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Carpet runners are used in the home for a variety of different reasons.
They are commonly used in hallways of homes that have hardwood floors in order to prevent the hardwood flooring from scratching since hallways are often high traffic areas.
You will also commonly find stair carpet runners, which are used to protect the most heavily trafficked area of a set of stairs.
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Choosing a Carpet Runner for Your Home
You can also use runners in nearly any other area of the home that has a long and narrow space. It's not common to see this type of rug laid overtop of carpet, but if there is a high traffic area of carpet that you do not want easily trampled on, you may also consider this option. They can be laid next to a bed in a bedroom with hardwood floors to prevent slipping when getting out of bed in the morning. You may also consider them in a narrow kitchen space with slippery linoleum flooring or ceramic tile.
Typically, a carpet runner will range in width from 2-3 feet, but can be anywhere from 8 feet long to upwards of 20-30 feet long. This gives them a unique rectangular shape. Usually as a runner gets a bit longer it will also include a bit more width, but it is fairly uncommon to see a house carpet runner that is much more than 3 feet in width.
Since carpet runners are made with high traffic areas in mind, they are usually made extremely durable and can handle a great deal of wear and tear. Many runners are now made with a built in skid padding that allows it to stick to hardwood or kitchen flooring to keep it from sliding out of place. There are some runners, especially those made of jute and bamboo that will not allow for a skid padding on the bottom. For these materials, a separate rug pad will need to be purchased that goes underneath to keep people from slipping when stepping on the rug.
There are a variety of colors and materials available in carpet runners. In many cases you can purchase a runner that has the identical pattern to an area room in a nearby room. This will help to keep continuity throughout your home. But remember that if your hallway wall color does not match that of the room with a large area rug, you will likely want to stay away from matching rugs. It's best to stick with something that matches in that particular hallway or on your staircase.
If you have decided to install stair carpet runners, it would be best to have them professionally installed and to have them adhered to the flooring. Since rugs can move out of place, even with a built in pad or rug padding placed on the bottom, on a place that could be slippery like the staircase it's best to take all precautions to insure this won't happen.
Carpet runners are usually available for purchase at basic linen or home interior stores, but are often available at home improvement or carpet stores.
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