Vinyl Or Rubber Floor Mats: Which Are Better To Use In Your Home?

When you are looking for a way to improve safety and slip resistance at the entrance to a building, inside your kitchen, or anywhere in between, floor mats are a good option. The best spots in your home for placing a vinyl rug or rubber mat are kitchens, bathrooms, laundry rooms, and entryways. If you want to take advantage of anti-fatigue properties that these options have, such as when doing laundry or working at the kitchen counter, both rubber and vinyl mats can deliver these benefits.

Which are better to use in your home: vinyl or rubber floor mats? Both materials work well as floor matting, as they deliver excellent durability and the aforementioned anti-fatigue benefits. They also both have water-resistant properties, so they will not absorb spills or moisture tracked in from outside. Selecting the correct material for your floor mats depends primarily on figuring out how you plan to use them. We'll discuss the pros and cons of rubber and vinyl floor mats, helping you make the right choice for your home's situation.

The primary benefit of using rubber floor mats is the high level of durability you receive. In an area that has a lot of foot traffic, such as at an entryway, the rubber mat is going to look better for a longer period of time. You may want to choose a perforated rubber mat or one with a rough surface texture on it to allow people to scrape their shoes when they enter your home, removing moisture and dust before tracking it inside. One advantage of rubber in this instance is that you can use it for either an interior or exterior entrance mat (or both). It can stand up to any kind of weather, as well as temperature variations, without suffering a loss in integrity.

If you use them in an entryway or in the laundry room and they get dirty, successfully cleaning rubber floor tiles and mats is relatively easy to do. Additionally, if you use them in a laundry room that has a hard floor, one of the pros of installing rubber flooring and mats over an extremely hard surface is providing comfort when you have to stand for a long period of time. It delivers soundproofing as well, which can be beneficial if you have a noisy washing machine or dryer. Use the rubber mats in your home gym around weights or noisy exercise machines, too.

One of the best reasons to use a vinyl floor mat in your home is the price. On average, it carries a lower price point than rubber, partly because rubber is more durable and will last longer. Commercial-quality vinyl mats may last three to five years, while you could expect the rubber commercial-quality versions to last 10 to 20 years.

When using these products inside your home, you may not like the typical basic black color found with rubber. When you select vinyl mats, manufacturers can apply color additives and create designs and styles that look good, no matter which room of the home you're using them in.

Vinyl mats are extremely easy to install and move around to new locations. They are extremely thin, which reduces the weight, so you can easily carry them to any room where you need them. A typical 2-by-4-foot vinyl mat weighs about 2 pounds. A thin 2-by-4-foot rubber mat will weigh about 16 pounds. For more permanent installations, you can select vinyl mats that have a light adhesive on the back.