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The other day I surprised myself by how excited I got about carpet tape. I suppose I was more excited about securing my carpet — a vintage colorful and handmage shaggy Moroccan piece from Etsy that finally went on sale. I waited for weeks for it to arrive in the mail, and when I finally rolled it out into my living room, I knew I needed a no-tripping solution. Stat.
As it’s a handmade rug, the weave is visible on the underside and was very slippery on my hardwood floor. It bunched up around my coffee table or wherever there was foot traffic, and consistently was just askew enough to make one question their lived reality. While I don’t have children or pets, I am about as clumsy as a toddler, meaning any extra moving variables in my home are a liability. And so, like all millennials, I took myself to Target to find answers to my home problems.
What I soon found was that a cushiony, anchoring under-rug pad was about the same price as my $150 vintage handmade carpet, which, in my Goodwill-calibrated brain, is a capital “S” splurge. I had no intention of spending just as much on a piece of viscous mesh that I don’t even see.
I almost lost hope completely, until I saw a roll of woven, grippy under-carpet tape for an enticing $7. I threw two rolls in my cart and called it a day.
To ensure the best results, I thoroughly read the directions, which I very much recommend to you. It said to thoroughly clean and dry the hard floor the rug is going on, then measuring, cutting and applying the tape directly across the backside of the rug in long strips. This is a woven, double-sided tape that’s super sticky, but it does lose strength if you touch it or apply then reapply it, so you want to really do the “measure twice, cut once” bit. It’s rolled onto a yellow film strip that you satisfyingly pull off once you put the tape on the back of the rug, exposing the other sticky side. From there you put the rug exactly where you want it, and run either your feet or hands over it to pat it down and make sure it is secure.
Upon laying my rug down, I was relieved to feel how secure it was. That rug is not going anywhere. After putting the long lines of tape down, I also put a square of the tape in each corner of the rug for some extra lockdown. I gleefully set my coffee table back on it, with not a roll or bunch in sight. Because the tape is woven, it works super well with extra plushy rugs, especially those that don’t have a sealed backing for the tape to stick onto.
It’s been a few months now of heavy foot traffic, and the rug has still not budged. While it doesn’t offer the bounce or cushion of under-rug pads, it’s a perfect, affordable method to keep rugs in place without harming your rugs or your floor.
After reading online reviews, I would again recommend reading and following the directions and also using this tape on hard floors — not to use this to stick rugs to carpet or other rugs. Also, make sure to measure how much tape you’re going to need; you want a strip of tape across your entire rug every six to 12 inches or so. Be sure to check out how long each tape roll is — the sizes are different on Target and Amazon — so you can make sure you’re getting enough for your home.
If you, too, have a handmade or very loose or plushy rug, I super recommend getting a couple of rolls of this woven, sticky tape to help it stay in place and to hopefully prevent bunching or tripping.
Hear from some other rug gripper tape lovers:
“The best rug tape out there by far! Holds all of my little runners, mats & area rugs down, I can easily vacuum over it (with a Dyson that’s powerful) & when I need to wash the rugs it doesn’t pull the varnish off my floors like other brands have done. There is a little residue to wipe off before you put the rug back down but I think it’s to be expected and isn’t a huge deal. Love this stuff.” — Kelly Harber
“I have tried so many different products and nothing works as good as this carpet tape and it does not damage the floors. I have used it all through my house and will use nothing else!” — Cindy J
“This tape is amazing. Way better than anything I’ve tried before! It’s works great on both large and small rugs. I line the whole edge of the rugs and they never budge!” — Hoop
“Gotta be careful to clean carpet and flooring and not touch the tape before placing, but this works great on hard floors to keep the rug in place. Even with 4 energetic dogs running wildly down the stairs and landing on the rug! Buying 3 more for other rugs.” — JB
“Works great, keeps my rugs in-place in my kitchen. No more sliding around!!” — Dylan
“Easy to apply. Inexpensive (especially compared to a full-rug pad). If you’re not looking to cushion your rug but really just want to hold it in place, this stuff is great!” — redcardaddict
“I got this for our medium sized area rug on hardwood. I did not think it would work, but it totally did! Great, easy, affordable solution to our rug that was constantly sliding around.” — Carolyngrace79
“Bought this tape to secure a rug that was always moving under our feet. It worked like a charm.” — Raq