You may have heard the term “Impervious Carpet” and wondered what this means.

A very thin impermeable layer, which sits underneath the carpet substrate and above the carpet backing, will create an impervious carpet and provides some very positive benefits.

Here are just 5 important points you should know:

1.Stops liquid reaching the subfloor

The Impervious layer will stop spilt liquids, of any nature, seeping through the carpet fibres and backing to the subfloor underneath.

The odd spilt drink shouldn’t cause too many problems to the floor underneath a carpet, but in areas where liquid spills happen quite regularly; such as within the hospitality, healthcare or education sectors, it can cause the subfloor to develop mould and bacteria or to degrade away.

Mould and bacterial growth under the carpet backing is one of the biggest causes of flooring odour issues.

2.Keeps liquid on the surface of the carpet

If a liquid spill occurs on an impervious carpet the impervious layer will ensure that the liquid stays on the surface of the carpet allowing for easy removal.

If it's attended to correctly and cleaned away properly the impervious carpet will incur less discolouration, plus any odours as a result from the liquid being held in the carpet backing or seeping through to the underlay or subfloor will also be reduced.

3.Carpet tiles cannot be fully impervious

For a carpet to be fully impervious there must be a continuous impermeable layer across the area that is carpeted.

Any modular flooring system, such as carpet tiles, will have gaps when it’s laid. This naturally creates an area where water can seep through to the floor underneath. This will not only create potential infection control and odour issues but will also make it impossible to clean without uplifting and potentially replacing the tile.

In addition to this many modern flooring adhesives are water-based. If exposed to water for a long time the adhesive will eventually breakdown. If a regular spillage was undetected, this could cause the adhesive to fail and the tile to lift resulting in a potential trip hazard.

4.Compatible with underfloor heating

Many impervious layers are engineered to allow sub-floor moisture evaporation whilst preventing surface liquid penetration, making them suitable for use with underfloor heating systems.

5.How to find out if a carpet is impervious

A simple way to detect whether a carpet is impervious is to obtain a large sample of the carpet and pour a small glass of water onto the surface. Place the sample on a paper towel and return in 5 minutes to see whether the paper towel is damp. If the paper towel is dry the carpet is impervious, if it’s wet the carpet is unlikely to be impervious.

Find out more about our range of impervious carpets by visiting our Healthcare carpet collection, the carpets from which can be used across a number of market sectors.