Home Gym Floor Mats - Foam and Rubber Flooring
Home gym floor mats protect floor surfaces from any damage caused by exercise equipment just being positioned on the floor, absorb and dampen impacts and vibrations, prevent slipping, decrease noise etc. Floor mats must be tough, durable, and easy to use and clean.
Published: April 20, 2021.
There are basically two types of home gym floor mats: interlocking floor mats and solid, folding floor mats.
Home Gym Interlocking Floor Mats
Interlocking floor mats come as individual tiles in various colors, thicknesses and dimensions. They have interlocking edges, which enables them to 'lock-in' and cover the much larger surface - floor area depends only on the number of individual tiles.
Tile dimensions - they range from very small tiles with a side width of just 5-10 inches to large tiles with a side width of 3-4 feet. For home gyms, 2 feet (61 cm) tiles provide the best ratio of a number of tiles and covered area when on the floor. For example, to cover 10x16 feet (3x4.5 m) room, one needs 40 2x2 feet tiles.
Tile thickness - thickness range from 3/8 of an inch (10 mm) to rarely more than 1 inch (25.4 mm). Thicker tiles provide better protection, but they are also heavier, bulkier, and more expensive. If you are going to put interlocking tiles permanently, put thicker, larger tiles - to fit the area completely, use a sharp knife or scalpel to cut tiles as required. Note: be sure to check with the manufacturer for the easiest way of cutting the tiles to the required size.
Tile materials - most interlocking tiles are made from EVA (ethylene-vinyl acetate) foam, rubber, PVC, and similar materials that are durable, moisture resistant, absorb impacts and vibrations, and are practically maintenance-free. One of the important features of these floor mats is to prevent bouncing back of fallen objects - bouncing is always present, but fallen objects will not bounce back off the floor.
Interlocking tile mats are great for small and home gyms as a permanent flooring solution. They are easily cleaned using ordinary vacuum cleaners and mops.
When positioned on the concrete, stone, ceramic tiles, parquet, and similar floors, they protect the floor from dirt and damage, especially if the equipment is not permanently fixed on such mats. Mats, in the long run, have a 'memory effect' - permanently positioned rower will eventually make a mark on the interlocking tile, but usually not on the floor itself. Solution - move the rower and other equipment from time to time.
If you have carpets on the floor - don't permanently put interlocking or any other mats on such floors. If you plan to make a home gym, remove carpets from the floor and put good interlocking mats, wall to wall.
Need interlocking floor mats? Check Amazon for Home Gym Interlocking Floor Mats.
Home Gym Folding Floor Mats
Folding floor mats are made as 'one piece' mats and are stored folded or rolled. They are suitable for periodic use for protecting various types of floor surfaces, including wooden floors, tiles, rugs, carpets, and similar.
In order to prepare a workout environment, one has to place the floor mat in a suitable location on the floor, put a rower (or any other exercise equipment) on the mat, and train. After a workout, the rower and floor mat are stored away till the next workout session.
Folding floor mats must be thick enough to be able to protect the floor from the damaging effects of heavy exercise equipment, it must be able to reduce noise and dampen vibrations. Rowers are generally not heavy, but when combined with a trainee, some really serious mass can be focused on a rather small area.
If the floor mat is too thick, when folded or rolled, it can occupy a rather large volume and make it hard to store.
Mat surface must repel water and moisture and must not be slippery, or rower can wiggle with every stroke. Just as interlocking mats, folding mats are made from similar materials like rubber, PVC or similar durable materials.
Need folding floor mats? Check Amazon for Home Gym Folding Floor Mats.
Keeping edges firmly on the floor sometimes can be a problem for interlocking mats positioned permanently - if there is a problem of lifting edges, one can 'glue' edges to the floor with ordinary two-sided duct tape. To 'glue' the edges to the floor, one can use double-sided duct tape labeled as 'heavy duty' or 'permanent'. Such duct tapes firmly hold the tiles on the floor. Also, expect problems when trying to remove mats off the floor.
This is rarely needed, but just in case, can be done to avoid any danger of falling over.
