Carpet Underlay

It’s common for customers to wonder what type of underlay is best for carpet. However, the best carpet underlay depends on different factors.

For example, the best underlay for bedroom carpet may not be the same as the best underlay for carpets on stairs. Similarly, a carpet underlay may not be suitable in a room with underfloor heating – or with laminate flooring, as you’ll need laminate underlay instead.

To determine the right carpet underlay for your installation, you’ll need to consider the:

• Room type and intended use
• Subfloor type and condition
• Flooring type and thickness
• Thermal insulation or noise reduction concerns
• Underfloor heating system (if applicable)
• Cost of carpet underlay per square metre

Looking for an underlay that’s compatible with your intended installation, usage, and materials will ensure that your flooring delivers comfort and longevity.

For more information to help you decide which carpet underlay is best for your home or workspace, read our guide on how to choose the right carpet underlay, or contact us for advice from the Simply Underlay team.

We’re happy to offer expert guidance and help you buy underlay online!

The best quality underlay for carpet also depends on the material, as different materials come with different benefits. Crumb rubber, which is often made from recycled materials like car tyres, is very dense and hardwearing, while PU foam is usually lightweight and less dense, offering extra comfort underfoot.

However, some variations strike an effective balance in between – for example, sponge rubber underlay is springy enough to provide extra comfort underfoot, while high-density PU foam underlay can provide excellent thermal insulation, softness, and durability.

We would recommend using crumb rubber to protect carpets from heavy furniture or foot traffic, such as entrances and stairways, while sponge rubber can make high-traffic areas like lounges and landings (or those with concrete subfloors) more comfortable to walk on.

In more laidback spaces for relaxation, such as bedrooms and living rooms, PU foam underlay with a higher TOG rating can create a sense of luxury, improving underfoot comfort and thermal and acoustic insulation properties at the same time.

When researching carpet underlay and planning its installation, ‘How much does carpet underlay cost?’ is one of the most important considerations.

For each of our products, the carpet underlay price is listed per square metre (m²) – which depends on the design, materials, and properties of the underlay. This allows you to easily work out how much it would cost to cover the area with new underlay. 

First, take your measurements and multiply the length of the space by the width in metres to find the area in square metres. Then multiply this by the cost of your chosen carpet underlay per square metre to calculate the minimum you would need to spend for full coverage.

Depending on how much a specific underlay roll costs, selecting the right one for your budget may involve compromising on the thickness, density, thermal insulation, or sound reduction rating – or choosing a different brand if the cost of underlay for your carpet is too high.

This doesn’t mean you can’t get good underlay for carpets on a lower budget, though. It’s still possible to get reliable carpet padding for low prices!

At Simply Underlay, we’re proud to supply quality products at competitive prices, which is why we’ve shared a guide to the best cheap carpet underlay options on our website to help you get the most value for your money.

Thicker underlays make a noticeable difference, as they provide excellent cushioning that makes carpets feel softer underfoot. Generally speaking, the thicker the underlay and the higher the TOG rating, the better the heat insulation and sound insulation it can offer, too.

This means that a thick carpet underlay not only offers excellent comfort, but can also make your home warmer and help you lower energy bills by reducing heat loss. As an effective shock absorber, thick underlay is also great for minimising carpet wear and reducing noise from footsteps and voices.

While a 6mm underlay may be necessary for some installation types, the recommended underlay thickness for residential carpets is 8mm to 12mm. At the top end of this range, Wilsons Plushwalk 12mm Underlay is one of our thickest and best-selling products!

Our carpet underlay thickness guide explains everything you need to know about the best underlay thickness for different installations. This covers factors such as door clearance, subfloors, and underfloor heating systems (which require thinner underlay with a lower TOG rating below 2.5 to let the warmth through).

As always, if you have any further questions about premium underlay for carpet or laminate flooring, feel free to talk to our team!

Staircases and steps are high-traffic areas in any home or building, connecting different spaces. To ensure there are no trip hazards and keep these spaces safe and comfortable, it’s essential to choose the right underlay for stairs.

While you would probably prefer a thick underlay for a plush feeling in other rooms, carpet underlay for stairs should be thinner and firmer. This is because thick underlay can increase the risk of tripping, as heavy foot traffic will compress the underlay unevenly and make the carpet lumpy. 

To avoid this, you should choose a thin, dense carpet underlay that’s designed for use on stairs. This will ensure that it’s hardwearing enough to bounce back under regular footfall, so your carpet still looks and feels good.

For the best results on stairs, we would recommend a PU foam or rubber underlay with a 6–10mm thickness and a density rating of at least 100 kg/m³. 

For specific product recommendations, read our guide to the best carpet underlay for stairs, or send us an email and our team will be in touch!

How long underlay lasts depends on the type of underlay and how much traffic it has to withstand, but a good underlay should last for many years.

If you’re replacing old flooring, you might think you can just leave the existing underlay in place and lay your new flooring on top. However, this is a bad idea – if the quality of the flooring has degraded over time from wear and tear, so has the quality of the old underlay.

This means that if you use the same underlay, which may not even be compatible with your new flooring type, it won’t be as effective at retaining warmth and reducing noise. With less support, the new flooring will also be less comfortable underfoot and will wear down faster.

Carpets without underlay or with worn-out underlay have shorter lifespans, while investing in high-quality new underlay will improve its performance by absorbing impacts, preserving the carpet pile, protecting against moisture damage, and making it easier to keep the fibres clean and fluffy.

After you install your new underlay and flooring, you can expect to reap the benefits of the underlay for the same amount of time as the flooring.

The manufacturer’s guarantee for the lifetime of each product will be listed in the technical specifications, which is typically the lifetime of the carpet that you install it under (when fitted in compliance with the End Use Classification).