Hit the Floor

Over the last 6 weeks, we've been accumulating and crossing out flooring options for the basement. Because that's really the first step in redoing the space down there. The answer is...we're still not sure. There's been no perfect solution, but there are some that might work. We have done several rounds of ordering.

In this first one, starting at 1:00 and going clockwise, you can see:

• 1.5" BJJ mat
• 10 mm Plyometric Rubber Roll Sport mat
• StayLock Orange Peel tiles
• 3/4" Home Gym Workout pebble mat

Each had problems. The BJJ mat was so thick that it would impede our doors' movement and possibly not fit under the baseboard heater. We tried it under the treadmill and it definitely left dents, even after just a few minutes. That might not be a deal breaker for the front part of the treadmill but the back comes up and down and we don't want it to look bad when the treadmill is in a folded position:

 

Since these have to be waterproof enough to withstand hairballs and other cat messes, we were pretty sure the plyometric wouldn't work. Sure enough, the peanut butter "puke" did not wipe cleanly away. It soaked through to the countertop and continued to smell peanuty. Hard pass.

The staylock is plastic with basically an air pocket to give it bounce. It wasn't that cushiony and the design makes it very squeaky.

The Home Gym pebble mat had no cushion at all. I guess it's sturdy for weightlifting (dropping heavy weights to the ground) but not good on the knees). 

So it was back to the drawing board with another batch, asking for some larger pieces to be able to kneel on them:

We tried a batch of cork which, despite D's hopes, provided no significant cushion whatsoever (except the one in the bottom right, designed as an underlayment to potentially layer several things together).

Starting again at the top right, we have:

• 10mm Sport Plus Foam tile
• 20 mm Black/gray Pro Taekwondo mat
• 3/4" Home Sport and Play mat (this looks identical to the taekwondo mat, even though technically 20mm should be a little bigger)
• more of that hard pebble mat (confirming that yes, it really was that hard)
• 20mm Blue/red Pro Taekwondo mat

Yet again, no clear winner. The thick taekwondo mats are my favorite in terms of cushion (and a compromise from the 1.5" extra fat one from the first batch), but the thinner sport plus foam, while not as cushioned, provides some support and is much thinner, with a nicer (i.e. more normal) texture. I suspect in the end, we'll go with one of these.

We're close to committing, because I don't think there is magically any more substantively different choices out there. Then we'll price out how much we need and figure out an estimate of how long it will take to ship. THEN we'll start peeling back our rug--I'm honestly afraid of what we'll find under there. But we decided to peel at least a portion of it back before ordering the replacement, in case of any surprises that need mitigating first.

I'm considering wearing a hazmat suit. Or at least a mask.