All area rugs, no matter type, thickness, or size, need rug pads to protect them and the floors they lie on. The right rug pad will protect your floors from scratches, spills, and stains while protecting your rug from furniture indentations, stabilizing it to facilitate vacuuming, providing a buffer to minimize wear and tear, and increasing air flow to keep it cleaner every day.
Rugs pads also offer stability and cushion, but the balance of grip and cushion you’ll need and want in a pad depends, in large part, on the size of your rug. In general, smaller rugs and runners need more grip while larger rugs need less grip and are often placed in rooms where you want more cushion under foot, like living rooms and bedrooms.
You may also want to consider the type and thickness of your rug. For example, though larger rugs are generally anchored by furniture and their own weight and don’t need pads with grip, thinner rugs, even large ones, tend to buckle or wrinkle, so you might consider pads that combine grip and cushion.
Fortunately, there are a range of options available in rug pads with strong grip and low-profile, a combination of grip and cushion in a range of thicknesses, and the thickest pads offering the most luxurious cushioning.
FOR SMALL AREA RUGS AND RUNNERS
Scatter rugs, throw rugs, and runners need rug pads with a strong grip to keep them in place. Because they tend to be placed in high-traffic areas and in hallways, where door clearance can be an issue, low-profile non-slip pads are usually the best choice for these rugs.
Smaller rugs need rug pads with strong grip to prevent slipping, sliding, and bunching.
Low-profile pads are ideal for high traffic areas and rugs underneath doors
For the lowest profile and strongest grip, consider a classic, non-slip open-weave, waffle-design pad or a solid version combining rubber with a bit of felt.
For great grip with a subtle cushion, consider our thin grip pad. This classic pad is thin enough to keep rugs in place while facilitating air flow, protecting floors, and keeping small rugs and runners lying flat.
FOR MEDIUM SIZE AREA RUGS (ROUGHLY 4X6 TO 6X9)
For area rugs that fall into this general size range, you’ll likely want some balance of grip and cushion. Look for pads that combine felt cushioning with natural rubber, the strongest gripping, longest lasting, safest and most eco-friendly material for keeping rugs lying flat and in place. The felt used in the high-quality pads listed here are made from new, unused, recycled rug and carpet fibers heat pressed so it won’t compress and retains its loft and cushion for many years.
Beyond the combination of rubber and felt, you want to look for pads engineered and designed for great grip. The best rubber and felt rug pads are made by heat pressing the top of the felt so it grabs the bottom of the rugs, almost like Velcro, but more gently (like a strong hug.) This keeps the rug lying flat against the pad. The rubber bottom then tightly grips floors (without sticking to them or staining them, the way some synthetic adhesives can) keeping rugs stable and smooth.
The felt upper-layer fastens to rug fibers and keeps the rug from wrinkling and bunching.
The natural rubber backing grips the floor and prevents the rug from slipping and sliding.
For more cushion, particularly under rugs in living rooms, dining rooms and bedrooms, there’s our cushion grip pad, combining the best of both grip and cushion. Made with more felt and a gentle heat-pressing technique, it offers unyielding, non-slip traction with thick, cushioned support. It’s essentially a thick layer of felt combined with a thinner non-slip, natural rubber pad. 
FOR LARGE OR OVERSIZED AREA RUGS (8X10 OR LARGER)
In general, larger rugs call for cushioned pads versus non-slip pads. Most large rugs, especially those heavier, thicker pile, remain stable on their own and are often held in place by furniture so they don’t require pads with grip. However, some thinner large rugs (like flat weaves) can tend to buckle and wrinkle and may need pads with a combination of cushion and grip (see suggestions for Medium Sized Area Rugs above).
Large rugs are often anchored by their own weight or surrounding furniture so they don't need a non-slip pad.
For large rugs that don’t require any grip, a variety of pads offer great cushion, floor protection, sound-proofing, insulation, and varying levels of lift.
Give us a call today at 757-486-6600 to order your area rug pad!