How about stable mats???

[bazzateer]

For the whole floor I mean, not just as an anti-fatigue mat in front of the bench.

I may have the chance to buy about 1200 sqft of new 10mm thick stable mat material for under half what I was planning on spending on my alternative flooring.

Apart from the dark colour (it's black rubber) and the need to not let chemicals sit on it for long I'm struggling to find reasons not to go for it.

Opinions?

 

[bazzateer]

......................... and ........... I've been outbid rapidly to a price way over and above my other choice so it's back plan D (A was paint, B was vinyl tile and C was porcelain/ceramic tile).

 

[djjsr]

I have only 1 black rubber mat, a 4'x6' at one of my benches. It's like a black car. You can clean it and 10 minutes later it's dirty. But it is nice to stand on.

 

[bazzateer]

Not too worried about how a mat looks to be honest - I did buy a Dunlop one a few years back which will be going in the garage on top of the laminate floor I'm planning. May also get just one/two stable mats for the workbench area.

 

[Kevin54]

Bazz....I don't know how big your garage is, or what you plan on spending on stall mats, but if it were me personally, I wouldn't want them other than to stand on in front of a machine.

With that being said, what about the long rubber backed runners that are carpeted on top? A lot of times you can get with the company that caters to shops and stores, and get seconds for pennies on the dollar. I have one 3' x 20 mat that I picked up at the ReStore for $5, along with some 3' x 10' mats for the same price. When they get dirty, I pull them out into the driveway and hit them with a powerwasher. We have them in both garages, and also have them on our front and back porch to wipe our shoes on before stepping inside. I'd like to find some more just to have on hand.

 

[67carl]

I'm evaluating flooring options for my garage attached laundry/workroom and came across these:

http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/rubber-horse-stall-mat-4-ft-x-6-ft

3/4" thick, 100# each. Strong enough to take a horse walking, peeing, crapping, etc... on it so why not? Read some of the reviews - people using it for garage, workout/gym and other non-horse applications.

 

[67carl]

How easily would these mats be cut by say, the narrow wheels of creepers?

Good question. I haven't seen them yet but in the reviews some mentioned the difficulty trimming/cutting them to size. Aren't horse hooves sharp? Need a horse person to answer that but those things are heavy. Lot of weight in one small area.

 

[Autorotica]

We have a guy near us in Southeastern PA that sells old conveyor belting for use as stable pads.

Its rubber, durable as all get out and not terribly expensive. I bought 2 pieces 1" thick 10' x 20' for I think less than $200 for work. We have a hydraulic breaker on a skiddy and use that in a "non routine fashion" and we placed the mats under 1" steel plate to protect the concrete below.

Chris

 

[djjsr]

How easily would these mats be cut by say, the narrow wheels of creepers?

I don't think creeper wheels would hurt them at all. They're pretty dense (and heavy).

 

[ken w.]

I have a stable or horse mat in the back of my truck.It's heavy , things don't slide around on it , you can sleep on it with a sleeping bag.It's kind of a pain to cut. You need a razor knife that's sharp. The draw back is that it's very hard to keep clean. I have a few in my garage that I cut down to put my pedestal bench grinder on and to stand on. They work good. I'm not sure how well a creeper would roll on one tho.I don't own one.

 

[grandall4]

In my opinion, you will be disappointed with stall mats. I have 4 of them on 1 side of my 2 car garage from when I used it as a garage gym. While the mats are great for dropping stuff on, you need to pull them up a couple times each year to dry the moisture under them. With my epoxy floor, I find the melting snow and residual rain on my wife's car finds a way under the mats.

 

[TigerGA]

I'm evaluating flooring options for my garage attached laundry/workroom and came across these:

http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/rubber-horse-stall-mat-4-ft-x-6-ft

3/4" thick, 100# each. Strong enough to take a horse walking, peeing, crapping, etc... on it so why not? Read some of the reviews - people using it for garage, workout/gym and other non-horse applications.

FYI - A buddy bought one of these, cut in down to fit the rear of his jeep, and had to get rid of it due to the smell. The rubber smell was overpowering.

 

[98ramtough]

I would be scared of moisture getting trapped under these mats. Could that cause issue?

 

[bazzateer]

Bazz....I don't know how big your garage is, or what you plan on spending on stall mats, but if it were me personally, I wouldn't want them other than to stand on in front of a machine.

Having lost out on the cheap load of mats I'm now just looking at one or two for the standing area around the workbench.

While the mats are great for dropping stuff on, you need to pull them up a couple times each year to dry the moisture under them.

Good point, and much easier to deal with when there's just a couple of them.

 

[Gasgt1]

I have them in my wood shop and they work out well.
Never tried them on the garage side.

Greg

 

[shoein]

I own a horse farm and am a farrier so very familiar with stall mats. The mats will hold up to borium, drill tech or carbide studs that are added to shoes to provide traction. The mats can get a bit slippery when wet but not as much a polished concrete. The life span in a barn can be measured in decades. The negative in a garage or shop would be not welding or spark resistant as concrete. A heavy tool box may not roll as easily. I hate working in a barn with the horse standing on mats due to increased fire risk if I drop a hot shoe, also my shoeing box(holds the tools) does not roll as easily.

 

[Vinci]

I bought a stack of those TSC stall mats for my indoor workshop.

They are heavy as hell and feel like they will hold up to pretty much anything.

