Keeping underlay?

chammer

I'm looking at getting the carpets replaced throughout my new flat. The current carpet has been down around 10 years (I found an old receipt). One of the quotes I've been given is by an independent fitter. He seems to think that the underlay doesn't need changing. Can this really be the case? To be fair, he's the only person who's actually seen the state of the carpet and seen some of the current underlay. However, everything else I'm seeing is saying to never charge the carpet without changing the underlay. The current underlay is a foam Cloud9. It's lost its spring, but doesn't visibly look in bad condition. 

Thanks

travis-powers

I thought the same just recently however I changed the underlay and the new stuff was twice as thick, I feel it’s worth changing as how often do you have new carpets!

FreeBear

Change the underlay. It is a relatively small cost compared to the price of (some) carpets.

FaceHead

FreeBear said:

Change the underlay. It is a relatively small cost compared to the price of (some) carpets.

Agree with this. If the carpet has actually been used and needs replacing, then the underlay does to. The cost at <£5/msq is minimal, so do it.

TELLIT01

Much of the underlay may seem to be in good condition because large parts of carpets actually get little of the traffic.  You will almost certainly find that the areas which have had the heaviest traffic will be degraded.  Better to replace it when the carpet is done.  Even if it looks OK now, how will it be in a few more years?

fenwick458

I'd say it all depends on the quality and condition of the underlay. I had a carpet fitted a while back and re used some underlay I had kept from another room, the carpet fitters said I was being tight for not replacing the underlay and offered to sell me some off the van for £5/sq metre, I declined because I know the stuff they sell off the van is absolute rubbish and I wouldn't take it if they paid me, and the stuff I had to re-use was real thick, heavy black rubber stuff that was probably top of the range about 40 years ago and hasn't ever had much foot traffic, and was getting fitted into a spare room.
theres a lot of products that seem to be getting worse as we progress, in my opinion it's just the product of Capitalism. I like to hang onto the well made stuff as long as it's fit for use, it's probably better than the modern equivalent

davetaller

Cloud 9 is still sold, (TeBay), and is an excellent underlay.

JGB1955

We've lived in our current house for 35+ years.  We decorate 2 rooms every year, and change the carpets at the same time - so every 5 years.  Although I don't think we have any ORIGINAL underlay, we are still recycling old ones - just move them around so they are no longer in the heavy footfall places.  The carpet under your double bed never gets walked on... so move the underlay to the outside of the room and vice-versa.

Ganga

So after 10 years the carpets are being replaced but MAYBEE not the underlay ,try too imagine what the underlay will be like when it is 20 years old when the next carpets are due , price the underlay up against the price of the new carpet plus fitting and as others have said ,not that expensive. PLUS a lot of carpet companies do not guarantee their product unless fitted correctly to their standards.

twopenny

I've reused underlay because it looked decent.

The problem is that it is going to degrade while the carpet is still good. Which is what happened. Ok for a year or so then disappointing.

If you're still undecided take more of the carpet up and check the parts with heavy traffic like doorways. See if there's a difference in thickness and bounce between the corners and the doors.