Rugs, Carpets and Carpeting - Tesserae Carpet Tile

I am planning on putting some Tesserae carpet tile down in my den. Is there any special way to prepare my floor for installation? Obviously I will pull up the old capet and pad (staples and nail strips). The current surface under the carpet is OSB. I didn't know if I needed to put a cleaner/less coarse surface over the OSB so that the panels would have a clean flat surface to stick to. If not, what is the best way to clean OSB that was probably never cleaned before the builders put the carpet down :(

Thanks all

I normally hit it with my floor sander, sweep it with the push broom, then go over the whole thing with the fox tail. Unless you've got something really nasty on the floor such as huge pet stains or something like that, you should be good. I don't much like going over OSB, but I would think you'll be OK since you're using carpet tiles. I'm not familiar with the particular brand you're talking about, but, if they're good quality, you should be good.

Obviously I won't know what it looks like until I pull the carpet up. I would prefer not sand too much since I don't have a floor sander and would like to aviod the potential dust mess. Would it be safe to put down 1/4in sheets of particle board over the OSB?

You can install 1/4" plywood over OSB.

I'd stay away from particle board. In most instances, I recommend an approved underlayment material. But, with carpet tiles, plywood will work fine, although most likely will be unnecessary. As long as the existing floor is found to be in good shape, you should be able to just give it a good clean and go for it. I've used three different methods to install carpet tiles, all of which have worked fine. The first, with well constructed material, is to use no adhesive at all, just dry lay them. The second is to draw lines in one direction where the tile joints will be and then use a paint roller to spread glue along every other line. This provides glue on at least one side of each tile to help hold them in place. The third is to full spread glue the entire floor. The glue used is pressure sensitive adhesive and it never dries out. This allows the end user to replace any tiles needed at some later date and the old tiles are easy to remove and the new ones will still adhere. You spread the glue and then go have breakfast to allow it to dry. The glue will be properly set up when no glue transfers to your fingers when touching it.