Carpet in basement

[JWG]

We are going to be putting carpet in our basement and have begun shopping. One of the sales people told me that he recommends drilling the tack strip to the concrete floor as opposed to gluing due to potential moisture problems with a concrete floor. Is this the way to go?

Also, what is the pad that would be recommended? It is a berber carpet and is used for a computer room and bedroom, so not a great deal of traffic down there. Thanks for any advise.

[SSN596]

1) I have never heard of gluing tack strip. Moisture or not, a glued tack strip would not be strong enough to hold the strecth.

2) You CANNOT put carpet on a floor if moisture is a problem. You will have constant mold/mildew problems. You need to define whether or not your basement floor is dry.

[JWG]

Floor is dry. I assume then that all tack strips are screwed or nailed then? How about carpet pad, any suggestion?

Also, when is the best time to install the baseboards, before or after the carpet is layed? Thanks for your help.

[JakeOfAllTrades]

I dont' know if you've had your carpet installed yet, but I would wait to put the baseboard down.

The carpet installers usually scuff the base up pretty badly. It's better to let the wall take the scuffs, and then cover it with the base.