The Backbone of Your Flooring: Exploring the Selection Process for Carpet Underlay
When laying carpet, it’s important to invest in good quality underlay. It’s a vital part of your flooring as it helps to protect the carpet pile from damage, keeps it soft under foot and offers insulation against sound and heat transfer. It’s also a great way to reduce the noise level in your home and help improve the overall feel of your carpeting.
Carpet Underlay can be made from a range of different materials and comes in varying thicknesses and densities. Generally though, it is designed to be laid underneath carpeting and acts as a barrier between the floor surface and the subfloor (usually made from concrete or wood) thereby improving comfort, adding a little extra softness underfoot and helping to reduce the wear on your carpet.
Stairs will require a particularly hard-wearing and resilient underlay
The type of carpet underlay you choose will depend on the room and usage you are going to be carpeting and what type of underfloor base you have. For example, stairs will require a particularly hard-wearing and resilient underlay whilst lounge areas can prioritise comfort and warmth.
Generally speaking, a modern PU foam underlay will be the best choice of Carpet Underlay as it’s light, easy to handle and available in a variety of thicknesses and density. It’s a popular underlay in the USA and is gaining popularity in the UK too. It’s a good option for keeping in the heat, reducing sound levels and is available in a range of prices so it suits all budgets.
Wool Felt underlay is eco-friendly and very hard-wearing
Wool Felt underlay is another good choice as it’s eco-friendly and very hard-wearing. It’s a good fit for wool carpets and offers good comfort and warmth underfoot. It’s a bit slower to lay than other types of underlay, though.
Rubber underlay is also a good fit for wool carpets
Rubber underlay is also a good fit for wool carpets as it’s extremely strong and hard-wearing. It’s mainly made from recycled car tyres and is a good option for high traffic areas such as stairs.
Some underlay’s use clay fillers as a way of lowering the price. However, this will affect the longevity of the underlay and you will need to replace it sooner. It’s a good idea to avoid underlay’s with clay fillers.
Conclusion
Underlay can also be bought separately from the carpet itself, allowing you to change your underlay when you want to re-carpet or redecorate. It’s important not to re-use existing underlay when replacing carpets, however, as this will show up in the new carpet and lead to a poor finish. It can also harbour dirt, dust and other unwanted debris. It’s best to treat underlay as an investment and buy a new set for your home.
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