Vinings GA Real Estate

Carpet Pad

New Construction Upgrades & Advice

Carpet padding is one upgrade that is a must. The only thing standing between your carpet and the wood sub-floor is the carpet pad. Cheap padding will reduce the life expectancy of your carpet causing replacement sooner while an upgraded carpet pad will help extend the life and reduce normal wear and tear.

In particular, stairwell traffic can be especially hard on carpet and will usual show wear first. A heavy pad will help protect the carpet and will even help cheaper carpet to feel fuller and plush. Generally, you want a 6lb pad for most plush carpets but you will probably want to use an 8lb pad for Berber carpeting.

Most builders will offer you a standard foam pad, which is their “builder grade” pad. It is important to note that if you don’t upgrade the pad but you do upgrade the carpet, this may void the manufacturers warranty. Don’t expect the builder to know this when you visit their upgrade center.

In some cases, people often think that they can just go ahead with the cheap padding, upgrade the carpet and then hire a carpet specialist to come back in after the fact and replace the pad. While this could potentially save you a great deal of money, do not be surprised if the builder requires you to upgrade your carpet padding when you decide to upgrade the carpet. Carpet supplier providing kickbacks to builders on the cost of upgraded carpet pads are not entirely unheard of.