amy692•26d ago

Found out carpet padding is way thicker than I thought

I was at a supply shop near Austin last week and the guy told me most residential padding is only 7/16 inch. I always figured it was like half inch or more. He said going thicker than that on stairs can actually cause the carpet to bunch up and fail faster. Has anyone else run into issues with thicker padding on stair installs?

2 comments

2 Comments

lewis.charlie26d ago

I had a job in Round Rock a few years back where the homeowner insisted on 7/8 inch padding for his stairs because it felt plusher in the showroom. Six months later the carpet started rippling at the nose of every tread and the installer had to pull it all up and swap to 3/8 inch. The problem is thick padding lets the carpet shift under foot pressure on the edge of the step, which wears out the backing fast. You really want a firm, dense pad on stairs, not a thick one. I stick with 3/8 inch high density rubber for any stair install and it holds up way better.

richard_wells5926d ago

Man, that's exactly why I don't mess with stairs on my jobs.