About a year ago, I converted my Ex's office into a Home Gym (really a cardio room at the moment) for me. The room is carpeted, so I just used light equipment mats for my Peloton and my Treadmill. That's mostly fine for the Peloton, but I'd like a more stable floor for the Treadmill - it tends to get squeaky if the feet get out of perfectly level, which they do when you run the incline.

I'd also like to put a folding rack* in there - the room is not big enough for a full setup, and I don't really want to use a different room. (The Treadmill needs to come apart to get through the door, I'd rather not do that). But before I mount something like that to the wall, I want to get the flooring sorted.

What's a good flooring setup? I'm looking for something firm and stable enough for the bike/treadmill to sit on, but still fine for lifting.

(Right now, I am lifting dumbells in my office, but I'd rather have everything in one room.)

Right now, I'm thinking Rubber Stall mats from Tractor Supply and tear out the carpet (I THINK it's just slab under this room, but I could have plywood under part) but I'd like to get this done right the first time.

*-This will probably be this PRx, but Rogue is not entirely out of the picture. PRx fold-in rack

I used carpet squares--   i had them professionally installed, but they were cheap and i like the appearance.     My weight room - while dedicated- is very much a part of my house and i wanted it to look sharp as well as be functional.

It stands up to me dragging the benches around -- rolling my Bowflex dumbbell stand across it  (adjustable d'bells -- the whole operation weighs about 200 lbs and is on small casters)

The flooring does not have much give so would be alright for going heavy, --but i considered fabbing up a lifting platform to go between the uprights on my power rack but decided that (for me) im not ever going to go heavy enough to worry about it








Before pics





I DID try stall mats early on - but the smell was too much

The Tractor Supply horse stall mats are THE cheapest option I've found (they were ~$4x for the 3/4" thick 4'x6' mats when I got them. Same mats that were ~$1xx on the 'zon).

The 3/4" mats are GTG for lifting. I do all my lifting on them, including deadlifts. They show NO indentations from the weights.

They're pretty heavy and awkward to move though (1xx lbs for the 3/4" 4'x6' mats, IIRC?). What I found after trying to roll the first mat and bearhug it to carry into the basement, was that it WILL try to unroll with every movement (making it even more awkward to handle).

MUCH easier to lay 2 ratchet straps on the ground. Roll the mat on top if the ratchet straps, then cinch one, and then the other down at ~1/3rds of the rolled up mat. Much easier to carry and maneuver when it's not trying to unroll on you.

Alternatively, there are companies that sell pre-cut rubber mats in the 2'x2' jigsaw style (pretty much horse stall mats, that are pre cut for easier installation), but those cost 4-5x for the same square area.

Don't waste the time/money on the foam jigsaw mats. Those are made for stuff like yoga. A light dumbbell leaves indentations on those (been there, done that. Lucky they were cheap).

I'd kinda given up on anyone actually replying to this. Thanks guys.




Yeah, I'm honestly not sure what they're good for except for the kids to beat each other with. They are not good for Yoga, you pull them apart with every downward dog, etc, that pushes them apart. That's what I have now on top of the carpet, except for under the treadmill and bike, which have thin rubber mats.

Right now, I'm thinking about tearing out the tile and going with cheap-ish laminate or similar flooring, just to give me something solid. And then rubber on top of that. While my treadmill has quieted down with use, I'm pretty sure the noises that I get are from it's back feat moving separately from each other and putting stress on the components because it's ultimately on carpet and matting.

I do kinda like the look of this, though... Hmmm... I hadn't considered carpet tiles.

I likely have the same Bowflex dumbell setup. 1090's on the rack. It does stretch the carpet if I'm not careful.

I did horse stall mats in mine too, the poster above is correct about everything.

Leave the horsemats outside for a bit.
The smell goes away, I have 2 in our basement gym and they don't smell at all.

I built a deadlift platform and use the horse stall mats. They will protect the floors by themselves to be honest, but I wanted a dedicated area for deadlifting and other stuff.

I had to leave my TSC mats outside for a week in the sun to kill the smell.

I did glue down 1/2" rubber floor from Rubber Flooring Inc.  Came out great and was just like a commercial gym

Check out Race Deck tiles maybe?

Horse stall mats for sure. I worked in a tire shop while in college, so the smell is a non-issue.