Using door mats made from recycled tires will help save your home's floors and rugs from damage from tracked in water and grit while you save the environment.
Second Life for Used Tires
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), over 290 million tires are scrapped annually. About 130 million of these tires are recycled for fuel. Most of the balance of these scrapped tires is chopped up into rubber strips or into beads called "crumb rubber." The beads are recycled into street repair materials. The rubber strips are reprocessed into new products such as footwear and door mats.
Tires do not decompose by themselves, leaving them as a major refuse problem throughout the world. By recycling the tires into new products and uses, less tires end up in landfills.
Lifetime Durability
Recycled tire door mats resist a lifetime of heavy-duty boots and bad weather. Years of boot scuffing only slightly softens the surface. It will take a gale force wind to get the mat to move off your porch!
Colors
Most of the mats are some shade of black, gray or brown, depending on the kind of tire belting that was imbedded in the tires from which the mats are made. Mats that have bright colors such as red or green have been painted, which might fade over time.
Construction
Originally the mats were only made in one way - with links of half-inch to five-eighths inch rubber connected with 12-gauge galvanized wire. Now the mats are available in a variety of patterns including fancy scrollwork patterns that look like cast iron or decorative wrought iron.
Regardless of the style you choose, the mat works in all weather conditions - it does not crack in freezing weather, it stays put in the windstorms and it does not buckle or fade when it is hot or humid. The mat is heavy enough to stay where placed and to provide good traction during wet weather. Dirt and mud scrapped off shoes and boots will be trapped between the links of the mat and not be tracked inside the home as might happen after cleaning shoes on a flat mat.
Cleaning
Recycled tire mats resist stains and mildew. Shaking the mat will clean out any accumulated dirt and mud. Your can just hose them off to remove any surface dirt.
Caution on Light Colors: The mat can create scuff marks which can be obvious on light colored floors, decks or concrete. To remove the scuff mark, use any cleaner that is designed to clean the surface on which the marks have occurred. When all else fails, try a Mr. Clean-type household cleaning eraser.
Go Green Inside Too!
Door mats made from recycled tires also make great anti-fatigue mats in front of places where you may stand for long lengths of time - like your tool bench or laundry folding table. They come in a variety of sizes and shapes. The larger sizes are heavy to move around, but you can "build" yourself some handles by folding the mat in half and attaching two c-clamps to use as "handles."
Their durability makes them a strong alternative for soundproofing pads under heavy equipment in your home or garage.
Where to Buy Door Mats Made From Recycled Tires
