Creaky floor, boarding over, couple of questions

[Andy Muddlename]

So I have a very creaky set of floorboards.

My plan is to take carpets up, remove nails, screw down (avoiding plumbing electric etc), lay 3.2mm hardboard (aware of wetting, etc), nail down with 20mm ring nails and put the carpet back down.

My questions are about the edges and the thresholds.

1. There are regular carpet grippers around the edges, these are nailed down in the usual fashion. Is there any reason to take them up, board to the skirting, and then replace them (or put new ones down) on top of the board? Since they have a base about 3.2mm deep, the same as the boards, couldn't I just board up to them and re-use them? It seems lazy, and just plain not right, but I don't really know why.

2. Thresholds. All doorways are carpet to carpet - we have the carpet joining strips (with the teeth, and the bit you hammer down over them) in the doorways. I hate these things - bending them up, then trying to get them down over the carpet again, and keep them level. Would one carpet gripper with a carpet cover strip screwed down over it work - with the two carpets meeting in the middle? Again, I can't see why not, but could be missing something. Sorry if the terminology here is confusing and I've explained it poorly.

Thanks! Andy

 

[Gteuk]

I would definitely suggest taking gripper rods up and replacing, if you don't the carpet is cut to measure now, believe it or not by raising it 3.2mm it will not fit back down or bed correctly on the grippers. If you are raising part you are going to have to raise all to keep the dimensions correct for carpet to fit back down.