Give Your Patio an Upgrade with a DIY Deck Floor

The outdoors can get rough, turning your beautiful new deck into a stained and chipped hazard of a patio. Even concrete takes damage from moisture and abrasions easily, making these traditional floors hard to maintain when they are outside. An easy, affordable, and arguably fun alternative would be installing a DIY rubber deck floor. With many different gauges, colors, and textures to choose from there is undoubtedly an outdoor flooring to suit both the aesthetic and functional needs of any patio, and the best part is you can even install it yourself!

It’s no secret that traditional flooring options like wood, tile, and concrete do not hold up well against harsh weather conditions. These surfaces perform much better indoors, where they are not exposed to UV rays, ozone, and extensive moisture. Even wind and foot traffic eventually scratch up these delicate floors, which can be stained and cracked fairly easily. However, none of these weaknesses are problem for rubber outdoor flooring! Most rubber deck flooring is made of recycled rubber, which in addition to being cost-effective and eco-friendly, is highly durable and resistant to the damaging effects of weather. Rubber is a great protective barrier because it absorbs shock, softens impacts, and reduces vibration, ensuring your deck floor stays safe no matter how wild the weather gets.

A new rubber surface doesn’t just protect your deck floor, it protects your family as well! Traditional surfaces like wood and concrete get extremely slippery when wet, which is a common occurrence for most outdoor flooring. Rubber, on the other hand, has naturally enhanced traction, and some flooring options feature textured surfaces for added safety. The raised-textured surfaces, such as coin-grip and diamond-plate options, provide several additional points of contact to maximize traction and minimize the possibility for slips. This enhanced traction is especially useful when the deck floor is wet, as the walking surface is raised up and away from the moisture. Some textured designs like the fine-rib even direct moisture away from the floor through tiny gutter-like grooves. This keeps the walking surface as dry and as safe as possible, an ideal for any deck flooring.

Whether you want to protect your precious subfloor or prevent slips for your family, there are many deck floor options for you to choose from, and most of them are easy to install yourself! In fact, many outdoor floor options are heavy enough that the enhanced traction of the rubber holds them into place, but adhesives can always be used for extra support. Rubber flooring comes in many unique varieties, and typically comes in the form of either rolled sheet rubber or interlocking tiles. The easiest deck floor for both installation and removal is any of the interlocking tile variety. Outdoor tiles come in several sizes, durometers, and gauges to meet the needs of any application. Some interlocking patio tiles are shaped like puzzle pieces, while others are held together by connector pins.

Rubber tiles take the added stress and extra costs out of your new deck floor and instead turn it into a fun project! The puzzle-shaped outdoor tiles make a great temporary deck floor because the pieces can be removed or replaced easily without disrupting the entire flooring. Thanks to the angled protrusions and intrusions on the tiles, the floor cannot be pulled apart by movement or friction. The tiles must be lifted from the deck floor to be removed, and can then be stacked for easy transport or storage. This type of deck floor is ideal for seasonal use, and putting it together makes a great DIY project that even the kids can help with! Other interlocking patio tiles have straight edges and come with connector pins, which slide into holes on the tiles’ sides. These connector pins keep the tiles firmly together, resulting in a solid and sturdy outdoor flooring. This type of installation is more common in thicker-gauged tiles, which also offer more cushion and support than the thinner options. A tiled deck floor adds a sleek aesthetic appeal and can be removed as easily as it is installed, saving you a ton on installation and replacement costs.

If you need a more temporary deck floor that can be moved around, rubber matting is another great and easy option! Like outdoor flooring, mats can be solid pieces or comprised of tiles to guarantee a fit for your desired space. These are great if your deck doubles as a workout space or if you need to protect the floor from abrasive patio furniture. Then when you don’t need the rubber mat, simply pick it up and put it into storage until you’re ready to use it again. Whether you need it all year or just for a few hours out of the day, there is a rubber flooring for you. The quality is unrivalled—no deck floor can compete with the durability, safety, and versatility that rubber provides. With the affordability of recycled rubber and the enjoyable ease of DIY installation, these is no better way to upgrade your patio.