Mat Buyer's Guide

1. The mat backing: Why the right back makes the right mat for you.

2. The Mat Task: Scrape, wipe or both?

3. The Entrance: Where do I put my mat, indoor or outdoor?

4. The industrial mat: Kitchens, factories, garages and more.

5. Anti-fatigue: How these mats SAVE you money!

6. Custom Art mats: Design things you need to know.

7. Custom Artwork Mats: Printing vs. Inlaying

8. Cleaning your mats: It's this easy.

The Mat Task: Scrape, Wipe or Both?

These two tasks, scraping and wiping, provide different results in different situations. Scraping mats outside the entrance of a grocery store help remove dirt and soil from the shoes of shoppers. A scraping mat for a factory, helps workers keep their shoes or boots clean while they perform their daily tasks. Scraping mats are very coarse and besides removing dirt, are able to hold large amounts of moisture or let moisture drain through the mat away from the traffic area. Wiping mats provide the finishing job. They are less coarse than scraping mats and are designed to trap dust and water from leaking onto the floor and damaging it. Wiping mats are typically used indoor as part of an indoor/outdoor system or as an indoor only for low traffic areas.

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The Entrance: Where do I put my mat, indoor or outdoor?

Deciding where to put your mat can be as important as choosing the mat itself. In fact, it is the first step in getting the most performance from your mat. Indoor and outdoor mats provide two different roles in controlling moisture and dirt. Entrance areas, especially high traffic ones, require both and indoor and outdoor mat for best results. Outdoor mats should provide a surface for scraping and removing large amounts of dirt and water. Depending on the area, the mat should be able to hold large amounts of water, or where drainage is good, allow the dirt and moisture to flow through the mat and away from the entrance area. The indoor mat is used to lower moisture and dust control as well as reducing wear in high traffic areas. Indoor mats should trap and hold water and soil to prevent it from leaking on to the surrounding floor area, causing other slip and damage areas.
Other things to consider when choosing an entrance mat: If the outdoor area of your entrance is not covered, choose a mat that allows water to flow through and away from the entrance area. Non-flow mats will quickly fill up on a rainy day and lessen the mat's performance.

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The Industrial Mat: Kitchens, Factories, Garages and more.

Industrial mats provide added comfort for you and your workforce with the added benefits of slip resistance and dirt and moisture management. Here are some things to consider when choosing a mat for your business:

#1. If the area has a lot of moisture and has adequate drainage, choose a flow-through mat that will provide slip resistance without filling up with water.

#2. If you are working around oils, greases or in high temperature areas, make sure the mat backing or mat construction uses Nitrile rubber. Most of our industrial mats do.

#3. If your work area is on carpeting you need to use the gripper backing for loop style carpeting. If the carpeting is cut pile, we recommend use of the Magna Grip underlay for gripper backed mats.

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Anti-fatigue: How these mats SAVE you money.

We all want our employees to be more productive without sacrificing the safety of the work environment. And this is exactly where anti-fatigue matting fits in. Loss time due to back strain, foot stress and general fatigue combined with slip and fall accidents cause roughly $1 billion dollars in lost productivity in the United States alone. Don't become a victim of this statistic. Opportunities to place anti-fatigue mats can be found in almost any facility where people work today. From industrial operations to retail shops, many jobs require employees to stand for extended periods in specific locations. Any employee who is required to stand for extended periods can be distracted with discomfort that comes from hard working surfaces like tile or concrete.

Steps in addressing fatigue areas:

1. Observe where your employees spend most of their time during the day. Are they standing in a single area, moving from area to area or using a defined path for their daily work? If they are standing in a single area, a standard sized anti-fatigue mat will do the trick. Figure the size of the area and determine how big the mat needs to be. If your employees are moving from area to area, several mats may be needed to cover these destinations. If there is a specific path that is used readily, a rolled mat or linked mat system is needed. These systems allow you to cover large areas affordably and with easy cleaning and maintenance.

2. What are the traction needs of the area? Different areas require different traction needs. Areas that have a low instance of water or chemicals can use a standard, anti-fatigue mat that uses the natural properties of the rubber and mat design to prevent slip and fall injuries. Areas with high moisture may require a more highly tractioned surface. These surfaces can be treated with a sandpaper-like coating that ensures maximum slip prevention. If the area has sufficient drainage, a flow through mat can be used to allow moisture to filter below the mat and into the floors own drainage system. If drainage is not available, use a mat with moisture holding properties to prevent spilling around the mat area, damaging floors and causing additional slip hazards.

3. Does the area require special attention for danger or hazards? In some industrial settings, work areas require special attention as work can be hazardous due to machinery or chemical usage. OSHA borders are available for many mat options.

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Custom Art Mats: Design things you need to know

Custom artwork mats are a great solution to help reinforce your company brand and image. Used both indoor and out, custom artwork mats come in many standard sizes and offer dozens of color options. Artwork mats require artwork that is good enough to reproduce at large sizes. For this reason artwork files from programs like Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw and formats like EPS are best for resizing and placing artwork on a mat. Keep in mind the following guidelines when uploading your artwork:

1. You can upload two versions of your logo for use in our program. A low resolution image for on screen viewing and a high resolution file (Like EPS or native program file like Adobe Illustrator) for production of your mat(s).

2. Use EPS, TIF, JPG, BMP formats of your artwork or native program files for the high-resolution version. If you have it, EPS or vector artwork files are preferred.

3. If a proof is needed, we will return it within 48 hours of your artwork submission. The first proof is free along with one correction. Additional corrections are billed at $20 a piece.

4. Use the special instructions area to tell us additional information about your order needs. This can speed the ordering process up significantly.

5. Make sure you use a valid email address for your order so that information such as proof and order status can get to you quickly.

Still have questions on submitting your artwork, email us. We'll respond back within two hours during our normal business hours.

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Custom Artwork Mats: Printing vs. Inlaying

We have two processes for creating custom designed mats: printing and inlaying. Through a state of the art production process, we are able to create mats much in the same way as you print to a printer. This special dying process allows extremely quick turn around times (less than 4 days for small quantities) and fantastic color and stain resistance with our Perma-Dye plus StainStopper dyeing. The inlay process actually cuts our solution dyed materials so that they fit together, much like a puzzle. This allows us to take one of our most popular Mats, WaterHog, and create a custom design just for you. These mats are a preferred choice for outdoor application or areas with high traffic levels.

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Cleaning your mats: It's this easy.

Cleaning your mat is as easy as using a dry vacuum or wet/dry cleaner. Our custom printed mats respond best to dry vacuum or wet vacuum process without using harsh cleaners. You can even simply hose them off. Our standard mats can be cleaned in a variety of ways, from upright vacuum or carpet cleaners to industrial laundry machines. Most mats will clean well with a simple hosing and drying. See our easy to read cleaning chartfor all of our mats.

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