Back to back – our quick guide to carpet backing

Carpet backing provides support and is an essential layer between your carpet and the flooring underneath. It’s an important part of the carpet, but because you can’t see it, it doesn’t really get the credit it deserves. 

It’s important to note, however, that the overall look and wear of the carpet is down to the actual carpet fibres themselves and not the backing – so always look for good quality, long-lasting carpets that have good warranties. The backing is (almost) the icing on the cake.

At Furlong Flooring, our carpets have one of the following types of backing:

This is one of the most common carpet backing materials. It’s affordable and can be fitted onto any flat floor, with or without carpet underlay. However, for halls, stairs, and landings, a felt-backed carpet will need underlay to ensure a proper fit. Its lighter weight makes it easy to install and it gives you added comfort underfoot. 

Current ranges with felt back are:

- Atlas

- Mali

- Dakar

- Oasis

- Sahara

- Fairway

- Harmony

This is our heavyweight felt backing offer. At 200 grammes, it effectively becomes its own built-in underlay. This gives a more comfortable feeling underfoot and allows the carpet to still be fitted over a separate underlay for a more luxurious feel if you choose. Currently, our Uni-bac backing is used on our Duchesse and Charme ranges.

Action-bac is commonly found across all carpet manufacturers. It is a strong, durable backing fabric that works best on top of an underlay. It’s tough and long-lasting which is why it works well with our hard-wearing carpet ranges.

Current ranges using Action-bac are:

- Oasis

- Sahara

- Revelation

- Chiltern Heathers

- Chiltern Highlights

- Chiltern Pastelle

- Trident Heathers

- Trident Highlights

- Trident Pastelle

- Harmony

- Sumptuous Moods

- Satisfaction

Combi-bac®is our unique and flexible backing material. It offers increased strength and flexibility, whilst reducing delamination and making carpets easier to transport and fit. It also makes the carpet easier to move in and out of properties, avoiding paintwork scratches and making it easier to manoeuvre the carpet around tricky corners. It’s proven to be a game-changer in the market and retailers, contractors, and customers love it.

We currently have Combi-bac® as standard on the following ranges:

- Aria

- Spirito

- Vivace

- Solitaire

- Eminence

- Carefree Twist

- Serenity

- Carefree Ultra

You can find all these ranges on the flooring section of our website – where you can also check out our collections of vinyl, wood, laminate, and LVT.

If you have any more questions on our backing types, please get in touch with one of the team.