Area Rug Pads: Why You Need One and What Size to Get

Authors: Carly Daniele and Maranda Jo Shinn

So, you have already spent your hard-earned money on an area rug, and it may be hard to stomach shelling out even more cash for a rug pad to go underneath that you won't even see. However, while it may initially feel wasteful, rug pads are a great tool to help prolong your rug’s life.

With the hustle and bustle of everyday life, you may be wondering, are rug pads necessary and are they even worth it? The simple answer to that is yes. Rug pads are guaranteed to safely keep your floor and rug looking new for eons. Read on to explore the ins and outs of a rug pad and why you need one!

Table of Contents

1. What’s a Rug Pad?

2. Rug Pad Benefits

3. How to Size a Rug Pad

4. Our Offerings and What to Look For

What is a Rug Pad

A rug pad acts as a buffer between your area rug, and your floor. Basically, it is almost like a type of double sided tape (minus the icky residue) that will provide a thick foundation for your rug to lay on. So what are the benefits of this? It will reduce wear on your floor and rug, prevent holes from forming, as well as prevent fraying around the edges.

Rug pads will stop dirt and grime from getting trapped under your rug (ew!), and will stop dents from heavy foot traffic and heavy furniture legs (BigFoot, be gone!). Clearly, a rug pad is a wonderful investment for your home. It will not only save you money in the long run, but it will keep both your rug and floor looking spick and span without the constant upkeep.

Stil curious about what rug pads have to offer? Continue reading to explore all the lesser-known benefits of an area rug pad.

Rug Pad Benefits

Rug pads protect your floor

• Most area rugs these days are machine-made and have a very rough plastic backing. Over time, the rough backing of your rug can etch millions of tiny scratches on your floor and can change the texture and even the color of your hardwoods. Rug pads help create a smooth barrier between the rough area rug backing and your hardwood floors.
• In the warm and humid summer months, moisture from the air can build-up under your area rug. Without a breathable layer, the moisture can start to discolor your floors.
• If you have pets or small children that are prone to having accidents in your home, a rug pad serves as an extra layer of protection between your area rug and your floor.

Rug pads protect your rug

• Rug pads protect your rug from everyday use because it lightens the load of impact on the rug. Area rug pads are designed to compress and bounce back, this helps take the pressure off the actual area rug and its fibers. This allows for the rug pad to endure a majority of the wear and tear from daily use, leaving your area rug unscathed.
• Rug pads also reduce the impact that heavy furniture can have on an area rug by absorbing the weight and firming the base. Heavy furniture can cause indentations in the rug where the furniture feet have been placed. It can also create wrinkling and bunching around the feet if the rug is placed on carpeting.

Rug pads protect you

• A rug pad is a great idea for safety reasons. Not only does the pad keep the area rug in place to prevent slipping, it also keeps the corners of the rug that you typically walk on from kicking up and curling. Once a rug begins to curl on the corners, it's very difficult to get it to rest back down again. Curling corners are an eye-sore and can also be a potential tripping hazard.
• Rug pads are especially important if you have area rugs that are layered or if you have an area rug on top of carpeting. As these arrangements are on uneven flooring, the odds that someone slips on your area rug can increase.

On top of all of the above reasons, rug pads:

• Help with noise reduction- Rug pads will provide an extra layer to absorb ambient noise.
• Make vacuuming easier; your rug won’t slip underneath the force of the vacuum moving back and forth.
• Provide an extra layer of warmth and comfort to your tired feet.

Sizing Your Rug Pad

Rug pads, just like area rugs, come in standard sizes and should be purchased to fit the rug size that you own.

To fit the area rug that corresponds to the pad size, the pad is always a few inches smaller than the area rug so you don't have to trim the pad at all. For example, if you have purchased an 8’x10’ area rug, you would also purchase an 8’x10’ rug pad. As sellers know what a rug pad is used for and where it is placed, the pad will already come a few inches smaller than your area rug.

If you have a custom-sized rug or are using a pad remnant that you have leftover and need to cut the pad yourself, our recommendation is to cut the pad a couple of inches smaller than the rug all around, with high quality scissors. A good rule of thumb is to cut your rug pad to be around 1 to 2 inches smaller than your area rug. Your rug pad should never be the exact size of the rug because you want the edges of your area rug to rest directly on the floor.

Our Offerings and What to Look For

All of our offerings come with one benefit that many other rug companies don’t have: Latex Free rug pads. This guarantees that it is safe for you, your family, and even your furry friends at home. What happens when you use a latex rug pad?

Latex is not a great fiber to begin with, as many people have sensitivities to it. However, there is much more to the horrors behind the scenes that you might not even know about; it will disintegrate, which will discolor and stick, causing damage to the flooring underneath the rug. This being said, our rug pads are a quality investment, and you should definitely think about this before purchasing a cheaper one.

Check out some of our rug pads below:

Platinum Rug Pad (Best for area rugs placed on carpeting)

Gold Rug Pad (Best for hard surfaces)