When you welcome guests inside your home, don’t invite other undesirable “visitors” such as dirt and moisture. Keep them outside where they belong. If you’ve never felt very excited by the concept of floor mats, think of them as your friend. They’ll go a long way towards lightening your housekeeping load.

 

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Notice that we said “floor mats,” the plural: yes, you need more than one mat, and given the wide array of decorator choices available today, we think you’ll find just the ones that suit your budget, function and color requirements. Additionally, you can buy floor mats that help you “clean green,” just like responsible commercial building managers do. Experts at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Green Seal® and U. S. Green Building Council (USGBC) cite entranceway floor mats as “the first line of defense,” invaluable weapons in your quest to be clean and to improve your home’s Indoor Air Quality. Keep unwanted substances out and you’ll also reduce costs for cleaning products, plus you’ll reduce wear and damage to floors, no matter what type you have.

 

Start with a job-specific scraper mat outside for removing snow, ices, or shoe-clinging wet mud; put a second mat with wiping properties, perhaps made of absorbent carpet or rubber “water-dam” design right inside your door to act as Step 2 in the dirt-trapping process. Since you may have several exterior doors, plan on buying several “pairs” of mats. If you want more interior mats for a “finishing” look or simply dust control, they’ll protect indoor surfaces from wear in high-traffic areas. These can be made of softer fabrics and may be much more decorative in nature than the first two types.

 

 

Mats at Work

 

Perhaps you’ve never thought of all the ways mats help with housekeeping. Mats are:

1. “Floor police:” they stop dirt and other substances from entering your home. Did you know as much as 85 percent of contaminants in your house made their way there along with people and pets — through your doorways?

2. Storage units: Surprised? Many mats are actually like a two-story house, constructed on two levels, with the top area for walking and the lower for storing unwanted substances, including wetness, that come off your shoes. Trap now, then remove later, when you clean the mat. Choose a mat with a reinforced surface, perhaps raised rubber, so it doesn’t flatten and allow trapped soil to be picked up by the next person who walks across it. A flat mat with no “valleys” won’t hold dirt, but will allow busy feet to spread it around. The goal is to keep debris in the mat and out of your home.

3. Safe-surface makers: A hard-working entrance mat retains substances without permitting them to work their way onto the floor, where they can be slippery and thus hazardous. The bottom of the mat should retain a grip on the floor so that it doesn’t slide around when stepped upon. (Ooops!) A mat that gets crushed is of little use: think “tough” when you consider the use a floor mat will get.

 

Keeping Mats Clean

 

Since mats become repositories for dirt and other “stuff,” common sense dictates that just like a garbage can, they need to be “emptied” regularly, depending on traffic and other conditions, or they’re of little use. To clean, shake the mat outside in your yard, use your broom to brush it off, vacuum it, mop it, steam-vapor it or if possible (read mat directions first!), wash it either with a hose or pressure washer. You can use a stiff brush and gentle detergent along with your elbow grease. You may also use your carpet-cleaning machine if appropriate. Cleaning methods depend upon mat construction and materials, and most mats come with a “care” tag when you purchase them: read it for floor-mat longevity. More decorative mats may be machine washable and dryable, too.

 

 

So Many Choices

 

A variety of functional and eye-appealing mats await your perusal, many of them at discount and closeout stores, warehouse/big box, department, hardware, home improvement and even grocery stores. Carpet and flooring stores may also carry mats and may have an expert on hand to help you select for both form and function. Mats do matter and they’ll help you check dirt at your door.