A Rug Under a Piano: Size, Sound and Protecting the Floor

By Storied Rugs7 min read

A red vintage Tabriz rug with an all-over palmette design and a navy border under a black grand piano and its bench, on a dark herringbone floor

Yes, a rug under a piano usually helps. On a wood, tile or stone floor it tames the harsh, loud sound bouncing back from the floor, and it protects the floor from the piano’s weight. Choose a low-pile rug large enough for the whole piano and the bench, with caster cups under the wheels and a dense, firm pad underneath.

A black baby grand piano and its bench standing in the middle of a cream Isparta rug with gray flowers and soft teal corners, on dark oak boards in a bright music room — An Isparta, 6 feet 8 inches by 10 feet 10 inches. An oval medallion of gray flowers sits on its cream field, inside a greige border. A rug this size takes the whole piano and the bench, so nothing rocks on an edge.

What a rug does to a piano’s sound

A grand piano sends its sound out two ways. Part goes up and out under the raised lid, and a large part comes off the underside of the soundboard and bounces off the floor.^[1] On a hard floor that bounce is strong. An acoustical consultant writing for Piano Buyer describes the result as harsh and brittle unless something absorbs it.^[2]

A rug is that something. On wood, stone or tile, a rug under the piano can cut the loudness a great deal.^[1] A thick pad under the rug absorbs more still.^[1] The size and the angle of the rug change the result, so it is worth trying more than one position.^[1]

Uprights behave a little differently. They usually stand against a wall and do not interact with a hard floor as closely as a grand does.^[2] A rug under an upright still takes some of the edge off a lively room, and it helps the people in the room below.

Hardwood, carpet or a rug: which is best under a piano?

For most rooms, a hard floor with an area rug under the piano works best. Bare hardwood leaves the sound harsh, and too much softness has the opposite problem. The same consultant warns that heavy drapes, thick carpets and overstuffed furniture can deaden a music room.^[2] His advice is absorption in the middle of the floor and livelier surfaces toward the edges.^[2] A piano on an area rug, with bare floor showing around it, gets close to that.

How big the rug should be

The rug should cover the piano’s whole footprint.^[2] It should also hold the bench, so the player is not rocking on the edge of the rug.

Under a grand

Grand pianos are wider than many people expect. Steinway’s smallest grand, the Model S, is 5 feet 1 inch long and 57¾ inches wide.^[3] The Model B is 6 feet 11 inches long and 58 inches wide.^[4] Add the bench and a little room behind it, and the measurements give you these sizes.

A baby grand around 5 feet long: a 6 by 9 at least, with the long side running out from the keyboard.
A grand around 6 to 7 feet long: an 8 by 10, or a 9 by 12 if the piano sits in a seating area.
A grand that shares the room with a sofa and chairs: one large rug under everything, sized as in our comparison of 8x10 and 9x12 rugs.

Under an upright

A tall upright is about 5 feet wide and a little over 2 feet deep. Steinway’s K-52, for example, measures 60 inches wide and 26¾ inches deep.^[5] With the bench in front, a 5 by 8 laid with its long side against the wall covers the piano, the bench and your feet. A 4 by 6 is the smallest that works.

A black upright piano and bench against a white wall, standing on a long Bakhtiari rug with two linked cream and red medallions on a navy field and a brick red border, on pale oak boards — A Bakhtiari, 4 feet 2 inches by 8 feet 11 inches. Two linked medallions in cream and red sit on its navy field, framed by a brick border. Laid along the wall, it holds the upright, the bench and the space where your feet go.

For these sizes, start with our medium rugs, large rugs and extra large rugs. Most of our extra large rugs cost between about $510 and $1,920.

What kind of rug works best under a piano

The best rug for a piano is a flat, low-pile rug on a dense felt pad, large enough for the piano and the bench. A low, even pile gives the caster cups a firm and level footing, while a deep or shaggy pile lets them sink and tilt. Nearly all the rugs we sell are low pile. A patterned rug also hides the small marks the cups leave better than a plain one.

Protecting the floor and the rug from the weight

A piano is heavy for its size. Steinway lists its Model B at 802 pounds.^[4] The K-52 upright weighs 650 pounds.^[5] All that weight rests on three or four small casters.

Put a caster cup under every wheel. A cup spreads the load over a wider circle and stops the piano from rolling. On a hand-knotted rug the wool will still flatten under each cup over time. Our post on furniture dents in a wool rug explains how to lift those marks if you ever move the piano.

A thicker pad absorbs more sound, as above, but a soft one lets the casters sink unevenly. Dense felt is the compromise: it adds absorption without much give, and Rug Pads 101 compares the types.

A black grand piano on a faded burgundy Isparta rug with pale flower sprays and a blue border, each front wheel resting in a round wooden caster cup, on pale oak boards — An Isparta, 6 feet by 9 feet 5 inches. Pale flower sprays are scattered over its faded burgundy field around a round medallion, inside a blue border. A wooden caster cup under each wheel spreads the piano’s weight over the pile and keeps it from rolling.

Getting the rug under the piano

Do not try to tip or drag a piano onto a rug yourself. The same consultant’s advice is to have professional movers there, to avoid injury and damage to the piano and the floors.^[2] Lay the rug and pad first, then have the movers set the piano down in its final spot. For lighter furniture, our guide to putting a rug under heavy furniture covers the method, but a piano is the exception.

Where the piano and the rug should sit

Piano technicians advise keeping a piano away from heating and air conditioning vents.^[6] Fireplaces and direct sunlight can affect its inner workings too.^[6] Those are the same spots that are hard on a rug. Sun fades it, and a rug belongs well back from the fire, as we explain in our post on a rug in front of the fireplace.

If the room has radiant floor heating, read our post on rugs on heated floors first. At least one floor heating maker says a piano should never stand over its heated floors.^[7]

A rug for the neighbors

A rug under a piano in an apartment helps the people below as well as the player. No rug will soundproof a piano, though. A rug and a pad soften the sound in the room and take the edge off what reaches the room below. The low notes still carry, because walls and floors pass low-pitched sound far more easily than high-pitched sound.^[8] Our post on whether rugs reduce noise explains what a rug and pad can and cannot stop. For an upright, a blanket or a piece of carpet fixed to the back of the piano mutes it further.^[1]

Measure the piano, add the bench, and then browse our living room rugs for one that takes them both.