Hey y'all, can anyone give me some advice about what kind of rug pad to use under our area rug in our piano room?

Also, we will be in need of piano castor cups (hopefully we will be needing them soon!) Does anyone have any suggestions about what to look for? There are several brands on Amazon, and then there are some sold on Piano World, the ones at PW are about 3x more expensive, but I'll get the spendier ones if it makes a difference.

Basically, the hardwood floors in the piano room are beautiful and I would hate for them to be damaged in anyway. Right now there's an area rug with no pad under it (because the pad we used in the rental was rubber, which I believe you're not supposed to use on hardwood). But there's also not really any furniture on top of that rug. This will change as soon as there's a grand in that room, so I want to have the pad in place before that.

Any advice/suggestions will be appreciated!

ETA: the rug itself wasn't very expensive, and I think it is synthetic. I really don't care about the rug being damaged (for example by piano legs) but I don't want the floor to be damaged.

Rugs on hardwood are a PITA. We finally settled on some adhesive corners that keep the rugs in place. If you are interested I'll find out what kind they are.

As I understand it, there are basically two kinds of rug pads for throw rugs (as opposed to wall-to-wall) on hardwood floors.

First, there is the cheap option. These can be bought on-line or at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. They are easily cut to fit with ordinary scissors:



These are not very good. They can bunch up under the rug, which is annoying. Worse, if they bunch up they leave nothing under the edge of the rug, which creates a slip hazard.

Preferable, I think, are rug pads like this:



This rug pad is not going anywhere. They are much harder to cut.

Warning: There are a lot of people who will rip you off on these rug pads. They should not be wildly expensive.

You didn't ask, but I will give one tip on rugs generally. Me, I'm not made of money, so I cannot buy super expensive beautiful woven rugs. But I don't like to buy junk, either.

Over the years, I have bought rugs from a place called Heritage Rugs or something, but they were bought out by ESaleRugs.com. I have bought a couple of rugs for bedrooms from them, and the rugs are plenty good enough in quality. They have a huge selection. I have had runners and throw rugs in my house for decades of kids, dogs, and vacumm cleaners, and they are holding up well. They have free returns if you don't like the rug and want to send it back.

: lowers voice :

I recently bought a 6 x 9 heavy wool rug from them, and it was a horror once I got it into the room. Just all wrong. I called them and said I wanted to return it. They said if I would keep it I could have 35% off. That was some serious coin, but it was such a poor choice for our house that I sent it back and bought something else from them that looks great.

Anyway, I mention it because they sell their rug pads for an appropriate price, so maybe use that as a guide on what's reasonable if you buy elsewhere.

The very best thing to do is to have the wood floor cut out and the rug installed as wall-wall carpet in the space created when you remove the wood.

That's how my entry is done. Bulletproof.

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The very best thing to do is to have the wood floor cut out and the rug installed as wall-wall carpet in the space created when you remove the wood.

I love the hardwood, I wouldn’t think of taking it up in a million years. Also, we haven’t had a problem with the area rug slipping around. But the part that’s a walkway isn’t covered by the rug, so that’s probably part of it.

I’m not worried about the rug moving, I just don’t want to damage the floors.

Cindy thanks for that suggestion, I’ll google it. Our rug is 10x8, kind of large for an area rug.

Ugh, I am not ready for this, once we get a piano in there, it’s done, so I need to move fast!

Piano should hold it in place.

No worries!

So, is it ok to use a felt pad that’s made from synthetic fiber? Would this work, or is it too cheap? The ones at esalerugugs were about twice as expensive but didn’t have much info.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Mo...Pad-329679/203219716

That would probably be fine.

Interesting that the people who insist on wood floors are the first to cover them with random scatter rugs.

W/w carpet is so much simpler.

Solid, big caster cups for grands keep them from sinking into the carpet and pad which make the pedals end up too low to the ground.

I've installed some of the cheaper plastic ones that clients have purchased and if they are thick and don't bend under the weight they seem to be just fine! I prefer the solid bottom ones that have more area to rest on the carpet rather than the hollow ones. Look at your prospective piano - most wheels are pretty standard width, but some have extra-wide wheels that can cause fit issues with smaller caster cups.

I can appreciate Steve's position in a way. Carpet is certainly easier, and probably can be done attractively. But an area rug over hardwood is aesthetically beautiful too.

Our wool rug is over hardwood and we bought a pad for it along with the rug (it was a store closure so the rug was a bargain though the pad was not cheap.) Pad is one of those beige ones that looks loosely woven. Somewhat smaller than the rug area but not a big deal.

The piano room has a polyester rug we bought second-hand, no pad beneath it, but no problems with the wood floor either. The piano is not resting on it, but adjacent to it (cheap carpet under the piano for sound reduction purposes).

My MH came with castors. It's a heavy piano. Ask for them to throw them in as you buy the piano.

Wool rug, wool under carpet, heavy castors over old pine floor.

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Interesting that the people who insist on wood floors are the first to cover them with random scatter rugs.

Steve, I do like the look of hardwood with an area rug, and in this room, the rug only occupies about 2/3 of the room, so you do see the floor.

But the other concern is hardwood adds value to a house and w/w carpeting usually doesn't. I hope we don't find ourselves needing to move any time soon, but if we do, I want to make sure that we haven't done anything to reduce the value.

Ron, thanks for those comments, I'll look at the various ones available with a critical eye so I can be sure I get ones that are solid.

LL, I most likely won't be buying from a dealer, so I'm on my own for sorting out the castor cup question.

I use thick rubber furniture castors from the hardware store. Have had the piano living on hardwood floors for years with no impression made on the floors whatsoever. These are cheep.

Thanks piqué, I'll check our hardware store too. We have some square ones under our guest bed, I'll see how thick those are.

BTW I decided not to buy the 5'3" Yamaha. Stay tuned though, if fortune keeps smiling on me, I may have an update much sooner than I thought!