Lets Take A Look At The Advantages Of Carpet Underlay.

Extends The Life Of Your Carpet – Probably the most important benefit of using an underlay or replacing your underlay when you have a new carpet. A new underlay will minimise wear and tear on your new carpet by acting as a cushion between carpet and subfloor. It will prevent premature flattening of your carpet pile and substatially extend the lifespan of your carpet, saving you money and sending less waste to landfill.
Providing Luxury and Comfort Underfoot – When you walk on a carpet with a new quality underlay fitted you will experience how soft and springy your carpet feels – with a deep and dense quality underlay in lounge or bedroom areas you will never want to wear shoes in the house again, the feeling of luxury under bare feet is just ecstatic.
Excellent Insulation Properties – A quality underlay will prevent heat loss through the subfloor, contributing to energy efficiency, using less fuel to heat your house so is greener and perhaps most importantly saving you money on your heating bill.
Noise Reduction – Underlay absorbs sounds, footfall or room noise , music etc are all minimised. This is especially important in multi storey houses where noise from above or below can be very annoying at times.

Are All Underlays The Same?

No, definately not. Whilst it is very important to use underlay under your new carpet, a cheap inferior product will not give you any of the above benefits, your carpet will wear prematurely, flatten down in walkways quickly, you will lose heat through the floor, hear every sound from above or below you. It makes sense to buy the best underlay you can afford as it will save you money in the long term.

What About ” Free” Underlays – Are they Good Quality?

When carpet retailers advertise ” Free Underlay” they have to obviously cover the cost of the underlay so they will adjust the price of the carpet to make up for the “Free” underlay, so , is it really Free Underlay?, I would say no because no one in business can afford to purchase goods and then give them away for Free.
Also to keep the price of the carpet down they will usually only include poor quality underlays as your Free option whilst sometimes offering an upgrade in underlay quality if you are willing to pay extra for it.
In nearly 40 years trading we haven’t and never will advertise “Free Underlay” as we believe in being completely above board about costs with our customers and fully understand the importance of high quality underlay to the finished appearance of a carpet installation and all the benefits that come afterwards.

Are There Different Types Of Underlay?

There are various types of underlay as listed below:

PU or Polyurethane Foam – Usually made from offcuts of recycled foam – available in different thicknesses and densities – most popular for domestic properties
High density Memory Foam – The best available for comfort and longevity – our most popular recommended underlay.
Checkout the difference memory foam makes to your new carpet installation here.
Sponge Rubber – Popular in years gone by, not so much now due to cost and better materials available.
Crumb Rubber – Generally for comercial jobs – very dense and hard wearing, usually made from recycled car tyres.
Combination Rubber/Felt – Hardwearing, offering both comfort and durability. This underlay is often used whem maximum noise deadening is required.
Underfloor Heating Underlay – when used with underfloor heating the carpet and underlay total tog rating should not be more than 2.5 tog – this underlay is normally around 1 tog allowing 1.5 tog for the carpet, it is manufactured to be best suited for purpose allowing heat to penetrate sucessfully.
Felt underlay – Often used in the past with wool carpet especially wilton and Axminster as it allows perfect bedding in of carpet and underlay.

Which Underlays Do We Recommend?

We can supply all types and qualities of underlay but as a general rule keep stock of PassionStep, an underlay with excellent quality and density, it comes in 9mm and is suitable for anywhere in the home. We also stock Plushwalk 12mm, our luxurious high density option with Memory foam, the ultimate in luxury underlays, you will feel like you are walking on air with this option.