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Quick jump to entrance article: CONTENTS SURFACE type EDGE types Mats by PLACEMENT within building Mats by TYPE of the building   GO SHOPPING Open VS solid backing: Open back – backing with holes for drainage of water: Open-back mat is suitable for an area that will accumulate a good amount of snow and/or rain. The open back will allow the fluid to flow away from the surface of the mat. At an entrance, one might chose this type of mat if they are unable to perform n maintenance on the mat. The thicker the mat, the more debris will collect underneath or inside the mat so it will not have to be cleaned out as often. Examples: An entrance that is near a gravel drive or yard will surely bring all sizes of rocks in on shoes. (lol… maybe change it to dirt road or construction outside – rocks on shoes ? …) A mat that has an open back would be good here since most of the time these are deeper mats. A deeper mat will store more large pieces from shoes. An entrance near a beach or other source of sand will fill quickly with sand. Having an open back will make this mat easier to hose off and rinse tiny particles away. Open mats are also good for entrances that have lots of melting snow and ice. As the snow and ice melt the resulting liquid will be able to flow away from the mat instead of getting trapped there and creating artificial puddle. Solid backing – designed to contain the water rather than drain A mat that has a backing is good for wetness and particulate containment. Any debris or moisture that accumulates on the mat will stay put until the mat can be cleaned. Also, the flooring underneath the mat will be protected from damage that may be caused from dirty shoes. Cleated VS smooth backing: Cleated backing – prevents mats from moving on carpeted floors: Cleats or nubs on the back of a mat enable it to grab the flooring underneath such as carpeting. The purpose here is to keep mat movement to a minimum while helping mat to lie flat. Mats with grippers will not roll, fold or scoot around atop carpets; this is important esthetically and will help prevent situations of trips and falls. On the hard smooth surface cleats will not perform well and mat with nubs will slide over such floor more easily. Smooth backing – on hard surface floors: Smooth back mats are used on hardwood, marble, tile or any other flat surface. These mats do not have the grippers on the back. Backing materials can be vinyl, rubber, latex or recycled content rubber. Larger smooth mats will also be stable on carpeted floors. Share weight will make them not that easy to “kick around”. Commercial matting weight about ½ pound per square foot so if your mat is say 4feet x 10 feet it is likely to weight 20pounds or more so cleated or smooth – does not matter much. Rubber Backing vs. Vinyl Backing Vinyl is a composite material and is less expensive than rubber. 99% of the time there is no reason why you should choose rubber backed mats over the mats with Vinyl backing. Few exceptions are: You are opening an entrance mat rental business and you will be laundering there mats every week so they will be thrown into a washing mashine. Rubber mats are more flexible and they would take the abuse by the washing machinery much better. There is a specific application that calls for rubber not Vinyl due to certain chemicals used on the location. Also rubber backed mats tend to better withstad direct sunlight (UV rays). If you are looking for a mat that will be placed outside and subjected to a lot of direct sunlight - rubber backing should not be an indicator that this mat will perform well. This calls for a mat that would be tested for outside use as it is much more to the mat that just backing. You want to make sure that top surface of the mat will not rapidly fade or come off. The color and texture of the mat is not available with Vinyl back. Manufacturers may choose to use rubber in situations where manufacturing process need rubber to be used. This usually applies to matting that is made in molds with backing and/or edges that have certain 3-dimentional features that require more flexibility tha Vinyl can offer (raised edges, cleats/nubs on the bottom or mats where surface patterns are created by yarn molded into 3-dimentional backing. Rubber backed mat examples:     Vinyl backed mat examples:

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