How to choose the best winter floor mat for your entranceway
Whether you’re specifying entrance flooring for a new building or looking for an efficient solution to demonstrate your building’s commitment to providing a safe environment for employees, visitors and guests, winter floor mats can do a lot of the heavy lifting, year-round.
Now more than ever, businesses are going above and beyond to show they’re keeping employees and guests as safe as possible. First impressions count, and the cleanliness of the floor is a key indication of the level of commitment to safety and hygiene. This is even more paramount in winter months, when the wild weather means there’s a greater chance of debris being walked or wheeled inside.
Why entrance matting?
Entrance matting is an essential inclusion for any public building, with most H&S regulations requiring that reasonable care has been taken to insure visitor safety (including preventing slipping on liquid or debris that’s found its way indoors).
Your entrance matting is one of the most important selections you’ll make for a building’s interior fittings, because when you choose the right entrance matting, it will stop unwanted dirt and debris in its tracks, soak up moisture to reduce the risk of anyone slipping inside, and greatly reduce the amount of time and money spent on cleaning and replacing the rest of your interior flooring.
Don’t fall into the trap of underestimating the impact wet weather can have on the performance of your entrance mat: we always recommend to plan for the worst weather scenario for your location and choose winter floor mats to suit. Investing in a higher-performance, all-seasons heavy duty entrance mat also reduces the risk of having to absorb higher ongoing cleaning and replacement costs, or worse, paying damages if someone is injured on the premises.
Our entire Frontrunner entrance range has a close-mesh design that’s heel-proof and wheel-proof, is certified slip resistant, and is long-lasting and extremely easy to clean and maintain, so you can have confidence that you’re making a good investment. We have a huge range of outdoor entrance mats and indoor winter mats, and even entrance matting options that are so versatile they can be used for both!
How to choose the best winter floor mat for your location, environment and needs
While all the mats in our Frontrunner range are designed to function at extreme winter temperatures down to -23°C, your winter floor mat needs will vary depending on your location and what sort of weather your wet season throws at you!
Below, we’ve compiled the main concerns our customers have when looking for winter floor mats for their entrance to help you choose the right mat for your building.
Excess water?
Whether you live somewhere with heavy downpours or your building has poor drainage, you’ll need an all-seasons heavy duty entrance mat that can absorb large amounts of moisture as well as reducing the amount of dirt that’s walked or rolled into the building. Look for an entrance mat with carpet inserts combined with a scrape and clean system.
- If you need maximum moisture removal, Frontrunner Plus has heavy-duty absorbent carpet inserts specifically designed to remove and dry moisture. This means that cleaning intervals are reduced, floor finishes retain their quality, and entrances look stylish for longer.
- If your entrance doesn’t have a recessed mat well and needs solid-backed entrance matting, Frontrunner SB+ is a lightweight solution that provides excellent protection. Certified slip resistant, heel-proof and wheel-proof, this is the perfect solid-backed winter floor mat for busy public buildings and shopping malls.
- For milder conditions, consider Frontrunner SB entrance matting – the ideal loose lay winter floor matting for workplaces, commercial buildings, grocery stores, and malls with high foot traffic. The mat’s ribbed surface scrapes shoes and wheels clean, while the grid traps and collects debris, reducing cleaning intervals and keeping interiors safer and looking stylish for longer.
Loads of snow or ice?
If the forecast ever calls for winter boots (hello snow), visitors to your building will be trekking more slush and debris indoors, but you’ll also need to consider whether your entrance is a slip hazard. Look for an all-seasons heavy duty entrance mat specially designed for external walkways and entrances exposed to extreme weather conditions with a large tread for extra grip.
Frontrunner XT can be installed both indoors or as an outdoor mat for snow and ice making it the ideal entrance mat for entrances that need to be able to withstand extreme weather conditions. The matting is specifically designed to quickly drain and dissipate water, ice and snow, and also has a deep-etched tread to trap dirt and debris that provides pedestrians with extra traction underfoot. This system is ideal as an outdoor entrance mat for walkways like hardwood decking and bridges that tend to get slippery.
Lots of dirt and debris?
Whether you experience an increase in debris during winter or you need an entrance floor mat that can combat large amounts of dirt and debris year-round, the solution is an entrance mat with nylon-brush inserts that will scrape shoes clean to combat snow, ice and dirt.
- If you’re looking to combat small or medium-sized debris (like dirt and small stones), Frontrunner Brush is your mat. The extra aggressive, heavy-duty brush inserts scrape shoes clean, while the open grid traps and collects debris.
- For larger debris, go for Frontrunner Brush Wide, which has an extra-wide slip-resistant open grid to trap dirt, stones and ice. Both Frontrunner Brush and Frontrunner Brush Wide are easy to clean, and can be used as standalone external entrance mats or combined with another Frontrunner system specifically designed for inside like Frontrunner Plus.
Get on the front foot and get your entrance ready for winter
Gone are the days when the solution to dealing with wet weather was to put up a “Slippery When Wet” sign inside the door.
With heightened health and safety expectations, and the importance of maintaining visually hygienic premises, you’ll need an all-seasons heavy duty entrance matting that can handle whatever the environment hands to you.
SEEN
SOMETHING
YOU
LIKE?
If you need help choosing the best mat for your entranceway, our friendly team is more than happy to help.