Browse Forums Flooring & Floor Covering 1 May 16, 2009 1:56 pm Re: Foam or Rubber Underlay? 2May 17, 2009 6:02 pm Internal and External Building and Colour Consultant Online - Worldwide http://www.denovoconcepts.com Re: Foam or Rubber Underlay? 3May 17, 2009 6:04 pm Internal and External Building and Colour Consultant Online - Worldwide http://www.denovoconcepts.com Re: Foam or Rubber Underlay? 9May 24, 2009 8:30 am neorayez Hi I think there is a professional cleaner on this site that could give more advice on steam cleaning as it is not my field. All underlays will eventually flatten out, but i have found it will tend to last longer than the carpet, and by the time flattening occurs you will be looking at changing the carpet again. That would be Ash. he has canceled his membership but still reads the forum. you will see posts from him via Michelle or myself when he just can't resist responding. Re: Foam or Rubber Underlay? 10Jun 13, 2009 9:29 pm neorayez I would tend to disagree that 11mm is too thick, underlay generally must not be thicker than the height of the smoothedge. (the wooden strips fitted around perimeter of room). Do you know the brand of foam underlay they are offering you? Their advice on rubber is a little leading, as all underlays will eventually flatten out over time. Even top grade all hair felt will flatten out. In my dealing with shops, they tend to have a supplier they use, this shop more than likely has a deal with a foam supplier. The bigger companys like carpet call, parrys, or trevors, will almost all stock a range of dunlop bridgestone rubbers and foams. In saying all that i would tend to agree with Ash on using a rubber underlay. Ive noticed companys tend to name their rubbers differently eg prime , platinum, exellay, comfy, etc etc. The easiest way to determine grades of rubber would be colour. Black rubber = the basic grade gold rubber = premium grade grey rubber = top grade There are higher grades, but generally these are the three types i have laid over the years. Good luck!! Hey there Neorayez, Good to have a local carpet installer around! You don't agree 11mm is too thick, but say the underlay must be no thicker then the smoothedge! Strange, since I find smoothedge is no thicker then 7mm. The three grades of rubber underlays you describe don't represent the better Bridgestone underlays. I'd say the black is cheap rubbish, and the Gold is not much better. Clearly, Bridgestone Prime (a pinky terracotta colour) is by far a better quality and performing product. This product will support a carpet throughout its lifetime with little to no flattening. Ash. Re: Foam or Rubber Underlay? 11Jun 14, 2009 3:48 am Hi Ash, No i don't think 11mm is too thick, if you were to use architectural smooth edge, a commercial grade, you would have no prob. Are you an installer?? your knowledge would suggest you were or are Ive been laying carpet for a long time and i can say quiet confidently the three grades of underlay i described are the most common laid in Western Australia. im pretty confident bridgestone prime is being sold as grey/ platinum over here. Anyway feel free to correct me. Re: Foam or Rubber Underlay? 12Jun 14, 2009 2:25 pm neorayez Hi Ash, No i don't think 11mm is too thick, if you were to use architectural smooth edge, a commercial grade, you would have no prob. Are you an installer?? your knowledge would suggest you were or are Ive been laying carpet for a long time and i can say quiet confidently the three grades of underlay i described are the most common laid in Western Australia. im pretty confident bridgestone prime is being sold as grey/ platinum over here. Anyway feel free to correct me. G'day N! Architectura l smoothedge is the ONLY stuff to use! I just checked and it is 7.3mm thick. I believe an underlay is ideal at 7.5mm thick. I see no good reason for underlays that are thicker, and they can create probs if they are both spongey and thick. Most commonly, the carpet can came adrift at edges. I'm sure you are correct in saying those 3 are the most common. But being common doesn't mean they are ideal. Prime is NOT grey/platinum as you say. Prime is a sheet rubber with a pale terracotta colour. It is thinner and more dense than Platinum. No I'm not an installer. I lack the experience and skills it takes to install carpets, although I have done some laying, including some of my own carpets. I have a decent tool kit, as I do carpet repairs, and am developing my skills there. I do some water damage restoration also, where I need to lift and reinstall carpets in some cases, so I do have a sound knowledge of proper laying procedures (even if it is mostly academic). I am a carpet cleaning technician, and later this year expect to be a Registered Carpet Inspector. I have had a lot to do with carpets over about 25 years, and find a lot of carpets that perform poorly because they are not laid well, or they are not maintained correctly. So I like to educate and promote the wonderful qualities that well-chosen, quality carpets can offer. The truth be known N, I could probably learn much more from you, than you from me, so I'm sure we can compliment each other in what we offer the forum! Ash. Re: Foam or Rubber Underlay? 13Jun 15, 2009 5:12 pm Well maybe I got a bit too interested in this thread - since my new carpet is probably another 6 months away - but I actually had a chat with John Roberts (a Bridgestone regional manager from Melbourne) about Airstep Prime today Sure, maybe he's not the most subjective person to be talking to but he did confirm for me that Prime is actually a burnt orange colour ("terracotta?" I asked and he said "yeah"). He said he actually had Supa Blue in his home (price was right i.e. it was free) but if he had to pay for it he said he'd used Prime. He recommended the Wool Set group for Vic & Tas customers (branches everywhere) and they actually use the legit product rather than trying to pass off something else as being Prime. Just an FYI for anyone interested Re: Foam or Rubber Underlay? 