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 such as Hallmark
will make even the least expensive carpet feel luxurious and will make heavier
quality carpets feel spectacular! We would advise you to use a top quality
rubber underlay as they are exceptionally resilient, feel fabulous underfoot and
do not retain dust the way that old felt underlays do. Storey Carpet's offers
a range of underlays to suite all domestic locations. The underlays we offer
are top quality rubber, but do be warned of cheap imitations. Often underlays
are made to look like good ones by copying the pattern or colour used. In most
cases they are a much lighter product or, at worse, are made from blown plastic
and fillers, which will flatten out within a short period of time offering no
protection to your carpet. 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 loose
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
Storey Carpets sell waffle underlays; they gain their
name from the pattern on the underside of the underlay,
which creates small air pockets that help to provide
both comfort and insulation.
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