Foam or Rubber Underlay?

Jelly legs,

11mm is way too thick. Underlay is ideally 7-8mm thick. If you can afford it, get Bridgestone Prime. Otherwise, get Dunlop Excellay. If the supplier has a problem with these choices, choose another supplier. With your carpet choice, do your homework to choose the carpet that is best for you, rather than some 'bargain' the supplier wants to sell you.

Cheers!

Ash.

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!!

hi

Grey would almost definately be called patinum. see here , http://www.airstep.com.au/residential/s ... tions.aspx

As i said before there are higher grades but as you can see from the table the first 3 are black gold and grey. The most common used.
When looking at shops, just ask to see a sample of the rubber.

For your upstairs area, i would again suggest a rubber underlay. Why i suggest this is because in the years i have been pulling up old carpets and underlays, i find the rubbers will come up intact and relatively clean. Most floors will be how they were when the rubber was laid over it.
When i have lifted foams, i have found some have deteriorated a lot faster than rubber does, and when it starts to break down from ageing it starts leaving a sandy dust on the slab.

hope this helps.

Hi
Steam cleaning wont affect the underlay, if done right only the carpet should get wet. 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.

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.

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.

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.