I have a rug that my sister gave me as a gift. The colors are perfect for my home and it's the perfect size for where I need it. But there's a problem - it's in a high traffic area (landing on the stairs) and it won't stay put. It creases in the center and gets pushed up against the wall as the traffic goes by - causes safety hazard because now we're tripping all over it, and i'm getting so tired of bending down to straighten it. I know it probably wasn't an expensive rug, but I would hate to throw it out. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can get it to stay on the carpet? I was thinking about gluing some thing on the bottom corners to weight it down.... maybe that's a crazy idea. I was also thinking maybe there's a way to attach it to the carpet, like a safety pin.... probably crazy too because then i'd just end up with holes in my carpet. Maybe someone more creative has an idea or knows of a cost effecient product that could help me.
There are special mats you can buy at Lowes, Home Depot, Linens n Things.....just about anywhere that you place under the rug to hold it in place. There are two types. One is for use on carpet and the other for hard floor surfaces. They come in sizes. I have an oriental on carpet that used to creep until I got the mat. All of my rugs on the hardwood floors that are not self gripping have them as well. They work and do no harm to the carpet or floors.
It's because the wall to wall has a nap -- the fibers tend to bend in a certain direction and every time you step on the area rug, the pressure compresses the fibers of the wall to wall carpet pile down in one direction -- when the pressure releases when your foot moves, the pile springs back, catching the backing of the area rug and inching it forward. The sticky carpet-to-carpet liners you can buy (like the first answer mentioned) do help some but if your wall to wall is a fairly deep plush there is really not much you can do to stop the area rug creep. I have found over the years that soft unbacked area rugs like dhurries and Navajo blanket type rugs don't creep as much as regular broadloom or oriental area rugs that have the stiffer cotton warp backing. But they still eventually creep to some extent.
HI, Two sided tapes as many people suggested will not be of much use as the back side of a wool rug is generally averse to sticking material. Using a rug pad is a good idea, but then you may not find on suitable to the size of your rug. Now, what I am suggesting is to be done only if your rug is Hand Knotted, and not to be done in any other case. If it is an authentic hand knotted rug, you may safely pin it down to the floor using safety pins or nails, in a handknotted rug there will not be any holes once you remove the pins. Trust me
The thing I did when I had this problem, was used double sided tape. Get the kind that is about 2-3 wide and run a strip of that all along the sides of your throw rug. Hopefully, that will work. You should be able to find that at a store such as Menard's. There are these rubber type runners that also work to hold rugs in place. But I'm not sure they work on carpet. I know they work well on vinyl flooring and tile. If worst comes to worst, and you really don't want to move this rug to a different area, I suppose you could use a staple gun to staple it down. You would have to use a butter knife to remove the staples if you wanted to ever move it. Good luck, sounds like it's irritating right now.
The sell thing called rug pads. They extend the life of your rug and protect your floors . They also help keep your rugs safely in place. They sell them at wal-mart and target or other stores like that, They just look like a peace of fabric and you put your area rug on top of it. They work good.
