Using old carpet and padding

[Mainegal]

I have all the carpet and padding that I tore out of my bedroom and threw out the window. Can I use it to cover up the weeds, grass to kill them off? Will it do any damage to the dirt? Leak anything into the dirt? It's just sitting outside my basement and I got to thinking today that maybe I could use it to kill the grass out in the new space that I want to expand my garden to before bringing it to the dump. Putting up a deer fence in a few weeks as I want to expand the veggie garden with the prices of everything.

 

[RonsGarden]

I wouldn't use the carpet or the underlay because it was made and treated with chemicals!
I doubt that these chemicals are healthy for the environment!

 

[Mainegal]

Thanks Ron, I will continue using cardboard and leaves, like i have been, will bring more boxes home from work.

 

[rockhound]

I had a few of those carpet samples that are about door mat size a few years ago. I put them down to smother weeds between my raised beds, then moved them every 3-4 weeks. It's amazing how completely all plant life is obliterated underneath in that time. They did a good job of killing weeds but of course got full of dirt after a couple years and also unraveled at the edges which caused a few strings to catch in the weed eater, not good. Now that I know they have formaldehyde etc in them, I might hesitate to use them. Wool carpet would be great- it's biodegradable! The others I threw on the brush pile and burned after a couple years. Heavy cardboard would have blocked out the sun just as well, tho not as moveable once in place.