For the most part your carpet pads go unseen. However they serve a very useful and practical purpose. Good carpet pads (or carpet cushions as they are also known) help your new carpets wear more evenly, last considerably longer and feel better underfoot than carpeting alone. When you are shopping for new carpet buying good carpet padding to go with it is essential.
There are three main kinds of carpet pads. Some carpet pads (or carpet cushions as they are also known) are made from mixed fibers, others from a foam/rubber combination and some carpet padding is made from sponge. There are also different grades of carpet pad. The grade is usually determined by how thick a carpet pad is and how much it weighs.
When choosing the right carpet pad you have to keep the traffic level that your new carpet will see in mind. For well traversed areas such as hallways and staircases a pad that is no thicker than 7/16 is the best choice. If you choose carpet pads that are any thicker than that the carpet above will flex too much and it will wear unevenly.
When some people are having new carpet installed they often ask why they cannot simply use the old carpet pads that are still there. The answer to that is that to do so will void most carpet manufacturer's warranties, which can be a very expensive mistake to make.
These days many good carpet installation firms are removing old carpet pads when they lay new carpeting for a customer and then recycling them. As the average carpet pad will not degrade in a landfill doing so is very helpful to the efforts to green the planet, as well as being helpful to the client.