The Advantages of Rubberized Work Mats

A workshop floor is an essential part of any work environment. Being that workshops can focus on a seemingly endless variety of specifications, having a flooring structure that provides a multitude of benefits is practical and smart. At their core, a workshop is a building or space where goods are either made or repaired, and for that reason a workshop can be a large and expansive manufacturing space or even your own garage where you tinker with home appliances after they stop working. From building to building, the flooring structure inside of these types of work areas can vary greatly—from hard concrete to plywood boards. Individual rubberized work mats offer a solution to many of the foremost concerns when it comes to flooring, such as safety, subsurface protection, durability, upkeep, and installation. Mats are in fact, a perfect choice for specialized equipment flooring because they’ll offer a far more supportive and shock absorbing surface in the event that your equipment or tools should move or fall. All encompassing industrial rubber matting can easily be applied to the entire surface space of a workshop, providing level protection all throughout the structure. This could provide essential flooring protection in areas that see more foot-traffic and more movements than individual workstations.

Work mats and other rubberized flooring options can offer many benefits. Here are the three top advantages that we feel encompass the functionality of these products:

• A Supportive Surface
  Comfort is an essential aspect of working—regardless of whether it’s an office job or one that requires you to stand at a workstation either putting things together or figuring out why they aren’t working. Using thick and specially designed rubberized work mats can offer benefits like pain relief, raised awareness, and increased efficiency and productivity.

  When no protection is afforded there are some very serious injuries that could result from prolonged periods of standing. Some of these risks are:

  • Chronic Pain, which could eventually result in extensive disability.

  • Slouching as a result to being unable to maintain a “Neutral Spine”—this can be caused by shifting weight to alleviate pain and strain, or leaning forward due to muscle and joint fatigue.

  • Varicose veins which is a result of veins becoming distended and which cause valves to not close properly.

  • Joint compression, which can affect feet, ankles, legs, knees, and backs.

  Rubber, according to Craig Freudenrich, PH. D., “is a specific type of polymer called an elastomer: a large molecule that can be stretched to at least twice its original length and returned to its original shape.” This happens because of something called entropy and an important law of physics called the Second Law of Thermodynamics—which starts to make things a little complicated, but stick bear with me! Simply put, when rubber is left standing alone its atomic composition is in a state of entropy (a state of disorder), and when it is stretched the composition is aliened—but it will naturally return to its original form when the force is removed. Think of a rubber band, when you stretch it you force the atomic links to straighten and grow tense but when you release, the rubber band, and its atoms, return to flexible and springy shape. Because industrial rubber matting is able to give under the weight of feet, instead of remaining completely hard, it is far more supportive than something like concrete, hardwood, or tile.

• Specialized Equipment Flooring
  The elastic quality that makes rubber such a great anti-fatigue option to use on a workshop floor, is the same reason it makes excellent flooring for expensive and heavy-duty equipment. Like we previously explained, rubber is in a constant state of entropy (to varying degrees depending on flooring options/designs) but is afforded the ability to enter into order when force is applied—that’s what makes it bouncy and elastic. While this is a great benefit for feet, ankles, and legs—it’s also going to be helpful for heavy machines and any equipment that moves, rocks, or bounces around during use. Think of industrial sized washes and driers, with those giant drums that spin at amazing speeds. Made for heavy-duty applications, these machines are liable to move around and could end up being damage if they bang against an unsupportive hard concrete surface. Also consider your permanent flooring structures, which could easily be scratched, cracked, or chipped under the force of this activity. Using rubber as equipment flooring will provide excellent anti-vibration qualities that can help protect machinery and subfloors, all while also helping to dampen the sound of banging and swaying.

• Industrial Rubber Matting is Easy to Install and Maintain
  Whether you’re using individual work mats or if you need a fully covered floor, rubber surfacing is available in a number of easy to install options. Little technical knowledge is required to set up your new rubberized workshop floor, so this can be an easy DIY project to tackle, which will in the long run save you money on installation costs. Also, because equipment flooring, along with a majority of other industrial grade matting, offer none porous surfaces water is not a damaging factor. In fact, rubber is naturally resistant to water due to the materials non-polarity (this is a broad generalization—and different polymers can have different degrees of water resistance), which actively repels water thus making it a substantially easier surface to maintain.