Want to Make a Rug More Comfortable for Standing? Check Out This Genius Hack

You don’t have to spend the entire day cooking up a Thanksgiving feast to know that standing and moving around the hard-surfaced kitchen floor can take a tool on your feet, not to mention your back and knees. It’s not just the kitchen either. Maybe it’s your standup desk at the office or the concrete floor in your garage workshop.

Restaurants and other businesses use floor mats and anti-fatigue mats to help mitigate the problem, but at home, you may want a solution that fits in a little better with your decor. Fortunately, there’s an easy and cheap fix for that: carpet padding underneath rugs laying on your hard floors. (Also, discover tips to get rug under bed.)

What Is Carpet Padding?

Carpet padding is the cushioned pad that provides a foundation for the carpets. Made from various materials like foam, and rubber, it protects the back of the carpet from the rough subfloor underneath. It also softens the impact from foot traffic, furniture and other heavy objects that can damage carpeting. Padding is also designed to absorb noise and makes floors a lot more comfortable.

The cheapest version of carpet padding is made from foam, which is why it’s also the most common. Costs usually start around 50 cents per square foot, but for the hack we’re discussing here, you might be able to find scraps for free. Either way, you don’t need to spend a lot of money to give yourself a more comfortable place to stand on the wood, tile or concrete floors in your house.

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How to Add Cushion to Your Rugs

So, if you want to make any rug feel extra plush and luxurious, just add a layer of carpet padding underneath your rug—it’s thicker and cheaper than a typical rug pad.

To start, measure the rug you’re working with before getting the carpet padding. Once you have the dimensions, you can purchase a piece of carpet padding that fits underneath it or cut an existing piece of padding to the size you need. With foam and rubber carpet padding, you shouldn’t have to worry about them sliding around on the floor either.

This will make standing in the kitchen or the workshop so much easier on your feet by giving you something soft and reflexive to stand on, rather than just the hard floor.

If you’re planning to be on your feet for several hours at a time, this will certainly help, but you’ll need just a little bit more, like a soft, supportive pair of shoes and a stool for taking short breaks from standing. Don’t hesitate to talk to your doctor about other protective measures you can take if you’ve got to be on your feet for long periods of time. Learn the difference between carpet and rug.