Carpet over concrete -- any special approaches?

As described in this thread, here, I am converting a detached garage into a dedicated media space / home theater.

Although i am a big fan of hardwood floors with generous area rugs for most living spaces, the floor of the garage is going to be freshly poured concrete. And I am thinking that wall-to-wall carpeting is the way to go.

Are there any special concerns to address when installing carpeting, with a substantial pad, over concrete in a garage, where I suppose there might be a moisture concern on occasion?

Are there better pads or carpets that work to absorb sound?

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I'm actually somewhat tempted to install low end oak flooring, 'cause the price is not that much different from putting in carpet, and using a giant area rug I have...

BUT....

the area rug wouldn't work once I get the riser in there for the second row.

So I'll probably stick with the carpeting. I KNOW I need the absorption of installed carpeting or a substantial area rug. I've experimented with a lot of different rooms and it definitely helps clear up the imaging and tone of audio playback.

Dricore looks fascinating. I don't see it mentioned on the web site, but can one use the cleats to compensate for an uneven floor? I've got a few cracks in my concrete, and I was thinking I'd need to have it all taken out and re-poured, this time with re-bar.

But if I can do the dricore installation to compensate for the fact that it's not level, that would really justify spending the money on dricore, since it would save the $1900 I was quoted to remove the old concrete and lay 4 inches of new concrete, in this 17' x 17' space. I see that home depot sells the dricore cleats separately from the rest of the product line, so maybe there are different sized cleats, or one can alter the the sizes of them, or use multiple cleats or fewer cleats, depending on what is needed.

Actually, they aren't cleats so much as "levelling shims" so I'm guessing I can do what I am saying:

Excellent.

I'm not thrilled about the cost, and since my floor is not below ground (this is a garage) I might have less to worry about in terms of moisture, and this is California, so it doesn't get too cold (famous last words and crops all over the state are dying in sub-freezing temperatures)....

BUT

It might be half the cost of replacing the concrete, gives me something nicer to put carpet on, and probably has better sound qualities than carpeting directly on cement, since the floor will likely dissipate sound better.

And I could do it myself, at my own pace...

I'd be tempted to just carpet directly on the concrete, with a thick pad beneath it, of course, but the concrete is uneven, perhaps an inch higher in the middle than at the sides, in large measure because there is a large crack running through the middle of the garage. So I need something to help level it out, or I will probably need to pull out the old concrete and put in a fresh concrete floor. From what I see, the DriCore can handle the leveling out piece of the equation.

Yeah, I wonder what caused the cracking in the first place.... but this solution is very tempting. I'm going to research it some more.

Yeah, I'm guessing at one of two possibilities:

1: We are one lot away from a creek, so settling of the ground could have happened from shifting creek beds or something similar. or

2: The neighbor, whose fence is perhaps one foot away, has some VERY TALL eucalyptus trees, and I'm wondering whether some of their shallow roots might have done this.

Had an expert onsite consultation today and he is quite convinced the cracking is from the tree next door. He wondered, after looking at where it's growing, whether it might actually be on my side of the property line..... but hassling with the neighbors about that could be an unpleasant way to introduce myself to the neighborhood.

He recommended several scenarios. One of them was to simply build up the floor and hope it stays level. Another was to remove the concrete and then remove the root that is causing the problem. Another was to actually re-do the foundation and give the room space.

And to think, I used to love eucalyptus....

More photos of this floor are in my main thread located here . Still haven't decided what to do about it. The one contractor who gave me a quote for 2k to remove the old concrete and lay fresh concrete 4 inches deep is being flakey so I'm not sure I'll get (literally) to the bottom of it as soon as I'd like.

I agree. Right now, we have three different contractors, soon four, working on the main house, so I can live with a delay on the garage (and my checkbook is happier) but if I was crunched for time, I'd do what you suggest, for sure.