Rugs are a great way to break-up space in a room, especially in an open-concept space. If you have a dining room and living room that are both open concept, using a rug under your dining room table, as well as one in your living room, can go a long way in defining your space.

When you have engineered hardwood flooring in your home, rugs are ideal to help protect the high-traffic areas. You can place a rug by your front and back doors, in your hallway, and by your patio doors. They are a great way to protect your precious flooring, especially if you have kids or pets.

One of the problems you are sure to run into (if you haven’t already) is your rug sliding around all the time. This can get really annoying over time. Luckily, we have some tips on how to keep the rug from sliding on hardwood floor:

1. Rubber Rug Pad

Rubber rug pads are commonly used to keep rugs from sliding on hardwood floors. You can purchase one that is the same dimensions as your rug (or cut it down if it isn’t) and simply place it underneath your rug.

These pads are usually quite thin and have a waffle-like pattern on them. It’s important to ensure you are buying a good quality one that won’t damage your hardwood floors. You can buy these from big-box retailers and online. Make sure to read the reviews so you find one that doesn’t damage and that also does a good job of keeping your rug in place.

2. Double-Sided Carpet Tape

Double-sided carpet tape is a handy solution to stop your rug from sliding on hardwood floors. To apply the tape, start by unrolling your rug and leaving it to stretch out. Next, roll out half of your rug while leaving the back of the rug exposed. Stick the tape on the sides of the carpet. Once this is done, you can unroll the carpet back into place.

You can find these at big-box stores, as well as online.

The same rule applies here. Make sure you are purchasing high-quality double-sided carpet tape to ensure that the tape you’re buying actually works.

3. Gripper Tape

Gripper tape is another way to prevent your rug from slipping and sliding all over your home. One of the great features of this tape is that is releases quickly from rugs when lifted, making it easy to take it off when you want to move your rug’s location. Another benefit is that it is quite inexpensive.

This tape can be used on hardwood floors without worrying about damaging it.

4. Caulking

Caulking comes in handy for a wide variety of things and helping your rug to not slip on your hardwood is just another one of those things.

What you will need to do is apply the caulking to the back of your rug. To do this, flip it over and following the width of the rug, squeeze out strips of caulking. For the best results, lay strips of caulking at intervals of about six inches. Make sure it’s nice and dried before flipping it back over.

Pro tip: Acrylic-latex caulk is best for this purpose. If you don’t have any caulking on hand but do have a hot glue gun and glue sticks, you can use this method instead, following the same process.

5. Masking Tape

Next up, is masking tape. This tape can be used to fix a variety of household issues and this is no different. All you need to do is roll the tape at least five times around your hand and then apply it to each corner of the rug. Another benefit of masking tape is that you don’t need to worry about it ruining or damaging your hardwood floors.

6. Velcro Strips

Finally, another option you can use to stop your rug from slipping is velcro strips. To start, you will need to mark the rug’s place on the floor with a light pencil that can easily be erased. Next, flip your rug over and apply two-inch strips of velcro to the back. Cut four strips of the soft side and four strips of the rougher side.

Then, peel the protective backing from each strip of velcro and lay the velcro strips on the floor, adhesive side facing upwards. Next up, stick a soft velcro strip in the corner of the rug a few inches from the corner, adhesive side facing towards the rug. Make sure to apply even pressure to the velcro strips so they’ll stick. Repeat this process for each corner of the rug.

To help you align the velcro, use the placement of the velcro on the rug and the pencil markings that you have made on the floor. The last step is to flip the rug back over and lay it on the ground. And voila! You’ve successfully secured the rug to your hardwood floors.