Rug pads work as savers for both providing comfort and enhancing the durability of your rugs or carpets Installation. It protects the fibers of your rugs and prevents considerable damage from happening to your floors.
However, how much should a rug overlap the pad could be a question coming to your mind while you’re wondering how to cut the padding. One general answer is that your rug should overlap the pad nearly an inch from all sides.
Why Should a Rug Pad be Smaller Than the Rug?
A rug pad should be one inch less than the rug for the following reasons:
- The most basic and ultimate reasoning for this rule is that the rug pad gets concealed perfectly and is not visible from any side or angle. If the pad is equal to the size of the rug, it may be visible from any angle for any reason. This will not have a good impact.
- Because of the gap between the rug pad and rug, airflow can be easy, preventing moisture. This results in the prevention of fungus and mold. It’ll maintain the overall look of your rug and increase its lifespan.
- It also saves from tripping and falling. When a rug pad is smaller than the actual rug, it makes a sliding surface and not a slightly raised surface with a danger of tripping or falling.
- Because of the difference in rug pad and rug’s size, it’s easy to clean it because it will have a minor gap under it due to which a space will be created to clean any sort of dust or any unpleasant thing from the sides.
Ensure that the one-inch decrease in size is done to all sides of the rug pad so the resultant finish looks uniform and presentable.
How to Adjust the Rug Pad Under the Rug?
The best way to cut a rug pad if it is larger than the rug is as follows:
- Mark the Location to Place Your Rug
To measure and mark the location of your rug on the floor. You need to use sticky or washi tape. It’ll ensure the space where your rug and rug pad will be placed. Remove the furniture if furniture or any other object is coming in the way.
- Cut the Rug by Locating the Stitching On Its Edges
Now, use your rug’s stitching as a guide to cut the required area of the rug vertically and horizontally. This will Use fabric-cutting scissors to trim according to your measurements. Make sure to cut the rug and rug pad equally, and don’t make any mistakes.
- Fold back the Rug And Cut an Inch From the Rug Pad
After cutting the rug according to your required measurements, fold back your rug and cut an extra inch or two from your padding. This will ensure smooth and accurate cutting of the padding.
P.S. Don’t forget to vacuum your rug post having its final placement, so no air bubbles are left.
Planning to Install Carpet?
Benefits of Using a Rug Pad
There are various benefits of using a padding. The following are some of the most important advantages of using padding:
Using a rug pad effectively increases the lifespan of your rugs.
Damage Prevention: The rug fibers can get damaged and wear and tear due to excessive rubbing against the floor. The placement of a rug pad efficiently prevents all the defiling.
Floor Protection: Rug pads work regarding the safety sustenance of floors, keeping all the scratching, marking, scuffing, staining, and denting away. This way, they ultimately increase the functioning, durability and beauty of the floors.
Comfort Enhancement: The placement of rug pads significantly enhances the cushioning and padding, making the rugs much more comfortable underfoot. Besides walking, they also make sitting and lying much more cozy on the floor and the floor-based seating setups.
Additional Layering: Adding rug pads is the smartest fix for those relatively thin rugs, preventing them from feeling harsh when stepped on. In this way, the discomfort of the floors also gets effectively reduced.
What to Consider While Choosing a Rug Pad
Take the following factors into consideration on how to choose the right rug pad for your rugs:
- Dimensions
While choosing a rug pad for your rug at home, office, or any other space, you must consider dimensions. Whatever the size or shape of your rug, you should consider the dimensions for your padding to fit under it to ensure how much should a rug overlap the pad. If you don’t know what size you need for your padding, buying a pad that’s a few inches larger than your rug is best. You can cut it afterward with scissors at home.
- Thickness
The thickness of your rug pad is crucial because it ensures that your rug is stable and comfortable underfoot, and it also impacts the lifespan of your rug. Always go for the normal thickness because thicker paddings can make your rug unstable and cause tripping.
- Type of Flooring
If your flooring is like hardwood or linoleum, a smooth surface. You need to consider a rug pad that grips. You can find paddings with textured rubber backings for extra traction in the market easily. It’s good to have a balanced, thick padding to prevent the rug from wearing.
The Best and Most Sustainable Rug Pad Materials
You must be considerate in choosing a suitable rug pad for your carpets and rugs because that’s the point where you can and cannot lay the foundation of everlasting comfort for yourself.
Some of the most commonly used and highly recommended padding materials are:
- Natural Rubber
- Synthetic Felt
- PVC
- Memory Foam
- Rubber Mesh
- Certain Recycled Materials
Besides, if you prefer a more detailed construction, you can choose the manufacturers that offer material customization, when shopping for some standard good rug pads for your place.
Right Rug Pad Size and Thickness for Area Rugs
Choosing the right rug pad size for area rugs is important. The following are some of the mainstream and most common padding sizes with rugs:
| Rug Sizes | Rud Pad Sizes | Thickness |
| 4′ X 6′ | 3’10” x 5’10” | up to 1/8 |
| 5′ X 8′ | 4’10” x 7’10” | up to 1/4″ |
| 6′ X 9′ | 5’10” x 8’10” | 1/3″ |
| 8′ X 10′ | 7’10” x 9’10” | 7/16″ |
| 9′ X 12′ | 8’10” x 11’10” | 1/2″ |
| 10′ X 14′ | 9’10” x 13’10” | 1/2″ |
| 12′ X 15′ | 11’10” x 14’10” | 1/2″ |
Conclusion
To make sure how much a rug should overlap the pad, you need to consider dimension, thickness, and flooring type for your rug pad. Your rug should be larger, about an inch from the pad, for a nice look and to prevent issues. This helps hide the pad, makes it easy to maintain, stops tripping, and keeps air flowing to prevent fungus and mold. When adjusting the pad under the rug, be careful with measurements for a neat finish. Use natural rubber or memory foam for better comfort and durability. Match the pad size and thickness with your rug size for the best results. This pro flooring guide emphasizes the importance of meticulous measurements for a seamless and aesthetically pleasing outcome.
FAQs
What’s the point of using a rug pad?
A padding is a perfect protective element for both the rug and the floor in contact. Additionally, it ensures the best padding and comfort provision. Using a padding ensures the most damage-proof working of your rugs for longer periods.
Do household scissors work fine for cutting rug pads?
Household scissors are generally okay to cut your paddings with. Moreover, they are quite handy, and you don’t often need to spend on them. However, if you’re not confident about cutting your paddings correctly, you can consider professional help.
How to place a rug pad?
Carpet or paddings usually are softer from one side and are rubberized from the other side. When placing the pad, be careful about placing the softer side on the floor and the rubber side facing upwards where you’ll put the rug or carpet.
Which is the most secure rug pad?
Most non-slip and non-sliding paddings are made from Silicone Caulk, Felt, or Natural Rubber. Moreover, you can also go for the recycled versions of these materials to ensure the most secure and cushioned paddingding. Contour Lock is another great padding option for tile floors.
Do I need seaming tape with the rug pad?
Seaming tape is a kind of fabric tape which besides providing adhesion, also works for preventing the penetration of moisture and humidity. This way, it works as a protective medium, too. Besides an alternative, you can also use heavy duct tape.
Which is the safest rug pad choice for hardwood floors?
Rubber paddings work the finest not just for hardwood floors but also for other flooring types. These paddings feature the most excellent gripping abilities and are highly resilient and durable in their work. Plus, rubber paddings also work fine for all sorts of floor finishes.
Leave a Reply