There’s Only ONE Good Way to Stop Rugs From Slipping on Your Hard Wood Floors

If you have hardwood floors or really any hard floors, you’ve probably had an issue with an area rug slipping. This doesn’t happen as much with large rugs because they have furniture to anchor them (or should), but smaller rugs can be a challenge.

With a wooden floor, it’s even more challenging to get a runner to stay in place in high traffic areas because some of the adhesives on the market don’t come off the floor surface easily (or completely).

How do you get a rug to stay in place?

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The most effective way to keep rugs in place on hard surfaces is a high quality felted rug pad with a natural rubber backing. I’m not going to lie to you and tell you there are 5 great solutions. I’ve tried many different rug pad options; anti-slip rug pads, rug grippers and rub anchors, all without much success. Hands down the best solution is a good quality felted rug pad and it’s the only thing that has worked on my wood floors without any side effects. This is by far the most low-maintenance solution if you don’t want to be left with residue or discoloration on your wood floors.

Sometimes the side effects don’t show up right away, but when you’ve had a rug in the same spot for 10 years and you are getting ready to move. Surprise! The cheap rug pads have left a mysterious web across the floor. This is a common problem with no simple solutions.

This type of non-slip rug pad can be found on Overstock, Amazon or Wayfair. They come in 50 different sizes, be sure you get the right size because they aren’t easy to cut. These are the perfect rug pad for wood floors because:

• They don’t leave a sticky residue or dried glue.
• This thick rug pad gives extra cushion because they have cushion by themselves.
• They have more weight to them, which helps them stay in a fixed position.
• The non-slip rubber makes them stay put without leaving a sticky residue behind. Think about your bathroom rugs with a rubber backing. Rubber on the underside of the rug is what keeps small rugs from moving on a slippery floor.

What Not to Put Under A Rug To Keep It From Moving?

Adhesives – I don’t think that adhesives work well on wood floors. Why? Because adhesives leave behind a sticky residue if you ever want to move the rug, or move yourself to a different home.

Adhesive solutions CAN work but it depends a bit on the finish on your wood floor. If you have a thick polyurethane coating on your floors it works better. If your floors have a more natural finish, adhesives don’t come off as easily.

Adhesives include glue, rug tape, double-sided tape, gripper tape. ANYTHING that is sticky will potentially stick to the floor and have to be scraped off with a putty knife. If you don’t mind scraping your floor when you want to move the rug, they work. But that’s not for me.

Cheap Web Style Plastic Rug Pads – The ones that look like the photo above DO keep your rug in place, but they break down over time and stick to the floor. They can leave behind a sticky substance that you have to scrape off. If you can replace them every 1-2 years they will work, but otherwise they degrade underneath the rug.

If you’ve got wood floors, it’s worth a few extra money to get a quality felted rug pad. It will keep your rug in place and won’t leave behind a mess.