Carpet Padding for Comfort and Durability

No carpet purchase is complete without padding! Believe it or not, most of the soft, comfortable feeling of walking on carpet comes from the pad underneath, not the carpet itself. And while it’s tempting to pick the softest pad (or the cheapest), there’s a little more to it than that.

The main purpose of carpet padding (also sometimes called an underlay) is to support and protect the carpet, as well as making a comfortable surface for you to walk on. But there is such a thing as padding that’s too comfortable. If the pad is too soft, the carpet will shift and fold on top of it when it’s stepped on. As we like to say, the most expensive pad you can buy is a cheap pad that wears out your carpet faster than it needs to.

Feeling the pad with your hands might not give you the best sense of what you need, either. Remember, you’re putting quite a lot of pressure on your carpet when you walk — your entire body weight is balanced on your heel, which is only a couple of inches across! At Sloane’s, we’ll make sure you leave our warehouse showroom with not just the carpet of your dreams, but the right padding to complement it.

Carpet padding can also help you with sound and heat insulation. Anyone who’s lived in a two-story home knows how hard it is to keep the top floor and the bottom floor the same temperature, since hot air rises. Carpet padding can help stabilize the temperature by stabilizing heat flow. And as an added bonus, it dampens sound. People in bedrooms upstairs won’t be disturbed by people watching TV downstairs, and vice versa.

Carpet Padding at Sloane’s

Sloane’s Carpet Secret carries six types of carpet pad to match any carpet, any home, and any lifestyle. They roughly break down into two categories — “economy” and “premium” — so we’ll make sure to find the right pad for your needs.

What Makes Carpet Padding Different?

There’s more to carpet padding than just the thickness. Some of the factors that affect price and performance are:

• Traffic — will your carpet see a lot of foot traffic or moving furniture, like an office chair?
• Moisture Protection — is your carpet pad waterproof to protect the subfloor? Or is waterproofing coming from a separate layer?
• Touch/Feel — how thick is the carpet pad? How soft is it? Does it sink quickly when you step on it, or does it rebound slowly like memory foam?
• Material — some carpets are made of recycled foam or natural materials like wool and plant fibers, while others are made of premium synthetic foam.
• Eco-friendliness — is your carpet pad recycled? Is it recyclable when it wears out? Is it LEED certified?
• Other considerations — how much heat insulation does your carpet pad provide (its R-value)? How much sound insulation? Is it hypoallergenic, for people who are sensitive to certain materials?

Economy Carpet Pads

If you’re on a tight budget, or you’re carpeting a room where luxury isn’t your top priority — a playroom, walk-in-closet, or finished basement, for example — then you’ll want to consider our Dawn or Active carpet pads.

These pads are perfect for homeowners looking to save a few bucks. Starting at only $0.30 to $0.45 per square foot, they’re perfect for mid-range foot traffic. These pads don’t come with a moisture barrier, which makes them cost effective, but it means you’ll have to look elsewhere to protect your subfloor in the event of spills.

Premium Carpet Pads

For the areas of your house that are going to be front and center — hallways, living rooms, and master bedrooms — you’ll want a more premium pad for maximum comfort, protection, and traffic.

All of these pads are designed for heavy foot and furniture traffic and include moisture barriers that prevent spills from soaking through while simultaneously allowing dampness to evaporate away. All of them are certified as Green Label Plus — the highest level of CRI certification when it comes to internal air quality. Best of all, all of these premium carpet pads are made of 100 percent recyclable products, which means they’ve all received LEED building credits.

The Apollo carpet pad is the most cost-effective of our premium padding options, perfect if you need to carpet an especially large area. Apollo is a 1/2 inch, seven pound pad made from recycled furn. We don’t recommend pairing a furn pad with wool — it can cause “pillowing” in the carpet. But for other carpets, it’s a great option!

The Imperial is what we like to call the Cadillac of carpet pads. It has a double moisture pad on the top and bottom for maximum spill protection. It’s made of solid-core, zero cell gauge foam, simultaneously cushy and protective underfoot. It also comes with 3M Scotchgard coating, making it resistant to staining. It’s hypoallergenic and antimicrobial, so it won’t grow mold spores if it gets wet.

Memtouch padding is an extremely luxurious, soft pad. Half an inch thick and made of urethane-infused, 8-lb memory foam, this superfine foam padding is hypoallergenic, antimicrobial, and comfortable underfoot.

Savoy padding is a 3/8 inch eight pound pad, also made from recycled furn. But because it is a thinner, more dense carpet pad, you can use it under wool carpeting. Savoy is fantastic on stairs and strongly recommended for low-cut cut-loop carpets or loop Berbers.

Sloane’s is Here to Help

We know this can all be very confusing — after all, you’re not carpet experts. But that’s ok, because we are! Our team knows carpets and carpet pads, and how they work together, better than anyone in the industry.

Make an appointment to come visit us at our warehouse showroom! We’ll talk to you about your home, your family, your lifestyle, and your personal preferences to determine exactly which carpet and carpet pads will meet your needs the best. Give us a call!