Carpet padding is one of the most important things you can do for yourself and your carpet. Carpet padding provides extensive benefits, including safety and comfort. Understanding the types of carpet padding available, and their uses will insure the beauty and longest life for your area rug or carpet.
Carpet Padding Keeps Rugs From Sliding
We all want to insure that our home is safe for our families. Carpet padding will decrease falls by children taking their first steps, and seniors with aging bones. Double-sided carpet tape added to a pad can decrease the chances of tripping on a carpet. This is especially important if you are layering one carpet over another, like the current style of layering an antique or antique look carpet over a carpet made of jute or another natural textured carpeting.
Padding Acts as Barrier
Minor spills will be trapped within the layers of a carpet pad, decreasing the chance of liquids reaching a new hardwood floor, but pads also act as a dirt barrier. The little bits of grit that find their way onto our shoes can cut deeply into a floor, be it wood, vinyl, or tile. Padding traps that dirt.
Extending the Life of a Carpet
Air flows under a carpet pad allowing it to breath, while protecting it from the abrasions of every day wear. Pads also provide noise reduction, insulation, and cushion comfort.
Carpet Padding Types
There are two types of carpet padding, standard and premium. Standard padding primarily keeps carpets from moving. Premium padding provides the fluid absorption, comfort, insulation, and sound reduction.
Area rugs are most often used with standard padding, while wall-to-wall carpet requires a premium pad. The thicker the pad, the more comfort and protection it provides.
How to Choose a Carpet Pad
According to the Carpet and Rug Institute, a general rule of thumb for most residential carpet applications is to choose cushion no more than 7/16-inch-thick and no less than 1/4 inch with 6 pounds per cubic feet density. If the carpet is a Berber or a low-profile carpet, choose a cushion no more than 3/8-inch-thick with 8 pounds density. The type and thickness you need depends on the amount of traffic your carpet will receive. The wrong pad will cause a carpet to wrinkle, buckle, and even allow seams to separate.
How Long Padded Carpet Lasts
Read our post about the life of a carpet to find out how you can insure your carpet remains beautiful and lives a long life. Leave us a comment below if you have any questions!
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