Prolong The Life Of Your Floor With Hardwood Floor Underlay
There are many things to keep in mind before you install hardwood floor underlay
. The most important of these is that the hardwood flooring underlay prolongs the life of your floor. After all you want the floors of your house or office to last for several decades. That is why you chose to have hardwood flooring rather than plain concrete or stone. A gleaming hardwood floor adds to the market value of your house as much as it serves to impress visitors and guests.
You must ensure that you install only hardwood flooring underlay and not carpet underlay beneath a hardwood floor. This is because a carpet underlay is designed to give underfoot which can cause a hardwood floor to crack at the hinges. The two most important qualities that your hardwood floor underlay should have are moisture insulation and the ability to muffle sounds. You don't want to be awakened in the middle of the night simply because a family member is turning in late or has got up to answer nature's call! Yes, without sound dampening by the hardwood flooring underlay , your floor is going to be noisy when people walk over it.
Moisture is the biggest enemy of wood in general and hardwood in particular so before placing hardwood for your home you must have moisture free area. Nothing else can damage hardwood flooring as easily as moisture seeping up from the floor or sub-floor. Underlay for timber floors is typically 3mm closed cell plastic foam. It is primarily intended to provide sound insulation and a vapor barrier. Many floor experts advise using high density sponge rubber underlays for wood and laminate floors to mask imperfections in the sub floor enabling you to lay the planks on a flat surface.
Fine quality hardwood floor underlays made of high density sponge rubber provide a barrier against moisture and they also reduce in-room noise by over 30% compared to polyethylene cell foam. What's more their vapor barrier is more effective than ordinary polythene sheeting. You no longer need to fear that your rooms will be draughty and cold if you install hardwood flooring underlays since these act as heat insulators too.