SoCalMitch

Can carpet be laid down right on top of a concrete floor or does a wooden sub-floor need to be built?

MAD916

RC plus in Salem Or, had glued their carpet directly to the concrete slab worked great and lasted almost 7 years. The only thing they see with that is that traction really changes with the weather since the slab temp changes.

We choose to take the route of laying it and glueing it down to a 3/4" T.G. sub floor. what we see is great traction and the carpet temp come up almost as fast as the building temp. our is up on 2"x4" under the subfloor to allow for air flow and uneven surface below.


Makes for a Killer Sound.................................

RCSteve93

iTrader: (11)

My local track has a asphalt sub floor. It can be done.

2056dennis

iTrader: (134)

yes it can be and you can use double face tape to hold it in place BUT DONT BE SCARED TO USE ALOT OF TAPE when we did Josh Cyruls track we put 5 rows of tape per seam and it held up great

wait a minute

iTrader: (6)

u can put the carpet to the concrete but its better being on a sub floor. helps with grip and traction.

SWTour

iTrader: (9)

The Carpet track up in LINDSAY CA, lays the carpet out on a gym floor that is covered with those 12" x 12" interlocking plastic floor tiles.

The floor doesn't feel the effects of the temperature the way it would on straight concrete.

This isn't a permanant facility though, the carpet is only laid out when there are races.

If the place is not having to be torn down and set up, and a SUB FLOOR is in the budget...but all means SUB FLOOR, it makes the tracks AWESOME...but if budget is a concern, ANY Carpet is pretty much better than NO carpet!

robk

iTrader: (22)

A sub floor is not a must, but it should be handled properly if you go that route. If not, you will have ski jumps on the back stretch. Find a good carpenter

Gain Time

iTrader: (1)

If you choose to glue straight to the concrete be sure to inspect the concrete for dips and cracks. Fill them before you lay the carpet or you will also have pot holes so to speak.

MAD916

We used Tounge and Groove sub-floor and then also used a biscitt jointer on the 4' end of the floor. to keep the seams flush. then hand sanded and filled with joint compound (192) sheet's........

Also we laid out roofing felt paper down on the asphalt before we laid out the 2"x4" and sub floor.

well worth all the extra work

robk

iTrader: (22)

Proper!

beyondthepack

iTrader: (5)

Holy cow dude thats gunna be a naaaaaaaaaaaaahhhice size track when ur done, props to ya

RCSteve93

iTrader: (11)

Jeez. Nice track. I bet you can hit 50 on the straight with a 17.5.

MAD916

Thanks guys... All done been a up for a year now..... have another big race in Feb 14- 16th.

info and photos at: www.timezoneracing.com

revo523

iTrader: (8)

Not trying to highjack this thread, but how necessary is it to use the carpet made for in door tracks? Can i use regular commercial carpet?

UltegraSTI

iTrader: (20)

pretty interesting thread. prolly somethin RC folks dont see much of. track building. its surely somethin that our friends over in the slot car world have on us. then again most of them are retired and have plenty of free time heh

R