Can entrance mats be placed on top of carpet?

It’s one the most frequent questions we receive, especially from managers of apartment buildings and condos. They need entrance mats to hold dirt and water in their building. However they have wall–to–wall carpet right up to their front door. The carpet can be covered with a custom rugs with logo.

You can place your custom rugs with logo anywhere, but if it’s on top or carpet it won’t stay there. Your mat won’t stay on the floor because it isn’t compatible with the carpet under. Let’s have a closer look at your carpet’s structure to determine why the mat doesn’t stay put.

Why does the mat move?

If you have a close look at your wall-to–wall carpet you will notice one of two styles. The carpet’s “pile” is what you see and feel daily. The manufacturing process involves weaving carpet by looping the face fibers back and forth through a backing. The pile is determined based on whether these fibers were removed at the end of the loop or left intact in their looped form.

Loop pile carpets look exactly like their name: as intact loops containing face fibers that weren’t cut at the end. The top loops of carpet are cut off, resulting in an upright pile. The ends of carpet fibers are exposed. To ensure that cut pile carpet fibers don’t collapse when you walk on or tread on them, they are also twisted.

The twists found in cut pile carpets as well as the loops found in loop pile carpet make your carpet more durable. The same features that make your carpet resistant to wear are the ones that cause entrance mats to slip on top. If you place a mat onto top of carpet, it’s laying on top. The pile is not stable. The custom rugs with logo becomes compressed underfoot as people walk on it. It then springs again up. This repetitive compressing down/springing upward motion is what makes your entrance mat “walk”, or move, from wall-tow all carpet. It’s like winding through a wheat field.

How can I stop my mat from moving?

The best way to move the carpet onto a hard surface is to use a moving cart. If this is impossible, you can choose to use adhesive fastening (or mechanical fastening) instead. Let’s discuss the pros of each option.

Glue Fastening

Glue fastening is essentially taping your mat down onto the carpet. On the back side, a double-sided adhesive is applied. After the adhesive film has dried, the mat can be laid face-up on top. The adhesive tape films creates a seal between the back of mat and tip-tops on your carpet pile.

Pros:

  • It is very easy to install carpet tape without the need for tools.

Cons:

  • It only bonds with the tops and edges of your carpet pile. Therefore, it’s not usually strong.
  • Adhesive Tape is not a permanent, long-term solution. Sticky tapes dry out quickly and lose their sticky properties over prolonged periods.
  • Sticky residue from adhesives can be left behind on carpets even after being