14Jun 15, 2009 6:59 pm Hi guys, I know now the type of underlay you mean, prime is actually a commercial grade underlay. What was confusing me was your description. I do a lot of commercial installations where we have to duel bond the carpet. Duel bond is gluing underlay to the slab, and than gluing carpet to the underlay. The underlay recommended for this is called airstep slab. It is slab rubber, terracotta in colour. Hence i was wondering why you kept recommending prime, which i thought was airstep slab!! Hope i made sense there. Anyway i found this http://www.airstep.com.au/lib/images/pr ... _specs.pdf Thought you might like to have a look. When recommending prime, i think people should note, it is designed for a commercial application. Although superior to platinum and supablue, it has a much lower profile so end result could be not as spongy or thick as people would have expected. Also note im pretty sure airstep garrantees the life of their rubbers to last the life of your chosen carpet. Re: Foam or Rubber Underlay? 15Jun 15, 2009 8:54 pm neorayez When recommending prime, i think people should note, it is designed for a commercial application. Although superior to platinum and supablue, it has a much lower profile so end result could be not as spongy or thick as people would have expected. Also note im pretty sure airstep garrantees the life of their rubbers to last the life of your chosen carpet. G'day N. Yeah it can be confusing with so many products being similar, and names don't necessarily indicate the products grade plainly! I don't care if Prime is considered 'commercial'. It is a far better product than the thicker, spongey underlays. The 'trampolining' effect of those underlays presents a lot of extra stresses on the carpets. Also, thicker underlays allow too much compression beneath heavy furniture, resulting in pile distortion. Yeah the supplers of all these underlays do 'guaratee' their underlays for the life of the carpet. This means diddlysquat! The reality is, many don't go the distance, and consumers don't even know in many cases. The guaratee is only for replacement of the underlay, and DOES NOT COVER costs to move furniture, lift carpet, replace underlay and refit carpet etc. So virtually nobody ever makes a claim against the so called 'guaratee'! Its a 'Clayton's guarantee! I have seen many cases of carpets with plenty of life in them on underlay that is dead! Ash. Re: Foam or Rubber Underlay? 16Jun 16, 2009 4:54 pm neorayez When recommending prime, i think people should note, it is designed for a commercial application. Although superior to platinum and supablue, it has a much lower profile so end result could be not as spongy or thick as people would have expected. Also note im pretty sure airstep garrantees the life of their rubbers to last the life of your chosen carpet. This is exactly what the regional manager said in conversation with me about Prime, too. Nonetheless I am highly confident that, regardless, my new carpet (probably wool) and Prime underlay will be many, MANY times better than the builders stock standard rubbish I have at present Re: Foam or Rubber Underlay? 17Jun 16, 2009 5:19 pm I have carpets in two bedrooms at my home. A Cavalier Bremworth wool tweed in the main bedroom, and a Feltex axminster in my son's room, both laid about 11 years ago. The layers put in Bridgestone Black rubber underlay (I wasn't so astute at the time, and that's what he had). In both cases, the underlay has collapsed in the traffic ways, over the last couple of years. The carpets look absolutely fine, and will easily last another 15-20 years. When I have time, I will remove the underlay, and whack some Prime in. Now if I had all the documentation, and proof of purchase etc, yeah I could claim against the guarantee, but it won't happen. They would only replace it with the same type anyway. The term 'commercial' (relating to carpet underlay) means "it actually goes the distance" compared to other underlays that often do not, despite the Claytons guarantee. Ash. Re: Foam or Rubber Underlay? 18Nov 17, 2022 2:12 pm JellyLegs We've just been given a great price for some wool carpet - loop pile I think is what he called it. The guy recommended 11mm foam underlay and said they don't recommend rubber because it tends to flatten out over time. Previously I was told rubber is better and foam deteriorates Any thoughts? Well ive just purchased a wool carpet as well. My Carpet layer has thirty years experience and as soon as he stepped on my existing carpet he said its fine to use the existing Rubber underlay which is Blue in colour .I purchased the underlay my self 10 years ago and it came with a (guarantee of 2 carpet life's) which my carpet layer confirmed . I pulled out my existing carpet this morning and guess what ,it was as good as new . Rubber is the best . Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Hi there, looking to have a gym in a new build. Planning to install some sort of rubber mat flooring (on concrete) i.e. Asking the builder to not do floorboards in the gym… 0 2956 Oh no! I would use a can of expandable foam ( there are some that will take render) then cut it back and render over the top 1 5013 There is nothing in the various codes and standards that puts this requirement on the builder to do. I think that is what you are asking. Don't waste time trying to get… 5 3056 |