Hi friends, Caleb here. A few weeks ago, Keith and I sat down to talk about a common question for Denver homeowners in older neighborhoods. If you live in WashPark, or CapHill, or even some of the older neighborhoods in Arvada or Northglenn, I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re in this situation. My condolences if it’s shag carpet.
Think of this as a conversation with a knowledgeable friend at your neighborhood BBQ. We’ll talk through the problem, what to consider, and how to make a decision that’s right for your home.
Why Carpet Is a Problem Near Water
Caleb: Today’s question is, what are the dangers of having carpet? Why should I be concerned if I have carpet in a bathroom in my house? Tell me more.
Keith: Concerns for bathroom carpet, or really any carpet near an active water area, come down to the same reason you wouldn’t want water by your sheets or your towels. Carpet holds the water and doesn’t let it air out and dry. When water doesn’t dry, it creates life. The life we’re trying to prevent is mold. Most of the time, when you have carpet in a bathroom, you see a mold spot right after a shower.
That mold spot isn’t unusual at the threshold. In front of a tub, a shower, or a toilet, you’ll most likely see a little water damage and possibly slight mold. The difference with carpet is how far it spreads. With tile, when you pull it up, you might find one to two inches of discoloration, maybe some old mold that started to work but didn’t take off. With carpet, the damage usually runs seven to ten inches past the source. Carpet extends the affected area. That’s the biggest difference.
Caleb: Gotcha.
Keith: Which makes sense, because it’s carpet. It holds the water. People do it for a couple of reasons. The biggest is that [builders] save money by putting carpet in. The other reason is less common: homeowners who like the warm feel of carpet. They want it in the primary bedroom, and it runs throughout and leads into everything. It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen.
What Mold Does to a House
Caleb: What are the concerns with mold? What does it do to your house or your room?
Keith: On the physical or health side, I don’t want to comment much, because I have nothing to do with that…From the construction side, mold has to live off something, and usually it’s eating the product it’s sitting on. Say you have mold in your drywall, on your subfloor, or in the studs. It’s eating the wood or the drywall, so that material loses its integrity and breaks down faster. It won’t do its job the way it’s supposed to. That’s the real reason I don’t like to see mold in homes. I know there’s a safety concern, and I want everyone to take that seriously. As the contractor, my biggest worry is the long-term loss of integrity.
Solutions
Caleb: That makes sense. Carpet in a bathroom is nice, because you don’t have cold feet on tile. But we see a lot of mold spreading, and replacing carpet is probably an added expense. What do solutions look like? What has worked on job sites?
Keith: Do you want to put the same carpet back? If not, you’d put down tile, linoleum, or possibly a waterproof LVP. Make sure it gets caulked in well. Then check that caulk line every other year, if not every year, to make sure it hasn’t cracked or spread. Water gets everywhere, so the source has to be closed, and everything has to stay waterproof until then. If you tile, you’ll need to reseal the grout every couple of years, or it will crack, get porous, and let water through. That’s why you keep at it.
Stories From the Job Site
Caleb: A hundred percent. What’s a story about a bathroom you had to rip out?
Keith: It’s all the same story. People say, “I’ve got carpet, and I hate it.” And I ask, “Do you think there’s mold under there?” They say, “Well, do you think there’s mold?” I say, “No, I don’t think there’s mold. I know there’s mold.” Every time. I haven’t had one where it wasn’t moldy. You don’t get away from mold in a bathroom with carpet.
I’ve even found it in basements on concrete slabs. The concrete doesn’t grow mold, but the wood tack strip that holds the carpet down does. You can’t get away from it unless you choose materials that don’t absorb water, like polished concrete.
Where to Start: A First-Time Homeowner
Caleb: Say [there’s] a first-time homeowner who just bought an older house. They’re looking at a 1980s primary bathroom with old shag carpet. What steps should they take to make it safer and more comfortable for the long run?
Keith: It depends. The first step is to define your full scope of work. Do you want to do other bathroom work, or do you just want to pull out the carpet and put in a new floor? The second step is finding someone who can do that scope for you.
Then you pull out all the carpet and all the pad, and you put down new tile or another waterproof flooring.
…You can pull out the carpet, put in flooring, and add a quarter round on the trim, and you’ve solved the problem quickly and [affordably]. If you don’t want to renovate the whole bathroom yet, do a quick fix. Rip out the carpet, put in a [simple] tile, leave the baseboard, and put a quarter round over it. It should take three to five days, depending on the size of the floor. If someone is worried about mold, that’s my first recommendation. Rip it up and start fresh.
What It Costs
Caleb: Roughly how much does that run? A very general ballpark.
Keith: It’s $1,000 to $3,000 for the floor and the work, depending on what you choose.
For a thousand dollars, you can put down a waterproof LVP with a membrane underneath, add a quarter round, caulk it, and paint it. For an average-size bathroom, that’s about $1,000 to $1,200. If you want tile, done nicely, and you leave the trim alone, it’s about three grand with a quarter round. The price climbs when you pull the trim off the wall, because that’s a demo cost, and then you have to reinstall the trim, which is an install cost. You caulk the trim where you made new holes, and you caulk the gap against the wall, since no wall is perfectly square or plumb. Then you repaint the whole thing to match. A quarter round means less work.
Heated Floors
Caleb: Tell me about heated floors. Some people want to feel comfortable when they wake up and go brush their teeth. Paint the picture.
Keith: Heated floors are a wonderful upgrade in a bathroom. There are a lot of styles. You can get one you control from an app. You can get one with a thermostat on the wall. You can get one with a wall screen, an app, and a remote.
It usually goes under your membrane. You set it into the system and mortar it right into the subfloor. Then you control it whenever you want. You can preset it, or shut it off in the summer. Porcelain and most tile are cool to the touch, and heat rises, so the floor is the last place in the room to warm up. A heated floor is a system that works well, and it isn’t super expensive. I can’t quote it exactly, because the cost depends on how we lay [the tile] and which system you choose. As a starting point, for a 30-square-foot bathroom, the system alone runs about $1,600 installed, plus your regular flooring.
Caleb: [Fore-warning] these are 2026 prices. If someone reads this in 2030, the numbers will be off.
Keith: Don’t hang onto them too long. (laughs)
Final Word
Caleb: Is there anything else you’d tell a customer on the fence, someone looking at a bathroom remodel or carpet in a bathroom?
Keith: Not really. I think we covered most of it. If you have carpet [in a bathroom], there’s mold underneath it, it’s guaranteed. If you want to put carpet back, use a primer sealer on the subfloor first to slow the mold from eating into it. Otherwise, define your scope of work and figure out what you want to do. You could do the floor now and do the rest in a year or two, when the money comes in.
Caleb: Perfect. Thanks, Keith.
