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Underlay Guide
Why buy new underlay?
- Provide luxury and comfort
- Protect & prolong the life of your new carpet
- Help your carpet to look better for longer
- Provide excellent sound and heat insulation
It is very important to consider what underlay you will fit with your new carpet. You will spend time, and money selecting your new carpet so it makes sense to protect it with a good quality carpet underlay. Your underlay provides your carpet with essential support underfoot and so we recommend that you always buy the best underlay that your budget will allow.
Some carpets are manufactured with a built-in underlay, commonly using either a rubber, gel or felt backing, but most carpets are hard backed and it is vital that they are fitted with a good carpet underlay.
Underlay acts as a "shock absorber" between your new carpet and the floor. Floors themselves have no "give" or resilience, so when you walk on a carpeted floor with no underlay all the pressure is absorbed by the carpet, rapidly accelerating its wear from both on top and below.
Underlays are used to take all the pressure, "cushioning" the wear and protecting the carpet.
This "cushioning" effect has the added benefit of giving extra comfort to your carpet, giving it a really luxurious feel underfoot. An underlay also provides good heat insulation and is excellent at absorbing noise.
A top quality underlay such as Cloud 9 will make even the least expensive carpet feel luxurious and will make heavier quality carpets feel spectacular!
Do I need new underlay?
Franks always recommend that a new carpet is fitted with a new underlay to give the maximum support and comfort. In order to have a guarantee with new carpets most manufactures require that you fit a new underlay. It may however be possible to use an existing underlay if it has not been down for very long, and if it was a good quality in the first place. This is more likely to be possible in an area of lighter use and could save you money, however you may be giving up your wear guarantee on your new carpet buy choosing not to buy a new underlay.
When checking an old underlay it is important to look at it in an area that was getting wear. Often people check their old underlay by lifting a corner of their carpet and usually the underlay will look fine. However, the corners of rooms do not get a significant amount of use. Your underlay will first loose its resilience in areas of the high use such as doorways or around beds for example, which is where you need support the most! It is therefore often a false economy to place a new carpet on an old underlay.
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