dealer on Craigslist and got 3' .x 3' commercial tiles with really dense padding and fibrous non absorbent backing on them.  They're almost 3/8 inches thick and really easy on the feet.  

My under layout crawler that I built with 3 inch diameter wheels rolls easily on this stuff and as other's have pointed out if you have an "accident" I just pull one up and put another one in its place...  Really glad I put this down.   The price of this stuff on the surplus market was another bonus as I did 60 sq. yards for about $250.00 and my son and I actually installed it even though 1/2 the layout was already built and in the room. 

I used the same carpet that we installed in the rest of the house with full pad etc.  Things dont roll away on the carpet and any accidents are dampened by the carpet.  Kneeling down is not a problem since it is soft everywhere.  The table legs don't move at all.  I have stone walls on three sides and I can't imagine the noise level without the carpet.

    If looking at carpet where heavy abuse is more or  less expected, it might be wise to look into those made specifically for bar/hotel/restaurant use. The company we dealt with then presented the fabric, the colors, and patterns, grouped for their ability to hide stains well.

    The one chosen was a deep blue almost black, with small dots of many bright colors that brightened the mood of it greatly in the light. At night, in next to no light, you could still see your way. All the dots were still slightly visible, any lack of dots was an object in your way .

No question - square format commercial carpet tiles over an ordinary plywood substrate are the way to go. Carpet tiles come in meter square format ( approx. 39" x 39") and can be easily replaced if soiled or damaged. Carpet tiles come in light, medium, or heavy duty grades depending on the amount of foot traffic. Most importantly carpet tiles are very comfortable on the legs and feet and are one of the most cost effective ways of reducing noise in the room or basement.

Standing for long periods of time next to a layout can be quite tiring!

Laminate. Noisier, yes. But zero issues with static electricity. Super easy to keep clean. I don't know about you guys, but as we speak my train room is a construction zone. I do not want to think about what would be in the carpet right now.

Gilly@N&W posted:

Laminate. Noisier, yes. But zero issues with static electricity. Super easy to keep clean. I don't know about you guys, but as we speak my train room is a construction zone. I do not want to think about what would be in the carpet right now.

 

Do you mean like a vinyl sheet for say a kitchen floor?, Or a hard laminate like on a store cabinet or counter top?

The vinyl beats laying squares. Roll it out and cut.

Cabinet laminate would be a very interesting approach I'd never considered for flooring. I liked building cabinets with it a lot. Slightly brittle beforehand, but once adhered, nearly as tough as nails and like you mentioned, super easy to clean. Comes in every color under the sun and huge sheets or small. Score then snap, saw it, routered, etc. cut it however you like

Noisier, I bet you are using cabinet laminate! That's pretty cool.

Tough room...

This stuff. Interlocking laminate flooring planks. Got mine from the local big box store. I'd bet Menards carries this. Unfortunately, there isn't one in our area.

Through many years of experience I prefer to have carpet on the floor. If something falls on the floor it isn't consigned to the damaged goods bin.

I had a very bad accident, rear ended a freight train with 2 powered SD-45's, a few years ago and was glad I had carpet on the floor, 7 freight cars fell to the floor and both engines derailed. Without carpet I would have lost 6 or 7 freight cars.

A quick word about laminates; do you know what is in them? I worked for a cabinet shop in Dublin Georgia and they used particle board which is 33% formaldehyde, and I assume wood laminate has that too!

Lee Fritz

Rubberized inter-locking floor tiles are the best.  Easier to replace.  If you have carpet, and WHEN you spill or smear something on it from the trains--hard to believe constructing and maintaining a layout is a messy situation isn't it?--you are in deep trouble.  With those square tiles, you simply pull it out and clean it and return it.  If its damaged you replace only the damaged tile.  Comfort is outstanding!  Moving?  No problem!  Pick it up and take it with you.

I will grant that carpet may look better and give a more professional finished appearance.  But green floor tiles make great "grass" and blue ones "water."  You can use different colors in different places to blend into your scene.

Ditto on the carpet squares, I am very pleased with mine.

A secret to cleaning most spills on carpet(not carpet squares as I am not sure it will work) is too use rubbing alcohol(70% alcohol or more)pour directly on the spill and to use a paper towel to wipe up the spill with. Also rubbing alcohol won't remove the color in any carpet, at first it may look a bit dis-colored but that is because the carpet is clean.

Important; don't use rubbing alcohol with other household chemicals like bleach!

Lee Fritz

Using any sort of alcohol or alcohol base substance to clean any carpet is a big no no! I would never ever tell a client to do so. The alcohol can and will seep through the carpet tile and react with the rubber backing below possibly releasing 'toxic' fumes into the air. The best and safest thing to use is standard carpet cleaner with good ventilation - i.e. open a window or fan to blow any fumes away.