IncStores IncStores 1/4"" Tough Rubber Roll

This is the best stuff ever, truly. About a year ago we remodeled a room into a small at-home gym. I saw this stuff then and it seemed pricey compared to the little puzzle squares, so I bought those instead. Bad move... the puzzle squares I bought are made out of foam and are about as resilient as bread. Already I have dents and tears all over my floor. So, about a month ago I started working on a little workshop for myself and decided to shell out the money for it this round. Of course, by comparison this stuff is very reasonably priced when compared to practically every other flooring. I just have a habit of going WAY over budget and I try to keep my pencil sharp. Additionally, the rooms I've considered this stuff for (gym and workshop) are annoying things to spend a lot of money on... very low priority.. so I searched high and low for the absolute best value. Either way, I used this stuff (1/4" tan) on top of a wooden floor in my small workshop (16'x10', 4 rolls). It looks FANTASTIC.. everyone who sees it quizzes me about where I got it, and I hear things like "wow, I LOVE that floor." I will post a few pictures in just a sec. Installation was not without some learning experiences that I hope someone else finds valuable. Considering that the rolls are precisely cut to the advertised dimensions, the rubber is seemingly high quality, and it looks greats.. these little tips I'm about to share should not reflect poorly on the product, I'm just ignorant and inexperienced. - At first it was hard to cut, but then I changed the blade on my utility knife and it sliced very easily. I used an assortment of straight edges and trimmed this stuff in no time. I even had to cut one roll length-ways, which I was dreading, but it only took 5 minutes. - I found a nice video on Youtube, (search for "How to Install Rubber Workout Mats", id:AXd6Z4wUAC4) -- and it described the installation process pretty well. - Despite following the video's instructions I was unable to make a perfect seam in some places. It might be because of very small inconsistencies in the width, but its more likely that I unrolled the material at a slightly incorrect angle, like a half degree or something. Me and the wife spent an hour or two bumping and sliding in various directions, but there would always be one gap or ridge somewhere. So, first I bought some of these: ( #2 1/4 Inch Black Cut Tacks ) .. and some black staples of about the same size/strength (could not find comparable product on Amazon, but I'm sure its here somewhere) and used the staples for the seams and the nails under the trim and at the doorway. This did not help much and did not look great. So, I ordered some black caulking which arrives in a few days, hopefully that will solve the problem. Please keep in mind that I am trying to achieve a near-perfect seam. You may have better luck than me, or not be so picky about the extremely small seam... but I want it to go away. - Originally I intended to trim the room using the excess rubber. After tampering with that idea for a few minutes I realized that it would be more difficult than I had expected, and ran to Home Depot for some white PVC trim. Aside from the challenge of making perfect lines, this product would not make for excellent trim because it is too thin to serve one of trims most useful functions, covering your not-so-perfect edges. I wanted to solve both problems by running the rubber up the wall a little (as opposed to cutting a dedicated trim slice) but it started to feel awkward and difficult. It would definitely be possible to do it, but I ran the steps through my head and just decided to go with what I know. - I decided to use an underlayment beneath this stuff as a moisture barrier and small amount of insulation (very small, probably, but every little bit helps). This underlayment (found here: Roberts 70-025 Unison 2-In-1 Underlayment ) made the seaming even harder because it could bubble and move, making the carpet tape that holds the rubber down significantly less effective. So, I stapled my underlayment to the wooden floor using insulated staples. Yes, I know, not a great idea, but I was in a hurry. I did not learn until later that there is a "underlayment adhesive" that could have settled my troubles right away, but you live and you learn. If you want to use underlayment, be sure its held VERY tightly to the subsurface, so that it does not defeat the adhesive for the rubber. My problem wasn't that I did not know that, it was pretty obvious. My problem was that I didn't think through the idea of stapling a plastic water barrier and how those tiny staple holes could nullify the whole point of the underlayment. - I found it difficult to determine the exact cutting point for the rubber to ensure that it gets cut as close to the wall as possible. What I did was just allow the rubber to run up the wall then press with my finger to find the edge. This worked reasonably well, especially since I gave 1/4" padding to my finger's guesstimate (cutting too little is easily corrected). However, I still managed to cut a few places about 1/16" too short to be covered by the trim, so I am hoping to hide that with the aforementioned black caulk. My advise would be to either pre-cut the rubber, be more diligent than I was, or use a thick trim. - I've noticed that the parts of my flooring that are exposed to sunlight will heat up considerably. When it heats up, it expands, and between that and the air being heated underneath, I get these rather large and annoying air bubbles all over the floor until it cools back off. Had I done a better job with adherence, this would probably be reduced, but unless you glue 100% of the floor to the subsurface I cannot imagine this problem going completely away. I have not yet found my final solution, but I'm working on it. So, my install was not without its challenges, but it was a walk in the park compared to every other type of flooring I've ever installed. You'll love this product. You will also likely hate the cheap foam alternatives... I know I do. Good luck :)

