Why It's Important To Use Floor Mats

Almost every building needs some kind of entryway matting. The sizes and types of matting available, and the debate between whether to rent or own mats, can boggle the mind of even the most keen facility manager, so a crash course in the science and strategy behind properly protecting floors may be helpful.

Managers can turn to their distributors with any questions they have — and a good distributor should have no problem meeting the need, says Jon Scoles, president of Scoles Floorshine Industries, Wall, N.J.

“If a distributor is really doing a good job, he or she is going to recommend quality mats that will perform well for your facility’s needs,” Scoles says.

They can also break down the benefits of either renting mats or purchasing them outright.

Matting Matters

The main job of matting is to stop as much dirt as possible from progressing further into the building. To help identify the best mat for the job, the distributor will do a walk-through or perform an audit of the building, beginning with an inspection at the entrances, Scoles says.

“A combination of mats, including a scraper mat just inside the door, and one or more finer, carpeted mats will continue to capture dirt and debris as occupants walk into the building,” he says. “We call mats ‘entrance filters’ because they are, in essence, filtering the dirt that comes in from the street or parking lot.”

In fact, every pound of dirt that enters a building, Scoles estimates, takes about $700 to remove. So the more dirt captured by entryway matting, the less cleaning is necessary throughout the rest of the building. Proper matting will capture up to 85 percent of the dirt on occupants’ shoes, he says.

In addition to making a building appear dirty and affecting indoor air quality, dirt that is brought in on shoes can also cause wear and tear on other flooring — both hard floors and carpeting. The benefits of having entryway mats goes far beyond just entrances, say distributors, which is why it is important to have a proper program in place.

“You need 12 to 15 feet of matting at the door to stop about 80 to 85 percent of the dirt. The more matting you have, the better, because people don’t always stop to wipe their feet,” says Scoles. “You want each person to get at least four or five steps on the matting.”