What is the Best Carpet to Buy? Vol#4 Under-pad

"What is the best carpet to buy?" is a question that can not be answered, or at least will not have the same answer for everyone. When I began my career as a carpet salesman I received some great advice from a good friend and mentor Glen Matton of Deacon Flooring in London On. He said "Don't always sell the customer what they want, you should sell them what they need!" Oh??? I said?? "You wouldn't sell a loose looped carpet to a customer with a bunch of cats because the consumer likes that particular carpet, the cats will destroy it in no time!" he said. That was great advice from a great guy, and since then I do my best to sell customers on products that better fit their needs while certainly still respecting their wants. If you are a serious capet consumer do yourself a favor a read my next few blog posts, so that when shopping for a new carpet, you not only purchase what you want in a carpet but also what you need in a carpet.

Over the next little while I will be posting about carpet to hopefully educate you on what is the best carpet to buy FOR YOU! 

Vol#4 Under-pad 

Carpet underpad is very important feature to know about when purchasing a new carpet. Many homeowners and carpet customers seem to think that the thicker the underpad the better the underpad and this is certainly not the case, not the case at all! Remember carpet underpad does much more than provide a cushion for you to walk on. A good underpad will actually keep your carpet from wearing out too fast and save you money in the long run! A good pad is firm keeping the carpet from compressing down, the firmer the pad the longer your carpet will last making you a much happier customer.

The Carpet Cushion Council have set a standard for residential carpet underpad at 3/8" thick and 5ib weight. This is most certainly not good enough pad, in fact I won't even sell it! At Owen Flooring we recommend a 3/8" firm 8ib chip foam underpad with a vapour barrier. Why? I am glad you asked! 3/8" is the thickness of the tack strip that is installed all the way around the pad therefor making a nice level carpet appearance all the way around your room. If I were to use a thicker pad the carpet would dip down when it meets the tack strip. The reason we use an 8ib firm pad is that I feel an 8ib pad is heavy enough to withstand the abuse that an average family will give it. Why a vapour barrier? The vapour barrier goes in between the carpet and the pad, this prevents spills and dirt from leaking through the carpet and into the pad, it keeps the spill on the pad for an easy clean up, rather than the spill leaking into the pad and being in there forever.

There are plenty of types of under-pad available, and stores have been trying to upsell them for years and years, however know that a 8ib 3/8" firm pad with a vapour barrier will work great in your home for years to come regardless of the Carpet Style, the Carpet Fiber, or the Carpet Twist. In my opinion a 3/8" 8ib firm pad is the best pad dollar for dollar available on the market today. If I were going to try to upgrade, I certainly would not go thicker or softer, I would still choose 3/8" but perhaps a bit heavier of a pad or even a rubber pad with a heavy heavy weight to it.

Do yourself a favour ask your salesman about the under-pad, be sure it is a 3/8" firm pad with an 8ib weight, or something very close to these numbers, because if you get too thin or too thick of a pad it will affect your carpet appearance and if you get to light of weight, it will affect the longevity of your carpet.