Many people don’t know this about wall-to-wall carpeting.

You can make it last longer with waterproof padding.

     For those of you that love wall to wall carpeting, let me tell you something about wall to wall carpeting: if you are about to replace it, my professional suggestion would be to focus on the padding. Why?We often fall in love with a surface material which, in this case,  is the carpet that you walk on, the one that you see when we should be focusing on loving the padding that’s beneath it. The reason I say this is because when you pull up a carpet, that’s when you see where your money went to.

It’s a little known fact that what happens with a carpet is what happens with a sponge that you have just put soap in.

     If you’ve never done it, I challenge you to do this. Put a drop of soap in a sponge – a wet sponge – and start squeezing it. Continue squeezing it. Work the soap into the sponge and then put it under running water, keep squeezing it and see what happens with the soap in that sponge.What happens is amazing: You can’t get rid of the soap. It’s the same thing that happens to anything you drop on a carpet that does not have the waterproof padding beneath it. This is not only limited to liquids. It is also inclusive of dirt and particles and any type of grit including sand that you may track into the house. Believe it or not, that’s what we find when we tear out a carpet that has regular padding  and not the waterproof kind. We find a lot of sand hidden and trapped beneath the padding. You may think “Oh well I had a great vacuum cleaner and it does a great job and it pulls everything up.” No, that’s not so. It’s when you pull up the padding and that carpet that you see how great a vacuum really is when put up against carpet padding.

Next time you want to replace your wall to wall carpet, spend the money on the water proof pad. It has a metallic layer on top of it that looks like a foil finish but it is the number one key to your success in prolonging the life of this new carpet which you are investing in. You can go with a lower grade carpet material but spend the money on the padding. It’s going to be more expensive but trust me when I tell you this: you can’t go wrong.

 

A Brief Scenario from a Previous Project

     There was a carpet that was installed about 9 years ago with the waterproof padding. The homeowner said “No, I don’t want to spend the money. It seems high.” and I managed to convince him to do it. Today, that carpet looks like the day it was installed. Why? Because it had waterproof padding. His child spilled red juice on it. We all know how difficult that is to get out and one of their dogs decided to pee on the carpet too. He called me in a panic. I told him to blot it up, not scrub it in and use his spot carpet shampoo-er to clean it up. I inquired  a few months later,  after they had walked all over the carpet whether or not the stain from the juice had come up again. The answer was no. How about the doggy smell? No. Why? Because it’s not trapped in the padding.

Padding is like a jute. It is extremely dense and you can think of it as a sponge – a really dense sponge – which means that it’s really tight, it’s really thick and it’s even hard to squeeze.

     Same thing with carpet padding. It’s jute. It’s crushed fiber that’s really compressed together and that’s what makes it feel luxurious beneath your feet. The problem with that is that if anything gets into it, It’s trapped. It spreads out through the fibers. You can’t get that out no matter how many times you shampoo it or how many times you vacuum it but when it has a waterproof layer on top of it, it’s a different story. You can get it out. So, I hope that helps you. Finally, about the waterproof padding: Some people will say its expensive but save yourself the headache. The best part about it is that there won’t be odors or stains trapped inside your carpet because it never reached your padding. How wonderful is that?

 

Watch the video recorded on-site in Waco, Texas.

Waterproof padding and why you need it | Waco Interior Designer from Carolina Moncion Design on Vimeo.

 

If you have a space you would like us to help you with, check out our services page. We love design and tailor each project to your individual needs. We service different areas in Texas. No job is too big or too small, just get in touch with us. We have different service packages for everyone. All you have to do is choose the one that suits your needs. Thanks for visiting our blog. Don’t forget to share and subscribe! And feel free to leave a comment below! 🙂