I’ve got a question for those of you with carpeted train rooms. Do you have any trouble with track alignment, bench work movement etc. on account of the layouts legs “settling” into the soft carpet? I realize the amount is not huge (we’ve all seen those “dents” in the carpet after moving the furniture) but I was thinking it might not be a bad idea to put 6" square pads of 1/2"-3/4" ply under the legs. Am I making a mountian out of a molehill? Your feedback on your experiences is sought.
I used interlocking carpet squares from Home Depot. When it came to a leg I just cut around the leg and it still sits on the concrete floor. Never have had any trouble in 4 years. Also easy to replace is something gets spilled on the carpet square. Dick Foster Reno NV
I made my 1 x 4 benchwork using lap joints with glue and screws. It does not flex. I was worried about things being level when all was installed as my biggest table is 6’ x 18’. I got lucky and everything is dead level. Plan to have to do some leveling but hopefully you will get lucky.
Another huge concern was messing up the carpet and I am relentless making sure I have lots of drop sheets down. There just happened to be very expensive carpet in the room when we moved in.
I put carpet down on my floor after three layout sections were assembled. After the carpet was down, I continued with the layout construction so the main part of my layout is on carpet. The Seivers benchwork comes with adjustable legs, but I haven’t had to use those for the carpet but for the floor in my basement of my townhouse since it slightly slopes up near the walls.
Adjustable feet on a layout are a good idea. I have to use them on my layout because it’s in the basement and all basement floors slope towards the drain. I drilled holes in the ends of the legs, inserted tee nuts in the holes and screwed hex head bolts into the tee nuts. Possibly hollowing out a depression in the tops of the wood pads would be a good idea so that the legs can’t slip around at all. I don’t have an issue with carpeting as only the aisle is carpeted.
The carpet conceals a dish about 10 feet across and a inch deep in the center. So I build around the edges of it.
Anything small like kaydee couplers, black truck screws etc… will VANISH into that ever eating carpet.
If you vacuum often you will be ok.
The next railroad is going to be leveled using adjustable height bottoms in each leg. Here in Arkansas the table is level when the rolling stock does not move on a track section in all 360 degrees.
If you’ve built upstairs, or on a wooden floor supported by joists, it’s a very good idea to have leveling arrangements at every leg. Houses DO settle, and seldom evenly.
I provided leveling bolts on the legs of my original >4> by 12 foot table, even though I was building over a concrete slab on grade. When I turned it end for end I found out that the garage floor sloped toward the door… Happily for all concerned, a 3/4" open-end wrench cured the minor (!) misalignment.
There are hardware items called “carpet cups” for use under furniture legs on carpet, especially useful if the carpet is tufted. They have “teeth” on their undersides that bury in the carpet. You can do a quick online search to see what I mean. And you can still make your legs’ heights adjustable.
I have some crappy indoor/outdoor carpet in the train room that was here when I bought the house. Should have ripped it up then but of course I didn’t. So pieces had been cut out here and there from when the gutter broke and water found it’s way in here of course. I was contemplating just adding carpet runners right over the top of this stuff as tearing it all out now would be impossible and then I would have painted concrete floors to deal with. Then I thought about the fatigue mats I have out in my shop. Any one who has ever worked in a machine shop or factory etc. where you spend your work day on your feet knows the value of these things. Plus as mentioned if things drop into a half way decent carpet they are usually lost for ever with the fatigue mats you pick them up and vacuum the floor hopefully finding things you’ve lost.
A little hint when it comes to vacuuming your train room slip an old nylon stocking over the end of the pipe and secure it with a couple of rubber band. Then do a preliminary vacuuming of the room fist. Can’t tell you how may of little people and the like I have saved from a horrible fate
I just moved. I tore out my layout in the basement and it was on cement. I never did like that darn cement floor and basement feel to everything. The basement was huge, with twice the room I have now, and very tall ceilings compared to what I have now…but it was always very uncomfortable and unfriendly.
My new house came with a basement just big enough (if I Moffet tunnel through a couple of walls!) for my new plans and layout, which is why I chose the house, of course, and the basement for the most part has carpet padding and a high-quality soft carpet.
I am so happy to be building my layout on a sound-absorbing, comfortable, homey, nicely- newly-carpeted surface that I could really care less about the ten or so dents that might be left behind by the two-by-four (1 1/2" by 3 1/2") legs. The backside of the layout is anchored to the wall, so I seriously doubt anything is going anywhere far.
I say forget all the pads and fine-tuned leveling, just vacuum OFTEN as has been suggested…carpeting is comfortable and friendly until it starts getting dirty and cluttered, at least to me.
If I knew how to put pictures in these responses I’d take some pictures and show how my layout benchwork is shaping up on the carpeted surface.
Thanks everyone! I’m going to use the adjustable leg/plywood square method to level my modular benches and get them all at the same tier height. I’d planned on building in leveling, but wasn’t sure how much vertical displacement I’d be looking at. Good news is, the carpet’s a tight Berber, without much padding underneath. Bad news is, it belongs to the condo owner so I don’t want to mess it up. I’ll probably build the modules in my shop (machine shop, my business) and “scenic” them there to avoid worrying about spilling latex paint on the carpet. Anyway, thanks so much for your thoughtful responses, much good advice was given. It will be put to good use.
Assuming the entire floor is equally carpeted, and the benchwork is fairly consistant (weight wise), this should not be a problem.
My last layout was built in 1993 is a carpeted spare room, and was recently taken down to build a new one. I had almost 50 2x2 legs, and put a rubber 2 inch square “coaster” under each. This prevented sharp wood edges from cutting into the carpet, and gave it a somewhat better footprint.
Now the catch is, my spare room will always be a train room - or if not, will be recarpeted (to match the new carpeting in the rest of the house). But if the layout was built in a carpeted room and I knew that I would soon have to take it down and put the room to other uses (or sell the house), and needed to save the carpet - then I would put perhaps a 4x4 pad or so under each leg.
