I just bought a house with hardwood floors in the kitchen, living and dining room. I bought rubber backed rugs for the kitchen and then was told I should not use them on hardwood floors. Is that really the case? I hate that I just bought 5 rugs if I can't use them, could I put one of those rug pads in between or wouldn't that matter since rug pads are rubber too? Also can I use a regular broom on them? In my parents house they have laminate flooring and were told that a broom would scratch the floor. Wondering if that is also the case for wood floors.
So there's rubber and there's "rubber." If you have real, natural rubber on a pad, totally find IME. I get mine from rugpadcorner.com and they haven't done any damage in the several years I've had them down. If you have spray-on plastic masquerading as "rubber," it can ruin a finish. Happened in my living room when I used one of those cheap-y waffle weave pads (that do nothing really anyway). I suspect that if you are buying rubber-back rugs, they are "rubber," and I wouldn't put them directly on the finish.
I use a broom on my floors sometimes, but I accept a patina on my floors. A broom certainly is doing less damage than my dogs' nails and our shoes (we try to remember to take them off, mostly for the rugs, but life gets in the way). Anything that drags particles of dirt across the finish has the potential to leave scratches, but I'm not going to worry about microscopic scratches on hardwood with a decent finish. Just for convenience though I normally use a vacuum.
Thanks for the reply! So do you think if I bought the natural rubber pads you recommended from that site and put my cheapo Target rubber backed rugs on top of that it should be okay? Or should I buy new rugs without any backing on them?
I'd be comfortable putting the Target rugs on top of them as far as the finish goes, as long as they were the same size (i.e. the rug didn't hang over the edges and touch the floor). Two problems though: (1) without the top rug being larger, you'd be able to see the pad from the side. Not the end of the world, but that's something I try to avoid with mine. (2) Nice felt/rubber pads are a little pricey. More than some cheap rugs. Not sure how I'd feel about possibly paying more for a pad than for a rug LOL.
I don't see a lot of indoor rugs with rubber backings directly on them. Are we talking like entryway mats or like 8x10 living room rugs? And you're sure they have a rubberized texture on the back, not a glued on cloth backing? Are they returnable to Target? Are they going to be held down with furniture, or are they rugs that are likely to slide out from under someone (running children, dogs, adults who mis-step)?
I have a 2x3 rug in front of my refrigerator and stove and then a 3x5 rug in front of the front door and patio door. And then a 30"x60" runner in front of my sink and dishwasher. I am sure the backs are rubberized, I thought I was being smart buying that kind to prevent slipping. So I've had them a few weeks and tags have been ripped off and thrown and they have been used so not returnable. I will have to price out some non rubber backed rugs and see the cost difference, good suggestion.
This is all news to me! We have hardwoods in the kitchen and dining room and have two Costco foam cushiony kitchen mats, is that really going to ruin the finish? (although there's already one paw-sized patch that's ruined because mr kitty consistently pawed at the floor to "cover" his food dish after eating and it took a while for me to notice he pawed down THROUGH the finish!)
Post by lavender444 on Nov 21, 2014 15:30:30 GMT -5
I can't speak too much on the rugs. I feel like I've used rubber backed rugs without issues in the past, though. As for a broom, I almost exclusively use a broom and haven't noticed any problems.