Why not reuse unwalked on carpet underlay?

weeviv

I need to replace my living room and stair carpet which have flattened and discoloured in the high traffic areas. However, there are lots of areas of the living room carpet which have hardly been walked on, e.g under furniture, behind the settees, etc. where the carpet itself is hardly worn. I reckon there is enough 'unused' underlay to cover a good area of the stairs. All the advice seems to be not to reuse underlay and I understand the argument, but it seems such a waste and expense to bin it. Or does underlay deteriorate anyway with time even if not walked on? Any comments would be helpful, thanks.

t14cy_t

cheaper underlay does have a shelf life, but reuse the good stuff!! xx

[Deleted User]

Indeed when I replaced my sitting room carpet I had a really good underlay put in as well as the old one although not walked on was flaking away with deterioration. Luckily I had a good result as the company who fitted it had used a contact chap to fit my new stair carpat and he had scratched all the new paintwork at the top of the stairs and the manager when he came round said I will replace your old underlay with a better quality one as recompense, and will will send a better fitter for you.True to his word he did and when I was talking to the chap he told me that I had got a really good deal as the new underlay under my carpet was the top of the range one I must admit once the carpet was down it is lovely to walk on and you can tell the difference