Often, the best renovation for your home is to put in new carpet. Old carpet that looks tatty and grubby will ruin the look of any room, no matter what other kinds of home improvement you do – even if you just bought new furniture to go in it. But when you pull up the old carpet you will see that the underfelt is left and if you are on a budget, it will be tempting to keep it as underlay for the new one. Is this truly a good idea? Professional carpet cleaners like brilliancecleaning.com.au advise against it. Why?
It’s dirty
For a start, underfelt gets dirty, just the same as the carpet. Much of the dirt and dust sinks right through the carpet and ends up trapped in the underfelt, if not professionally cleaned by a commercial cleaning company such as gleamcleanwa.com.au. This dirt and dust will actually work its way into the fibres of your new carpet, thus soiling it from the bottom up, resulting in a carpet that is spoiled long before its time. The underfelt can have all kinds of nasty bacteria and even fleas or flea eggs in it, if you have pets inside.
It’ll void the warranty
Most new carpets come with a warranty, but keeping the old underlay could well void the warranty, so if anything else happens to your carpet and it doesn’t last as long as the warranty extends, you won’t get anything back. Another thing that voids the warranty on new carpet is not having it professionally cleaned on a regular basis. It’s a good idea to read the fine print on your warranty as soon as you have the carpet installed. In fact, a DIY installation may also void the warranty on some carpets.
It may not suit the new carpet
Another important consideration is the type of carpet you purchase. If it is different from your old carpet, it may need a different type of underfelt to ensure it lasts as long as it is supposed to. Using the old underlay will not give it the support it needs.
That underfelt really is worn out
Even though that old underlay may look fine, it will have been there just as long as the carpet and so will have just as much wear, tear and dirt. In fact, it works much harder than the top layer, because it is always supporting the weight of the carpet on it, while the carpet doesn’t support any weight – apart from the furniture – unless someone walks on it.
So even though it may save you a lot initially, keeping the old underlay will end up costing you more in the long run. Besides which, you will know that the old, shabby, grubby underlay is hiding underneath your nice new carpet and that will spoil the satisfaction you get out of having something new and nice.