I almost did not get these because of the reviews of horrible smells. I'm glad I decided to ignore that. These are great. There is a little off gassing for the first few days, but it quickly fads. If not, you it may be due to the room you are putting them in. Maybe there is not enough air flow or exchange. We ordered two mats. Laid one down right away in the family room area and the smell was strong the first two days and then gone after a week. We opened the second one in the garage and did not unroll it. Left it for a week and then brought it in and unrolled it. Smell was only faint for a day or so. No one got headaches or complained but that might be because my guys are athletes and used to the smell of the mats and gyms and things that smell way worse like pads and helmets. So for the quality. These are great. They are heavy for being the "thin" ones. I'm a mom and moved one by myself but was happy to have help with the second one. The sides lined up nicely and we were lucky to get mats that were practically the same length so we didn't need to cut anything down. We have these on our laminate flooring with infloor heat underneath. I feel confident enough to allow the boys to do some basketball dribbling on them for now. These will move out to the garage this spring but they seem way to nice for the garage floor. They are just protecting the floor from activity and equipment for now. We opted for these instead of the Bowflex mats that were the same price but less quality and smaller and not as nice looking. We go the blue and gray speckled mats. We couldn't be happier with this purchase.

Excellent quality and sizing!

Mats work great for what they are meant to do. They grip shoes/feet extremely well seem to have nice impact resistance. If you plan on doing a lot of floor-based exercises, I would still recommend using a yoga mat or similar on top of these mats. The smell is pretty strong at first, but is bearable after a few days (or I got desensitized to it). I've had them for about a month and the room smells like a bunch of basketballs now. I ordered 4 rolls and all were about 3-6" longer than advertised, but the cuts were not straight (presumably you could cut them to all be exactly 10'). 1 of the mats had a small section near the long-side edge that measured about 0.29" thick compared to the 0.25" everywhere else. The 0.04" difference isn't much, but that could catch your foot during an exercise depending on what you're doing. I just flipped the roll over and it sat flush with the other rolls. Overall happy with the mats and the competitive price.

Heavy duty commercial gym grade. Unrolled nice and flat. Very slight odor gone after couple days. Bought it twice!

I have a workshop with concrete floors which are very cold and absorb all the heat being produced by the 2 electric heaters. I just got these today and they look great, just as pictured and install easily. Just as the description states, the mats are cut a bit larger and so they aren't all the exact same length but they are super easy to cut with a new blade on a utility knife and 2-3 swipes depending on your strength. They are 1/4 inch and are really a great product for my workshop. The rolling tool boxes have no problem rolling over them. They don't have nonskid but they are heavy so I haven't had much problem with them sliding around once I got the 7 I ordered set down. Hoping they help reduce the energy costs of the heater and insulate the floor a bit.

I love this stuff put in top of my work center at work and the shelf on it...on the back of my surface plate to hold my v blocks. A mat for under my Harley. To lay on in the gravel or paved driveway when working on the car. To wrap up a bod.....well let's not go there, but I think you get the point. It's super durable and yet stiff enough to use as a writing surface but not so stiff it hurts to lay on. Worth every penny.