While choosing a thin carpet padding or deciding not to get one at all may seem like a good way to save some money, it might actually end up costing you more down the road. Carpet padding isn’t there just to make the flooring a little more comfortable. It actually serves several important purposes. Let’s take a look:
Carpet protection: Carpet padding keeps your carpet from rubbing on the bare subfloor. This protects it from wearing out too quickly by absorbing the impact from footsteps and furniture. A carpet without padding will lose 19% of its pile height versus only 5-10% if it has padding.
Comfort: While a carpet may be soft and slightly fluffy, the padding underneath is what makes it squishy and more comfortable to walk on. You can feel the difference between between an old carpet and newer carpet. With the newer carpet, you’ll sink into the floor just a bit. The padding is what gives you that spongy feel.
Insulation: The padding creates an extra layer on top of the subfloor sealing it off from the rest of the home. This will lock in heat during those colder seasons, which is one of the main benefits of carpet — warm flooring during colder weather. Carpet alone will not do this as carpet is a porous material allowing heat to pass through.
Soundproofing: Another large benefit of carpet is its ability to dampen sound, which is especially useful in upper level rooms. Without the padding, carpet does not do nearly as good a job of lessening the sound of footfalls. Carpet padding is what absorbs the impact and thus its sound.
You don’t have to get the thickest type of carpet padding, but adding the protective layer beneath your carpet will help it last longer as well as increase the benefits you were looking to get out of your carpet.
