Matting 101

Matting 101

Time for a pop quiz, friends.

How many feet of proper matting does the average facility need in order to effectively wipe out virtually 100% of the moisture and debris from incoming foot traffic?

The answer is 30 feet. 30 feet of the proper matting will scrape away ice melt fragments and other debris and wipe away that winter slushy wetness from your employee and guests’ feet. 30 feet of the proper matting will save you hours of labor and gallons of cleaning chemicals. 30 feet of the proper matting will help reduce your chance of having a slip and fall accident on site by over 50%.

In the perfect world, your facility will have 30’ of a combination of outdoor scraper matting, indoor scraper/ wiper matting, indoor wiper matting. These three mats work together to clean off debris and moisture from foot traffic to not only keep people safe while walking indoors but also to protect your facility’s floors. We track in some pretty harsh stuff on our feet and floors can need a total overhaul by the end of winter if a facilities management team doesn’t properly care for the floors all along.

Remember last winter? How much inside care was your team providing when they were busy shoveling and salting and trying to make the outdoors safe for employees and guests? They probably had time to refill dispensers, do some spot cleaning and maybe swab some toilets. They weren’t focused on floor maintenance because there just were not enough hours in the day. And that is totally understandable. Matting is a solid investment that helps reduce the need of a daily floor maintenance routine in the midst of everything Old Man Winter throws at us.

If your facility doesn’t lend itself to 30’ of matting or if a three-mat system is not in your budget, having something is better than nothing. A small outdoor mat and indoor mat will still help alleviate the damage done to floors and protect your employees and guests. Don’t let a tight budget or space get you in to a heap of trouble later this winter.


Here is some more info about the three types of mats:

An outdoor scraper mat is usually made of a synthetic material like PVC, vinyl or polyethylene and has little blades to help clean off the larger chunks of debris. A good scraper mat will hold pounds of dirt per square foot.

A wiper/scraper mat has a deeply-grooved design that helps retain moisture and dirt. It is designed to scrape the dirt from shoes and hold it below shoe level while wiping water away.

A wiper mat is designed to do just that– wipe the moisture off shoes. When reviewing your options, you may want to consider an olefin mat because it can dry up to three times faster than nylon and polyester.

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