Stanley Anti-Fatigue Interlocking Edge Utility Mat Review
If you work on your feet, you know what it feels like to stand for hours on a hard concrete or wood floor and have your knees, feet or lower back ache. That aching sometimes continues into the night and next day. Our work shop and standing desks are all on poured concrete floors and we use anti-fatigue mats at each station, so we decided to looked at the Stanley Interlocking Utility Mats to see how they would fair in a shop environment.
Anyone who works at a standing desk, machinery or work station can benefit from an anti-fatigue mat.
What Is An Anti-Fatigue Mat?
Anti-fatigue mat are cushioned floor mats designed to support and relieve pressure on feet, legs, and back and should be designed for heavy use in your specific work environments where people tend to stand for long periods. Cushioned mats have been proven to relieve pressure and soreness on feet, knees and back. A secondary but very important feature of anti-fatigue mat is that they prevent slip and fall hazards from saw dust, water, oil, and other slippery spills.
Anti-Fatigue Design
For an anti-fatigue mat to be useful in a workshop, garage or working environment it must be be able to withstand all of the rigors of a job site, quality floor mats should be durable and exhibit the following features:
- Cushioned to provide support and relieve pressure from hard surfaces
- Tear-resistant
- Fluid and Chemical resistant [glue, motor oil, grease, anti freeze and WD-40]
- Anti-slip: NSFI safety certified anti-skid bottom and textured surface for traction
- Beveled edge to avoid trip hazards
- Durable industrial grade construction: hold their shape under heavy use without wrinkling, imprinting or curling along the edges
Foam Rubber Mats
Foam rubber anti-fatigue mats are typically more durable and thereby better suited to more industrial environments.
Anti-Fatigue Mat types
Foam rubber anti-fatigue mats come in standard stand alone sizes, in rolls, and as an interlocking system to custom fit any environment. Foam rubber is a better choice for dirty environments as they stand up to chemicals better and can be cleaned with out much damage. They are also more cut resistant than regular foam.
Stanley Interlocking Utility Mats
The Stanley Interlocking Utility Mats are made of 100% high density polyurethane foam, this durable, tear-resistant material, and has top and bottom surfaces that provide traction to help prevent slipping. These mats are designed to be customizable to your work environment.
The black colored mats are 0.6 in. thick, come in a 2-pack of 24 in. x 24 in. squares and have three configurations to work with:
- Interlocking edge [one side beveled edge]
- Interlocking corner [two-sides beveled edge]
- Interlocking center [all interlocking sides]
These three configurations allow you to make any configuration in segments of 24-inches. The mats can also be cut with a sharp utility knife to fit against a wall, machinery, outside corners, or work stations.
Each interlocking mat provides 4 sq. ft. of coverage. We found that the pieces interlock together easily and and with no effort. The mats lay flat and secure and did not slide around on the our concrete workshop floor, even when we tried to get them to slide. This means that these mats would be very effective and safe at table saw and router stations where the user need to push material through a machine and relies on shore footing.
The mats feature an anti-skid bottom and diamond plate textured surface for traction to prevent injuries caused by slipping. Lab tests confirm common fluids and chemicals such as motor oil, grease, antifreeze, WD-40 and gasoline do not affect the mat’s integrity.
Using the Stanley Interlocking Utility Mats
We did not have a large enough sample to customize these mats to our shop, so instead we constructed a 48-inch by 96-inch 8 floor mat and designated it our table-saw and router station.
We put our 4×8 ,at section together and in place in a matter of a few minutes, fast, easy and effective. The mats cushioning are super comfortable and secure to stand on. The diamond pattern gives you traction and completely eliminates the slip and fall hazard of saw dust. We also noticed that the beveled edge allows for a seamless transition onto the mat and avoids trips hazards that must be avoided around moving machinery.
Lastly, we found the mats comfortable to work on and they do significantly reduce fatigue and stress from standing on a solid floor. We found the interlocking mats comfortable to stand on, they are slightly harder than the “stand alone, Stanley Utility Mats, that we reviewed last year.
Customizable
The big take away here is that these floor mats are customizable to your work environment. That means that you can make your floor mats the size and shape that best suits your workspace. You could even cover your whole shop. Its completely up to you!
Improvements:
We were impressed with the Stanley Interlocking Utility Mats but you need to know that these mats do not move easily. We feel that they are designed to be assembled and left in place, not moved around. When we tried to slide them around the shop to different work stations the interlocking came apart – annoying!
Its clear that these mats are designed to customize to one spot and stay put if you must move them you may need to use a 3M tape on the bottom to keep the mat together or better yet, take a look closer at the “stand alone,” Stanley Utility Mats [link above]. The stand alone mats come in two sizes:
- 24 ” x 36″ Foam rubber anti-fatigue mat
- 36″ x 60″ Foam rubber anti-fatigue mat
Stanley Interlocking Utility Mats Specifications
- Tear resistant
- Fluid and chemical resistant
- anti-slip NSFI safety certified
- Beveled edges to avoid trip hazard
- Completely customizable
- Color: black
- Coverage: 4 square feet
- Length: 24-inches
- Width: 24 – inches
- Thickness: 0.6 inches
- Salt resist: yes
- Stain resist: yes
- Waterproof: yes
Overall Impression:
The Stanley Utility Mat allows you to stand and work safely and comfortably while working in your garage, workshop, standing desk, work station. It helps reduce slip and fall hazards, and relieves discomfort on feet, knees, and back while standing. this not only allows you to work longer but also be more effective and focused on your task
We feel that these mats are a must at any workstation and the motto work smarter not harder applies here.
How Much and Where to Buy?
The Stanley Interlocking Mats can be purchased online for $35.00 each, here: Stanley-Anti-Fatigue-Interlocking-Mats
