I'm moving into a new apartment soon and the room I'll turn into my lab is carpeted. This is obviously undesirable for a couple reasons:
(1) ESD
(2) hard to clean solder out of carpet
(3) easily gets dirty
(4) harder to move racks on casters over carpet
I'm sure the list goes on.
I searched around online and a bunch of links indicate hardwood flooring or vinyl plank can be installed over carpet. If the carpet is really thin and hard, the flooring can be installed directly over the carpet, but otherwise underlayment plywood can be set down first, followed by the vinyl plank. The carpet I'm dealing with isn't very plush or soft, but also isn't like the super hard carpet in commercial spaces. I was planning to do the plywood + vinyl plank approach.
I do have some 19-inch racks that are probably in the neighborhood of 400-500lbs and one big shelf that's probably closer to 1k lbs, though I'm guessing.
Any thoughts? Has anyone done this? Any pitfalls? I've read that the carpet should be clean and free of moisture before the installation. Any other things to keep in mind?
Are there better solutions? I saw these interlocking tiles (
https://freestyleflooring.com/solutions/freestyle-commercial-interlocking-flooring/) that are designed specifically for this purpose and look nice, but as it's targeted for commercial clients I'm a bit worried the cost might be too high.
Another thing I thought of is the sort of interlocking hard rubber tiles used in gyms. No idea how this would fare for the above criteria.
I suppose another related question is linoleum vs vinyl tiles over the plywood.
There are ESD-safe tiles, but what I've found starts at $10/ square foot, which is too much. I found vinyl plank at $1.50 to $2 per square foot, which is more what I'm looking to spend.