All of our pads are safe on sealed hardwood. No adhesives, no plasticisers, nothing that bonds to a finish. So the floor is not the question. The question is how thick your rug is, and these are the three we pick from.
All-Purpose™ Pad
THIN · 0.10″For thin rugs: flatweaves, kilims, machine-woven.
- Cushion
- Grip
- Full
- Feel
- Barely there
from $43.31
Choose your sizeFree shipping · 30-day returns · cut to your rug
Full specs & materials
Superior Pad
MEDIUM · 0.160″Our best seller, and what we reach for on hardwood.
- Cushion
- Grip
- Full
- Feel
- Soft underfoot, quiets the room
from $47.35
Choose your sizeFree shipping · 30-day returns · cut to your rug
Full specs & materials
Premium Pad
THICK · 0.25″For heavy, hand-knotted and wool-pile rugs.
- Cushion
- Grip
- Full
- Feel
- Plush, the most cushion we make
from $55.00
Choose your sizeFree shipping · 30-day returns · cut to your rug
Full specs & materials
Looking for our fourth pad? The Deluxe™ pad works indoors and out. It is an open-weave rubber pad, so it breathes, which makes it the one we reach for anywhere damp: basements, sunrooms, entryways, patios and decks. See the Deluxe pad.
Now, which one for your rug?
This is what we get asked most, and it is the part people usually get backwards.
If the pad has more body than the rug, the rug slides around on the pad. You have moved the problem, not solved it.
Grip is not the variable. All three hold a hardwood floor the same way. Thickness is. Here is how we match it in our own shop:
Flatweave, kilim, machine-woven
0.10″ · 19 oz
Most rugs, most homes
0.160″ · 30 oz
Hand-knotted, wool pile, shag
0.25″ · 38 oz
Want more cushion under a thin rug? Step up to Superior, not Premium. Medium is as far as a thin rug will tolerate before it starts to shift.
Need to keep the height down under a thick rug? All-Purpose is fine. A thick rug brings its own weight, so it lies flat and holds the pad in place.
How thick is each one, really
Measured from our spec sheet, not estimated. Each gridline is 0.05 inch off the floor.
Height is the total thickness of the pad. The darker band at the base is the rubber grip that meets your floor.
Oriental Rug & Carpet Clinic · Denver
Why we only sell four pads
We are a rug cleaning company first. Rugs come into our shop with the pad still stuck to the back of them: crumbling foam, adhesive gone to glue, cheap latex turned to orange powder that took the floor finish with it.
That is why we sell four pads and not forty. Felt and rubber, needled and bonded, nothing that breaks down into dust in five years. When a rug comes back to us for its next cleaning, we would rather the pad still be a pad.
Frequently asked
Tap a question to open it.
Will a rug pad damage my hardwood floor?
Not one of ours, on a sealed floor. The pads that ruin floors are the cheap adhesive-backed and foam ones. The latex breaks down, bonds to the finish, and comes up as orange powder with the floor's finish in it. We see it every week.
Ours are needled felt and natural rubber with nothing that migrates into a finish. If your floor is waxed, oiled or newly refinished, let it cure fully and test a corner first.
Which rug pad is best for hardwood floors?
For most rugs, the Superior Pad, 0.160″ of recycled felt over a tan rubber grip back. Enough body to protect the boards and quiet the room, not so much that the rug starts riding on top of it.
Go thinner with All-Purpose if your rug is a flatweave, or thicker with Premium if it is a heavy hand-knotted rug.
How thick should a rug pad be on hardwood?
Match it to the rug rather than the floor. Thin rug, 0.10″. Medium rug, 0.160″. Thick rug, 0.25″. A pad with more body than the rug makes the rug slide on the pad, which is the opposite of what you want.
Check any door that swings over the rug before choosing 0.25″.
Will my rug still slide with a pad under it?
Not if the pad is matched to the rug. All three grip a hardwood floor the same way. Grip is not the variable. When a rug still creeps, it is almost always because the pad has more body than the rug.
Can I use a pad on a newly refinished floor?
Wait for the finish to cure. Most waterborne finishes want a week or two, oil-based finishes longer, so ask whoever did the floor. Then lay a corner of the pad down for a day and check it before putting the whole rug back.
What size rug pad do I need?
Three inches smaller than your rug in each direction, so an inch and a half of clearance on every side. You do not need to work it out. Pick your rug size and we cut the pad before it ships.
Read the full size guide for how to measure a rug properly.
Not sure what finish you have?
Call 1-833-RUG-PADS and you will get someone who cleans rugs for a living. If none of ours is right for your floor, we will tell you.
