Have you been bothered by your floor creaking each time someone walks over it? Or you might be very conscious about the amount of noise that you are causing to the floor or your neighbors below? The good news is, using rubber floor mats for soundproofing is a very effective way to stop all the noise and it does not require much of an investment!
In this post, I will share with you some of the best rubber mats for soundproofing so that you won’t feel so guilty the next time you do a somersault across it.
You will also learn how best to choose the right mat to use, and what makes them a superior choice when it comes to soundproofing your floors.
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Best rubber floor mats for soundproofing
In the listings below, you will find some of the best rubber floor mats for soundproofing your home effectively and at a price point that should be quite wallet-friendly.
These selections have been battled tested and come with a ton of positive reviews, and let’s not forget that they fit the criteria extremely well: that is to absorb sounds and keep the home quiet for both you and your neighbors.
Quick tip: You can also place furniture above the area where you want to soundproof the most. These heavy objects will add to the soundproofing effectiveness!
There is no particular order in the listing, so go ahead and choose one that appeals to you most!
1. RUGPADUSA Protective Cushioning Rug Pad
- CUSHION ONLY - Not a non-slip rug. This pad is designed for rugs anchored by furniture or heavy rugs that stay in place on their own. For non-slip with cushioning, try our Felt + Rubber options.
- DENSE FIBER PAD - Pad contains 24oz of felt per square yard. Thickness is approximately 1/4" throughout (actual thickness may vary slightly in production). Good for noise reduction and insulation (warmth) benefits.
- HIGH QUALITY - Our 100% felt rug pads are USA made and contain no glues, pvc, or latex. Premium rug pad for an eco-friendly home.
One of the most highly rated and popular rug pads around, this model from RUGPADUSA is a top-notch product that I highly recommend.
It has a thickness of 3/8 inch, which is one of the thickest on the market, and it offers an unparalleled amount of softness, comfort, and soundproofing ability to your floors.
The synthetic felt pad will make you feel like a million bucks without spending a small fortune!
Whether you are using on hardwood floors or just any other floor type, you can be assured that the grip strength is there to hold your rugs and carpets in place.
2. The Rug Collective Felt & Rubber Soundproof Rug Pad
- Gripping Power: Tired of your sliding carpet? Our under rug nonslip pad is used with all rugs. It consists of 100% recycled felt and rubber. Natural rubber backing keeps area rugs anchored firmly in place. Prevents slipping, sliding, and wrinkling in high-traffic areas. You can handle the cleaning process without your carpet slipping easily while vacuuming.
- Durable: Looking for a rug pad for your thin rug? This gripper rug pad a fuller look to your carpet and helps you feel more comfortable by providing plush on the feet without extra bulking. Thanks to its made of heat pressed felt, it provides soundproofing and insulation.
- Protection: The additional cushioning of this thick rug pad protect your rug and its surface is not deformed for a long time. Thickness is approximately 1/4" throughout. ***𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗘: Actual thickness may vary slightly in production.
- Customizable: Is this non skid rug backing bigger than your area rug? Do not worry. You can easily cut it with a household scissors to fit your rug’s size. The cut piece can be used as table and sofa cushions. You will love the rug gripper pad you put wherever you want.
- Safe to use: Unlike other rug pads, the rubber under this eco rug pad does not stain, strip, or damage hard surface flooring. You can use it on floors such as hardwood, laminate, vinyl, stone, tile, radiant heat, or concrete with peace in mind.
The bottom of this pad comes with tacky little beads that stick very well to floors, ensuring that they do not slip and slide easily.
This is super useful when you have kids and pets running across the house.
Since it comes in a large size, you can cover a big surface area, or you can choose to trim it down to fit your space.
Another benefit it brings is of comfort. When you walk across it, it does give the floor a different tactile feel. It doesn’t matter if you have a cheap rug or not, the rug enhances the floor greatly!
3. Mohawk Home Non Slip Rug Pad Gripper
- NON-SLIP GRIP: The durable slip-resistant latex rubber backing side supports precise rug placement and helps to prevent slipping, bunching, and wrinkles, as well as keeping the rug surface smooth on the floor to make vacuuming easier.
- LONG-LASTING PROTECTION: Durable and cushioned, the felt surface and latex backing will protect your flooring from possible long-term damage, such as scratches, scrapes, punctures, and other types of abrasion wear.
