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It's essential that you include carpet padding in the cost of laying carpet.
The padding greatly increases the life of the carpet and also helps to decrease the appearance of stains and wear and tear.
Without proper padding, the carpet is likely to quickly break down because of insufficient support to the carpet fibers.
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Selecting Carpet Padding
Just as there are a variety of different carpet styles such as berber carpet available for different needs of homeowners, there are also different types of carpet padding available. Padding for your carpet will vary depending on the amount of traffic you plan to have in your home, whether or not you have pets and children that may make messes often, and how long you plan on having the carpet in your home.
Keep in mind that you will likely be offered a cheaper carpet pad along with the sale of your carpet, and often this padding is not the best quality. Although it may save you some money upfront, it may end up costing you more in the long run, as you may have to replace your carpet and the padding sooner than you would with a high-quality pad.
There are ranges of thickness in carpet pads. This is an important consideration, and doesn't depend as much on the traffic in a particular room as it does the overall feel of the carpet and pad layered together. A room with too thick padding may even feel uneven when you walk on it, while one with too little padding may feel like you are hitting the concrete or wood beneath the floor. Be sure to take a square of padding and your selected carpet home from the carpet store to try it out before you select it.
There are also a variety of different types of carpet padding available. Here are the most common types and reasons to consider them for your home:
Felt Carpet Pad
This type of carpet padding is made by needling together various materials. It can be a combination of hair and fibers and can have a rubber or latex coating, which keeps it from stretching out and getting out of shape. Homeowners choose felt because it has a long life and wears well. Reasons to stay away from felt include allergies, especially if the felt is made with hair, allowing mildew to collect on concrete surfaces, and stretching out of shape if it does not have a rubber or latex coating.
Urethane Carpet Pad
There are two types of urethane padding: Prime, Densified Prime and Bonded Urethane Padding. The prime and densified prime padding are manufactured with polymeric materials. This allows it to be flame resistant, non-allergenic, heat resistant, and not easily affected by dampness. The bonded urethane padding is simply urethane pieces bonded together with a gluing agent. Often this type of urethane is used in basements, as it is resistant to mildew on concrete, and is also flame and heat resistant.
Rubber Carpet Padding
Both foam rubber and sponge rubber are used for carpet padding. The difference between the two is that foam rubber is made of a latex rubber base that is glued to the back of the carpet, while the sponge rubber consists of a mixture of synthetic and natural materials and glued together. Because of being glued to the back of the carpet, the foam rubber is usually less durable and less dense than a sponge rubber. Both are typically non-allergenic and mildew proof, but the sponge rubber can be sensitive to heat, harsh cleaning chemicals, and can sometimes hold moisture.
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