I will need to trim down a couple to fit them around walls. Any idea if a reciprocating saw would cut them well? If so, what kind of blade?

 

[twertsy]

I used a Dremel Sawmax with the wood/plastic blade to cut my stall mats. Worked like a charm.

 

[Vinci]

Were you able to get a clean cut, or did it tear the rubber?

 

[Kevin54]

I bought a stack of those TSC stall mats for my indoor workshop.

They are heavy as hell and feel like they will hold up to pretty much anything.

I will need to trim down a couple to fit them around walls. Any idea if a reciprocating saw would cut them well? If so, what kind of blade?

Don't they make a blade for a reciprocating saw that has a knife edge to it for cutting objects like that?

I was thinking that they do, but if not, maybe take an old dull blade and grind it down to a knife edge and go at it.

 

[jack bacon]

I think horse mats are too firm for anti fatigue mats. The best anti fatigues I have found are from Uline.com


Jack

 

[twertsy]

Were you able to get a clean cut, or did it tear the rubber?

It did not tear at all. Used the same blade for my garage tiles (about 1400 sq ft of tile)

 

[mdameron]

I have a Sherwin Williams sealed floor with a single TSC horse stall mat on it for working out. It's nice not having to worry about moisture with the sealer. However, the mats will always look dirty (I don't care) and an interesting note... it does get slippery. It won't slide on the ground, but you will slide on it if it is wet. Not as much as the bare floor (which is very slick, even with sharkgrip), but more than you'd expect a rubber surface to slip. I figured it'd be the ultimate nonslip surface.

I want to get a few more and cut them to make a "nonslip" path from wife's driver's door to the garage door. Floor's just too slick when wet.

 

[Delta74]

now why when I suggested stall mats a while ago, I got lots of laughs? anyway best thing I have found to cut them is a circular saw, mark what you want with chalk or a soap stone, and cut away, yes they will smell of rubber, but are nice working on. and no, in the time I have been using mine its not been cut or or torn with anything I have done with it.

 

[bazzateer]

now why when I suggested stall mats a while ago, I got lots of laughs?

It may have been that thread that planted the seed in my mind!

 

[Shopmaster]

I will need to trim down a couple to fit them around walls.

Get one of the extendable razor knives from Lowes or HD that have the snap to break blades - just extend them out and use a straightedge for a guide. Push hard 2 -3 times in the same cut and they are good to go. I use these mats indoors. It does take a couple of months for the new tire smell to go away but after that it's hardly noticeable. One thing to mention is, at least on my garage floor, there is moisture under them when I pick them up to clean.

Pretty indestructible and reasonably priced. Not much on the anti fatigue side of things though; they are solid.

 

[Vinci]

Mine are going into my den that I converted to a workshop, to replace the nasty carpet that is in there. I don't think moisture should be a problem there, but I could definitely see that in a garage.

I'm hoping the smell isn't too bad. They were stored outside when I bought them, and I've had them sitting on my back porch for a few weeks now since I picked them up. I keep curling them back in the stack to expose more for a while, in case that helps them gas out.

I wanted to get my walls painted before putting the flooring in, so I will probably be another week of two before the mats get cut.

 

[NoSloCoupes]

On sale now for $35. I'd prefer the textured ones the picture shows, not the flat/slippery ones people have talked about in here and in the reviews....guess i'll give them a call.

 

[Vinci]

On sale now for $35. I'd prefer the textured ones the picture shows, not the flat/slippery ones people have talked about in here and in the reviews....guess i'll give them a call.

The ones I picked up have a very slight texture on the top (not smooth), and slight ridges on the bottom side. I'm sure it's the same as what's in the photo on the website, but the web photo seems to exaggerate the texture.

I don't doubt that it could be a little slick with some water on it.

If you have a TSC nearby, you can check them out in person. They are likely to be stacked up on pallets outside.

 

[NoSloCoupes]

What 10% coupon? They have the textured with grooves on bottom, asked about discount since I'm interested in 16...they'd only knock off 5% if buying a pallet which is 24.

 

[mdameron]

The mats can't be purchased online; how did you use the 10% off code?

 

[mdameron]

So it was an in-store coupon? That would be great.

 

[Vinci]

Any ideas for something to cover gaps between mats?

Mine aren't perfectly square (and neither are my walls) and I have some small gaps here and there.

 

[24 dodge]

I cut mine with a shop knife and a straight edge, one thing if you have a gas leak on your car it will eat a hole in the mat.by the way mine were the thick ones.

 

[redpost]

I agree with Shopmaster on how to cut these mats. Using one of the 3/4 inch thick TSC ones for a floor mat I also cut some of this material to use as noise and vibration insulation under each of the three support feet of my 80 gallon upright air compressor (it weighs approx. 550 pounds). It works well and shows no sign of permanent compression set or deterioration after two years. And it provided so much noise dampening that I thought something was wrong with the compressor when I first started it.

 

[mdameron]

I got two more and cut them with a circular saw. I actually cut it on the ground, using the lip of the garage floor where it meets the driveway as one "sawhorse". Then I used a 2x4 as the other "sawhorse" just outside the garage. This gave 1.5" of space beneath the mat. Then I used 2 clamps to hold a 2x4 as a guide for my circular saw, after marking the midpoint on both ends of the mat. Then I just ran my circular saw at 1" depth along that guide.

Made a nonslip path to pregnant wife's car, and a fatigue mat with the extra.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ways05nea8v5ygq/z99wUwV_D4/Garage