Making carpet floor mats

[JackOfDiamonds]

I have a minivan I use for work and play and the carpet floor is going to get trashed. I don't know why they don't make everything with rubber floors you can hose out...

I'm thinking about springing for weathertech, which work good for the front, but im my experience they just flop around in the back. Instead of shelling out hundreds for slippery floppy plastic, why not lay down some cheap outdoor carpet. Then when it gets bad, just replace it. I used to use carpet remnants for work truck matts in the past. I'm sort of shocked they don't make cheap carpet mats off the shelf. But I can buy a roll of outdoor carpet from home depot, cut it to fit with scissors, and maybe even do something to finish the edge. Does anyone else have a method for cutting or finishing carpet for floor mats?

 

[e015475]

I went to Home Depot and bought some door mats and cut them up for my truck. I believe they're coconut fiber, and i looked for the shortest nap they had. About ten dollars. I cut them with a razor knife and rounded the edges and smoothed them out a bit on the belt sander

I used a product called "Instabind" to finish the edges. It says it can be hot glued but I had some stuff called 'shoe goo' that worked pretty well

 

[Jehannum]

I just use my serger to finish the edges.



Stick some jute or mat under the carpet with some carpet adhesive, put a binder over the edges (or don't), serge it, and bob's your uncle.

 

[danielbuck]

you could probably get away with a house door mat. I've used outdoor door mats in the back of my jeeps for dogs to have something nicer to stand/lay on than bare metal. Door mats are cheap, and they last a good while (my jeeps don't have tops, and are exposed to the weather)

If you want to make cut up carpet look good, sewing a binding or serge edge like above would be the thing to do. if you don't have access to a sewing machine, I bet a local upholsterer would be pretty cheap for such a simple task.

You could also look into spraying/rolling bed liner on the interior. I have that in one of my jeeps.

 

[plain2car]

I am kinda thinking the same for my project truck.. I was thinking I might hit a few salvage yards to see about finding some (in good condition) and putting some elbow grease into them..... ????