A
good carpet underlay will: - 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
You will spend a lot of time, trouble 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 and so always buy
the best underlay that your budget will allow..
Some carpets are manufactured with a built-in underlay
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.
When an underlay is used it takes all the pressure,
"cushioning" the wear and protecting the carpet.
This "cushioning" effect also adds an extra
dimension of comfort to your carpet, giving it a really
luxurious feel underfoot. In addition, an underlay provides
good heat insulation and is excellent at absorbing noise.
Always use the best underlay that you can afford. A
top quality underlay will make even the least expensive
carpet feel luxurious and will make heavier quality
carpets feel spectacular! Storey Carpets sell both Rubber
and Foam (polyurethane rebound or 'PU') underlay.
How do I know if I need new underlay?
We always recommend that a new carpet is fitted on
a new underlay to give the maximum support and comfort.
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.
Many 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 lose its resilience
in areas of the high use, which is where you need support
the most! It is therefore often a false economy to place
a new carpet on an old underlay.
A good indication of the state of your underlay can
be gained by testing the amount of "bounce"
in your carpet in an area of heavier wear (such as a
doorway) and then comparing it to an area which is not
used (e.g. under a coffee table or sofa). If you can
feel a difference then it's time to change your underlay!
Fitting
new Underlay When fitting carpets on top of
floorboards, always lay an interliner before fitting the rubber underlay. This
helps stop dust coming through the joints in the boards, and soiling the carpet. To fit the rubber underlay, first unroll a short length of underlay
in a corner of the room, rubber side down, so that the end and the side lie against
the gripper strip. Fix the edge of the underlay
to the floor with a staple gun or with hammer and tacks. On a concrete floor,
use double-sided carpet tape. Roll out the underlay
along the edge of the room, smoothing as you go and fixing along both edges. Make
sure it is perfectly flat on the floor. At the end
of the room trim the underlay against the gripper strip with a trimming knife. Repeat this across the room until it is completely covered. To again prevent dust passing through to the carpet, tape the joints
of the underlay together using carpet tape. Fitting underlays on wooden
floors:
Whenever an underlay is used on wooden floorboards
an interliner should be used between the underlay and
the floor. This protects the underlay but most importantly
helps to prevent "up draft" problems. Drafts
blow between floorboards and up through carpets. The
carpets themselves act as a filter collecting dust and
dirt carried by the air which in turn causes dirty lines
to appear on the carpet. This is also often seen around
the edges or rooms with a gap between the skirting board
and the floorboards.
British Standards state that an interliner should always
be used on wooden floors and Storey Carpets offer an
inexpensive (but high quality) fibreglass product called
Interweave.
Underlay Construction
British Standards state that an interliner should always
be used on wooden floors and Storey Carpets offer an
inexpensive (but high quality) fibreglass product called
Interweave.
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