- FLOOR VERSATILITY: For carpet, simply place the rug pad beneath your rug with the felt side down. For hardwood and other similar surfaces, place the pad under your rug with the rubber side facing down.
- CUSHION VARIETY: This rug pad is available in two thickness options: 3/8” and ¼”, offering plush underfoot cushioning height to fit in any space.
- VERSATILE SIZING: Available in a variety of popular area rug sizes such as 2x8, 8x10, and 5x8, this rug pad can also be customized using scissors to fit any size in between by cutting 2 inches smaller than the rug size. (1-2 inches short of the rug perimeter)
- EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS: Add a plush cushion to your area rugs, perfect for any room in your home and Airbnb properties.
The Mohawk rug pad gripper acts as an additional layer to protect your floors and is built to last with its latex rubber backing.
Mohawk is a top-quality brand that has garnered the Green Label Plus Certification from The Carpet & Rug Institute. affirming its status as a low emissions manufacturer.
The plush cushion acts as a layer of softener when you walk across your floor, and thanks to its ideal thickness, absorbs sounds and vibrations very well.
4. Gorilla Grip Felt and Natural Rubber Under Rug Pad
- Extra Strong and Durable Gripper: constructed from ultra thick condensed needle punch felt, this rug pad is built for increased durability; it features naturally dense fibers that seamlessly grip the underside of your rug; designed to not break down like other rug pads; made to last for years
- Slip-Resistant Natural Rubber Backing: unlike many other rug pads, this features a natural rubber underside that is ultra durable to help prevent rug movement; our slip resistant and non adhesive pad helps reduce rug bunching and sliding, even over frequently visited areas of your home; the ideal option for any busy home
- Super Soft Cushion: an added benefit of this rug pad is the thick, soft cushion it provides on feet; incredibly plush, it adds more padding to every step; make even the thinnest of rugs feel extra comfortable and plush
- Added Floor Protection: perfect for most hard floors including hardwood and tile, our pads help protect floors from damage and everyday wear and tear like scratches, scuffs, and scrapes; plus, the dense fibers of the rug pad help to reduce noise and everyday sounds from reaching your room, while also providing an extra layer of protection for your beautiful floors
- Customizable and Simple Install: so easy to install and available in the most popular sizes to fit most standard sized rugs; for unique sizes, simply trim with a household scissor; to install, place the pad down, place the rug on top and trim any excess material; also makes cleaning easier; no more struggling to vacuum while your rug is slipping and sliding
This under rug pad from Gorilla Grip is highly sought after thanks to a combination of functionality and price. Not forgetting that the company has had a good reputation for creating high-quality products for years.
Although this particular pad is not too thick, at 1/8 inch only, it still does a really good job at muting out unwanted sounds and dampening vibrations on the floor.
The grip is excellent, and also offers a level of comfort for walking on.
This is suitable for homes that do not see a high amount of foot traffic, especially from jumping kids.
5. BalanceFrom Puzzle Exercise Mat with EVA Foam Interlocking Tiles
- With double sided high density EVA foam non-slip surfaces, the 1/2'' thick premium mat comfortably cushions spine, hips, knees and elbows on hard floors
- Each tile dimensions – 24” W x 24” L, Thickness – ½”, Tiles quantity – 36, End borders quantity – 72, Coverage area – 144 Square Feet
- Interlocking feature and lightweight make it very simple to assemble
- Exceptional resilience allow you to keep your balance during any exercise style. Moisture resistant Technology makes the mat to be easily washed with soap and water
EVA foam is a fantastic material for sound dampening since it is both soft and durable. While these tiles aren’t really nice looking, they will effectively reduce noise in your home.
You can stick them under your rugs to hide them anyway, so appearance does not come into the picture here.
You should know that this is the type of tile that is utilized on the floors of professional gyms, which means super long-lasting and resistant to shocks and vibrations.
Each tile is 24″ × 24″ and the packs are available in a variety of sizes. You can also choose from a variety of thicknesses ranging from 12″ to 1″, giving you a lot of flexibility.
6. Carpenter Spillguard DuPont Barrier Rug Pad
- The densest visco-elastic memory foam Cushion for soft feel under your feet. Full 1/2" thick padding.
- Hypoallergenic - ozone friendly (no CFC's). DuPont Active Layer RS renewably sourced moisture barrier film.
