What is the best…

[CotswoldDoItUpper]

… carpet underlay?!?

 

There seems to be a huge baffling amount of choice, and other then ‘thicker is better’ I can’t find any difference between the options/brands/types out there. 
 

tia!

[Ferdinand]

I would look for ones made from recyled something.

 

And I would look for a 15-20 year lifetime.

 

IME with rentals a very good quality underlay is from perhaps £5 per sqm. That's good enough to avoid trashing your nice carpet in a shorter period than it might last.

 

Just selling one that has been tenanted since 2011 with a decent underlay and reasonable (£6 per sqm)  carpet, and it looks fine.

 

I'm also selling one I had designed for 15 years no maintenance after 4 years of renting out, and it looks as new.

 

And don't forget to use carpet protectors on furniture legs.

 

[markc]

49 minutes ago, CotswoldDoItUpper said:

… carpet underlay?!?

 

There seems to be a huge baffling amount of choice, and other then ‘thicker is better’ I can’t find any difference between the options/brands/types out there. 
 

tia!

Thicker is not necessarily better, great for a bedroom but I had thick underlay in a living/dining room and the furniture ‘floated’ on the carpet. Touch the tv etc and it would rock by depressing the underlay.

talked to a carpet fitter mate who told me it all depends on what you want it to do.

protect the carpet - thin non compressible, Soft underfoot - thick but heavy traffic will cause the carpet to stretch and move.

Edited September 10, 2021 by markc

[CotswoldDoItUpper]

Thanks @Ferdinand I hadn’t considered recycled, that’s going on the list!

 

@markc this is for bedrooms, hopefully not too heavy traffic, tho I could do with losing a few KGs here and there!!

[Ferdinand]

2 minutes ago, CotswoldDoItUpper said:

Thanks @Ferdinand I hadn’t considered recycled, that’s going on the list!

 

@markc this is for bedrooms, hopefully not too heavy traffic, tho I could do with losing a few KGs here and there!!

 

From a Whoopee! comic when  I was about nine, from the "Scared-Stiff Sam" strip:

 

Quote

 

"This machine (points at Madame Guillotine) removes 10 pounds of ugly fat"

 

"How does it do that?"

 

"It cuts your head off."

 

 

[TonyT]

Treadaire dreamwalk for me.

[Lorenz]

I had a bunch of those Aldi-Lidl connecting gym mats, had them for years, I had to turn around a place to live within two weeks from a vandalised first fix and used them as underlay. They worked very well and are still in use 6 years later with no complaints from me or the people who live there now. Eastern Europe, so even carpet was quite rare, never mind underlay...

[SiBee]

No expert here but I have always used rubber crumb underlay.

I Was advised on this many years ago by the old guys fitting out a hotel I was passing through. Its hard to describe but the carpets felt so good underfoot.

its good for sound,heat and heavy objects and is probably made from recycled materials now! Google and compare, I bet it’s cheaper than the branded fashionable stuff that gets pushed fwd?

[SteamyTea]

On 10/09/2021 at 14:27, markc said:

protect the carpet - thin non compressible, Soft underfoot - thick but heavy traffic will cause the carpet to stretch and move.

I got told that by a carpet fitter about 35 years ago.  Had forgotten all about it.