Carpet Underlay.

Soldato
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Looking for a decent but reasonable underlay for my living room. Will be going on a concrete floor, so needs to be good sound and heat insulated.
Any and all suggestions welcome.

Room is about 15m sq.
 
Soldato
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I have tredaire dreamwalk 11mm all over my house its lovely. Even under the ridiculously cheap old guest room carpet it made a huge difference.

Admittedly it doesn't seem to found of heavy furniture. Takes quite a while to bounce back after moving anything.
 
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Soldato
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I have tredaire dreamwalk 11mm all over my house its lovely. Even under the ridiculously cheap old guest room carpet it made a huge difference.

Admittedly it doesn't seem to found of heavy furniture. Takes quite a while to bounce back after moving anything.

I'll second this, under £3 per sq m online so not expensive. Everyone who walks on my new carpets which are admittedly only cheap associated weavers brand comments on how nice it feels.
 
Soldato
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The only drawback I had to the tredaire 11mm stuff was having to plane the bottom of the door. Depending on what type of door it is it can be a sod :(
 
Soldato
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Each to their own.

In my opinion, which is based on experience, you get what you pay for with underlay.

both cloud 9 and dreamwalk are just cheap underlays that feel great at first but will flatten down in six months. Just compare the materials to the upper range of tredaire for example - they are just glued together scraps of foam.

I got cloud 9 for my mothers place and it felt great at first but now is not a great deal better than it would be with no underlay - this was why I paid more for my place.

it's all for nothing if you buy cheap carpeting though.
 
Soldato
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I had heard about the dreamwalk cloud9 going flat but I've not noticed any deterioration yet and its about 14 months old now.

Admittedly when I lived with my parents they had some sort of woven underlay that lasted 20 years I don't think this stuff will last that long.

If it lasts say 5 years happily then it would be time for me to start looking for new carpets at £3ish a square meter for underlay its not a huge cost to replace it at the same time.

Honestly the way it quietens noise from upstairs is its best quality as far as I'm concerned.
 
Associate
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Each to their own.

In my opinion, which is based on experience, you get what you pay for with underlay.

both cloud 9 and dreamwalk are just cheap underlays that feel great at first but will flatten down in six months. Just compare the materials to the upper range of tredaire for example - they are just glued together scraps of foam.

I got cloud 9 for my mothers place and it felt great at first but now is not a great deal better than it would be with no underlay - this was why I paid more for my place.

it's all for nothing if you buy cheap carpeting though.

About 5 years ago we replaced all the carpets in our house, we ripped all the Treadair out (green one that you have) and replaced with Cloud9 11mm on the recommendation of a carpet fitter friend who has been fitting 25 years. Best thing i ever did not had a single problem with it and it still feels as bouncy as the day it went down and retains heat great.
Rubber based underlays such as treadair don't stand up to spills and in my experience deteriorate to quickly.
 
Soldato
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About 5 years ago we replaced all the carpets in our house, we ripped all the Treadair out (green one that you have) and replaced with Cloud9 11mm on the recommendation of a carpet fitter friend who has been fitting 25 years. Best thing i ever did not had a single problem with it and it still feels as bouncy as the day it went down and retains heat great.
Rubber based underlays such as treadair don't stand up to spills and in my experience deteriorate to quickly.

Yeah we're going to have to agree to disagree mate - I'm sure we've all got our stories. If you think it's the best thing you ever did, well, we'll let others decide whether you say that in earnest.

btw my second carpet fitter for my house answered my complaint about the cloud 9 with the statement "Really? that's quite good - it usually flattens down before we've left the house" and no he wasn't my friend.

Underlay is like anything in this world - You get what you pay for and I have hands on experience with both types for over 2 years now. Sorry but I'm simply not one of these types that needs to be right on the internet. My opinion is based on direct experience take it or leave it.

Cloud 9 and dream walk is the same type they sell in carpetright with their customary, ridiculous, mark-up. But even their upper range goes into rubber waffle.

Let's get something straight all carpet and underlay flattens down - it's the amount that is all there is to debate.

The thread has moved into wool composite now which ALL carpet companies regard as the best type and for what it's worth IF I had known about Axminster Axfelt65 (Hands down the BEST underlay) I would have looked into that.

The only thing about wool is that, so i'm told, it's designed for wear and tear rather than comfort but I have no frame of reference.
 
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Caporegime
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The tog ratings for PU foam are double that of wool though. 3 vs 1.5.

This would be a big thing for me if putting on concrete
 
Soldato
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The tog ratings for PU foam are double that of wool though. 3 vs 1.5.

This would be a big thing for me if putting on concrete

I'd have to agree with you here.

The tog rating for the cheaper PU foam is better than either Rubber waffle* or Wool and on a concrete floor this more of a factor then in either of my properties as well as being one of the key requirements the OP set out.

I stand by my comments on comfort and wear and Waffle is better for noise but in pure insulation terms, perhaps, there is an argument to just get the basic PU foam type.

FYI Axfelt 65 wool, at least ,has a tog rating for 2.2 so not that far behind but, of course, it is in the upper price band of wool underlay.

http://www.valefurnishers.co.uk/downloads/Axminster Carpets.pdf

EDIT: it seems that Wilsons wool underlay has the best tog rating?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wilson-Unde...words=Wilson+wool+underlay#productDescription

* I corrected my post above as I was mixing up the underlay types.
 
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Soldato
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Random fact, wool continues to insulate even when wet (not 100%, but close), unlike others. Its why is so good for cavity wall insulation.
 
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