- Protects your investment by enhancing carpet performance and makes any carpet or rug feel more luxurious under foot.
- Spill guard moisture barrier prevents spills and accidents from penetrating the cushion, so they can be blotted from the rug quickly and easily.
- This pad is intended to provide comfort and protection. Does not have a non-slip backing, not recommended for keeping rugs in place.
This Carpenter rug pad has a unique feature that the other models here do not have. They have a moisture barrier that makes them very easy to clean up if there is a spill.
And thanks to their thickness, they can block out noise very well.
What really stands out is its soft memory foam cushion, which makes walking across it seem like walking on clouds.
Take note though. This particular pad does not have nonslip grips, so I wouldn’t recommend it if there are kids running around or if you have elderly at home.
Key factors to consider
Material
A good soundproofing mat will typically be made of rubber or at least consist of it.
When you produce noise inside your room, the wall, ceiling, and floor reflect or transmit it.
Rubber flooring can help prevent sound transmission from your upper to lower floors.
They are also very effective at stopping impact sound and airborne sound, the main culprits of noisy homes.
As a bonus, they almost always have a top layer made of felt or similar material to ensure comfort when people walk across them.
Thickness
When it comes to soundproofing, you can almost always say that the thicker the better, and especially the heavier the better.
This puts a larger barrier for sound to travel, so they lose their energy more so than thin materials.
When it comes to soundproofing floor mats, you want to get something that is thick enough to do the job well, but not stick out like a sore thumb.
Most of the good mats you find will be at least 1/4 inch thick, although I would recommend 1/2 inch as a good starting base. There are 3/8 inch thick ones available too, but you should expect to pay a slight premium.
Why is rubber good for soundproofing?
This question would probably require an entire page to explain, but I will try to summarize the main points.
There are four main techniques when it comes to soundproofing, namely, absorption, damping, decoupling, and mass, and rubber has all of these qualities in spades.
Rubber is excellent at absorbing sound, and taking care of floor vibrations is a breeze since rubber dissipates the energy before it builds up.
And as mentioned above, thick rubber is a really good choice when you want to add mass between soundwaves.
How do rubber floor mats help to reduce noise?
There are four ways that rubber can help to reduce noise, which is to absorb, dampen, decouple, or by adding mass.
Generally, it does the most of reducing vibrations and absorbing sound transmissions, whether they are impact noise (most effective) or airborne noise (slight impact).
We use something called Impact Insulation Class to quantify the efficiency of a product like soundproofing mats (IIC). It’s calculated via lab testing in which a tapping machine and a receiver are placed in separate rooms.
The materials are then placed in front of the tapping machine, and the noise generated in the other room is measured. Higher IIC ratings indicate that the material is more effective at dispersing impact noise.
What is a soundproof floor mat?
A soundproof floor mat is a sound-absorbing mat that is placed on your floor and then covered with a rug or other covering. The sounds created by the movement of the floor will be absorbed by the mat.
Alternatives to using a soundproof mat
Soundproof mats are great if you want a quick fix and something that can be moved around in the future.
However, if you are moving into a new place or considering renovating your entire home, you should look into installing an acoustic underlay.
They are great at dampening sounds, and can make a tremendous difference, especially if it’s laid beneath solid hardwood flooring because it gives a softer surface that absorbs impact.
Is foam or rubber better for soundproofing?
Acoustic foam is a sound absorption solution that may be used to modulate sound pressure levels in an area. Rubber, on the other hand, is used to soundproof a place by providing mass to prevent sound waves from exiting through a wall, floor, or ceiling.
Are gym mats good for soundproofing?
Soundproofing is particularly effective with thick rubber mats if they are thick enough and put properly. Mats should be at least 1 inch thick. Installing a thick underlay beneath the rubber will considerably boost the soundproofing effect, as it forms an additional dampening barrier between the rubber and the floor surface, reducing vibration transfer into the floor.
Are interlocking rubber floor tiles good for soundproofing?
They do have soundproofing qualities, but they may not always be the best choice compared to soundproof rubber mats. Interlocking floor tiles often are smaller in size and have a lot of gaps that will render soundproofing not as effective.
Will soundproof rubber mats work on vehicles?
Yes, they will, and in fact, there are several purpose build rubber mats for cars such as those from Noico, Dynamat, and Second Skin. Rubber is a common compound that is found in the production of these car mats.
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