Rubber Mats for Home Gyms

Triathlon Forum
1

Looking to build a home gym in my new home. Any particular recommendations on rubber mattings to cover the wooden floors?

Any other notable advice?

Got to think of a system to store my n+1 bikes. Upside down on the ceiling? Up against the walls?

2

A 1/4 in. roll of rubberized flooring is all you need. I ordered mine from Lowes, but you can get an idea here:

http://www.rubberflooringinc.com/rubber-roll/residential-rubber-roll.html

I cut it to size and laid it down with double sided tape.

3

Thanks for the link.

Came across this at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001E4XL3E/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

works out to $1.135 a sq ft, but it is in squares. The complete piece sounds pretty good.

Thanks.

4

this is pricey but supposedly the bomb-diggety.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?urlRequestType=Base&catalogId=10051&storeId=10151&productId=20762&langId=-1&errorViewName=ProductDisplayErrorView&categoryId=&parent_category_rn=&top_category=&urlLangId=&cm_vc=-10005

5

sounds it. 100 lbs per mat? indestructible, especially if made for horses.

6

Ive had both the puzzle piece mats and the horse stall mats. It really depends upon what you’re going to be doing. I think that the best combo is cover the floor with the horse stall mats. They’re cheaper and easier to install than the roll flooring, and crazy durable. BUT, if you’re going to be doing any floor work, you’ll probably need a smaller more cushioned mat (like a yoga mat).

In the old house we covered the floor with the puzzle pieces, and we had 2-3 horse stall mats. (1 under the dreadmill, 1 under the bench and 1 for the roller/trainer space). The EVA puzzle pieces are really squishy and gaps tend to open up in the joints. You certainly couldn’t drop a dumbell on them without risk of damaging them. My bike cleats even tore them. You also would need something more dense if you were going to put a weigh bench or treadmill, or…on it.

In the new house we have the floor covered with the horse stall mats, and then we have a few yoga style mats for any floor work. This seems to be a much better solution. The roll flooring is really nice, just expensive. We paid closer to 1/2 of that tractor supply price at a local Ag store, but hell were they heavy and really hard/awkward to move!

7

Looking to build a home gym in my new home. Any particular recommendations on rubber mattings to cover the wooden floors?

Any other notable advice?

Got to think of a system to store my n+1 bikes. Upside down on the ceiling? Up against the walls?

I am looking for the same thing; I just installed my nice new hard wood floor and the first thing going in the room is my trainer. I need something to put under the trainer and bike so that its feet don’t scuff the floors but more importantly so that my sweat doesn’t pour out on the new floor. I was going to avoid the puzzle piece type thinking that the sweat would come through and potentially hurt the floor.

Would the rolled rubber potentially mar the floor?

8

Is the horse mat water proof? Will it protect a wood floor from sweat and repetitive motion of riding the trainer? I have a nice new floor and I need to ride my trainer in the room, but I don’t want to do any damage to the floor at all. Will this do the trick?

9

yeah, definitely waterproof, and it will certainly protect the floor, its not going to move.

But, if you’re just putting down 1 (and 1 is plenty for a trainer set-up), I would put down one of those thin pieces of “sticky felt” that you put under an area or runner rug, just to ensure that if there was any movement (and there will be when you install it or move it to clean it, etc) and there were bits of grit, sand, etc, it wont scratch the floor. But there is nothing that you will do on a trainer to move that mat. You could do jumping jacks with cramp-ons on and the mat would protect your floor, not kidding…

Clearly, if you put down more than 1, sweat could get between them, but you could just lay a thin bead of silicone caulk between them if thats what you were doing. Mine are over a concrete slab, so different application.

10

this is pricey but supposedly the bomb-diggety.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/...Id=&cm_vc=-10005

This is what I use as a trainer mat. Only downside is getting it out of the car and into the house… bombproof

11

there is nothing that you will do on a trainer to move that mat. You could do jumping jacks with cramp-ons on and the mat would protect your floor, not kidding…

that’s a funny image

12

If I am only looking to put something under the trainer (and maybe a few feet of buffer to catch sweat), I am thinking it may be easier to roll out some rubber on top of the kind of backing you are talking about (that goes under area rug). That way I could easily roll it up, clean under it, stick it in the closet if I have an extended use of something else in the room.

That should work right? I can’t imagine that the bike would hurt a wooden floor with the rubber layer and then the backer under it right? I will not be doing jumping jacks with crampons!

13

yeah, i think that would be fine. you may be able to do a short section of that roll flooring that another poster mentioned. If you were using that stuff you may not even need the stick-felt stuff, but it wouldnt hurt.

Just to be clear for everyone reading this thread, those horse-stall mats will not roll up.