Underlays

carpet underlay help! what type should i buy, duralay, airlux?

i didnt realise there was so many types of underlay, i have never bothered with it before as we have never satyed in a house longer than a year or 2 so weve always put down a cheap carpet. we have had our current living room carpet for 18months now and it has already gone flat and we are replacing it, i dont want to replace it again in 18months so am assuming undelay is my sollution, but what type do i get, ive been looking on ebay as its cheaper than the carpet shop, but ive come accross tons, rubber duraly and airlux felt stuff, anyone reccomend any, i obviously dont want to spend a fortune and i would say i need the stuff that is for medium- heavy traffic and something that will make the floor a bit softer as there is concrete underneath. help!

Public Comments

1. What type of carpet is it? hopefully not berber, my brother installs carpet for a living and man, that stuff is absolute crap. You definitely want underlay, even if it was on top of wood.
2. Well you get what you pay for so if you are not willing to pay for qualty padding it won't last. If it is just regular carpet I would put in a rebond padding 1/2 thick and a 8 pound density. Felt padding is also very long lasting. I have recarpeted many houses after 10 -15 years and not had to replace the padding if they buy top quality. I would stay away from the big box stores most of their carpet and padding is crap. Try a search in you local for a carpet supply store many are open to the public and you can buy the padding for the same price as a store.