First of all people should keep in mind that they should wait at least 3 weeks better will be1 month after refinishing their hardwood floors to use a rug pad. Because if the polyurethane hasn't cured yet, it will be react with the pvc or rubber based pad, amusing it to mar the floor. What to expect from a high-quality hardwood floor rug pad With so many rug pad materials on the market, finding the best rug pad for hardwood floors to protect both your carpet and wooden floor can be quite a challenge. While quality rug pad for wood floors are designed to protect and offer stability, a low-quality padding may do more harm than good. As a rule of thumb, a good rug pad should keep your carpet in place, make cleaning easier, and protect the flooring underneath. But there are other characteristics to look for when buying rug pads for hardwood floors: a high-quality padding should not smell⦠it will not stick to your floor; those that do stick to your floors or stain them are made from low-quality PVC or are cured with various chemicals that can react with your sensitive hardwood floors. Always keep in mind that you should wait at least one month after refinishing your floors before laying any type of rug pad, otherwise the finishing may react with the padding. environmentally friendly rug pads minimize landfill waste and they do not contain harmful chemicals. Thicker rug pads for hardwood floors will help prolong your a carpets life. äRreduce slippage äMake vacuuming and cleaning so much easier äOffer a soft feeling under your feet äReduce carpet wear and wrinkling äProtect your wooden floors from stains äAdd cushion, warmth, and comfort äExtend the life of your hardwood floor.

We've had hardwood in two different homes for the last 40 years. We collect hand-made rugs but also have some machine-made, so we cover the gamut - wool to silk to olefin to polypropylene. I've had at least half a dozen of them under the DR table at various times, so here's the skinny from our considerable experience: - A good rug pad will help a good-quality rug last longer. Conversely, though, because it makes it more plush underfoot, it makes it more difficult to scoot those chairs in and out! Personally, I love my rugs so I use pads under all of them, whether machine-made or hand-made. As I have a bad back and sciatica, I gave up appearance (nice traditional chairs that match the big DR table) for a set of used Herman Miller desk chairs with wheels. Not beautiful, but they scoot nicely over any rug, LOL. I've had guests tell me they're in love with how comfy the chairs are - which they should be, as these originally cost $800/ea and are fully adjustable in every way. You've probably got nice traditional chairs, so just be aware it isn't going to be easy for your guests to get in and out unless you put those large-sized 'glider' buttons on the chair feet. - Bed Bath & Beyond not only has those lovely 20% off coupons (you can ignore the expiration date, they never expire), the foam pad they sell is extremely cushy and good quality. We've been using some of them for over a decade and they've never broken apart or crumbled, nor stuck to the oak hardwood flooring. - If you want a thinner pad, I suggest you go to a flooring & carpet store. They usually sell a high-quality, very dense, thinner pad that they'll cut to size. Now, for rug size and type: - You want a rug sized to the width of your table with a chair pulled out for someone to try to sit down on it. There is nothing worse than a rug too small so when the person sits down, they discover when trying to move their chair forward and closer to the table, they've got the rug caught in the back legs of the chair! - My preference for DR rugs is wool. It doesn't matter whether it's handmade or a good machine-made (I've used both). The lanolin in a wool rug is one of the best stain-repellancy coatings around. The few things that will defeat it are coffee and sugar, curry, blueberries, or red wine (all of which will stain just about anything), so get those cleaned up pronto. A damp sponge will take up everything else; you can save the Resolve cleaner for the heavy-duty stainers. Vacuum the rug regularly and have it professionally cleaned every couple of years - I admittedly am terrible at getting around to this last and average every 10 yrs. But it really does make a difference in the vibrancy of the colors and plushness of the rug fibers. - Polypropylene, often sold as outdoor rugs, can be either plush or woven. The woven kind look similar to jute, and that tight flat weave makes it easier for chairs to slide over it. The upside is they clean with a garden hose, the downside is: 1) a big rug is heavy, and not easy to lug around or lay out to dry, and 2) oil stains can be more difficult to remove on some of them. They would be my distant second choice behind wool. - the real trick to stain-resistance is pattern. Any interior designer can tell you that, especially for those commercial spaces. Solid light colors are death for trying to keep stain-free, which is why you'll never see them used in any public spaces or even reception areas. Oriental rugs are great, you could drop an entire pan of paella on them and hardly see a thing wrong! This one was a great choice when I was giving sit-down formal dinner parties twice a month back in the '70's and '80's. Now it's in our LR still looking just as beautiful. It's just a machine-made Couristan but obviously will outlast us:

My son currently works as a 3rd party engineer for one of the felt rug padding and carpet padding manufacturers Rug Pad USA, Mohawk, Shaw.... and I've actually asked him this same exact issue. I'm a designer down in Savannah GA and our summers are as humid and muggy as they come. I asked him specifically what pads would work to avoid the "Sweating" issue. My clients and I complain about this all the time - the pads get glued to the floor. One of my clients had to replace a portion of their hardwood to fix this issue. He has an engineer background does this for a living, thus most of what he said went over my head....but here's what I gathered... - A 100% felt rug pad is actually recycled polypropylene fibers but it won't ever stain, nor sweat, but the rug has to be large enough not to move. But with smaller rugs, you need to stick with a rubber or latex product to prevent "sweating" and sticking. - Felt and rubber rug pads are made with either synthetic latex (lower cost) or Natural rubber (more expensive), he thought that both should be dry enough that they shouldn't sweat between your floors. So this is what I have been recommending to my clients. I also asked him about the different materials - since I told him one of my clients floors needed to be replaced. Heres what he said "your flooring surface finishes are whats important, not whats underneath them, and to be especially careful with vinyl, acrylic, and laquered finishes. Some PVC padding, not all, can leave an imprint on this type of flooring if they don't get the formula correct, or if they use cheap fillers rather in place of proper materials, or if they haven't been tested on before. Pads that tend stick to floors, melt, sweat, are always made with pvc and essentially all come from low grade suppliers in China." Some food for thought :) - Hope this helps

Palinpset-Well, even barefoot it is bad. :( In fact, I think the oils on our feet smudge it worse than shoes. I like the idea of socks others mentioned, but of course it is just not practical all the time. carol-I have considered that it may be the cleaner, so I will try your suggestion. Thanks. nancy-I will also try your product, the Bona X. I have Bella Wood cleaner that the dude from Lumber Liquidators suggested to me. Not sure if that could be the problem, or if it just doesn't clean that well? I will try Bona X! nanny-glad to know I am not alone in this! Thing is, the hair doesn't bother me as much as those darn smudges!!!