Advice from RUBBER MAT users please

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ever_hopeful

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I've moved to a new livery yard and am having to switch from shavings to straw.

I'm putting in non-porous, non-sealed rubber mats this weekend, and have a couple of questions.

1)

Should I put anything over the concrete floor before I lay the mats, to help reduce smells. Stable Zone powder or anything like that?

2)

Does anyone else use straw with their rubber mats? I've only ever seen people use shavings or other highly absorbent bedding materials. Is straw okay?

Thanks.
 
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I didnt put anything under my mats and I use straw and its fine.

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Same here!
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You will obviously need to lift your mats often now that you are going onto drainage bedding rather than sucky bedding but there is no reason why you cant have straw. Just be careful you dont ram the pitchfork through the rubber when mucking out!
 
Eeeek, don't fancy lifting them more than I have to. I am weak and puny!
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Each of my mats is 6'x4', weighs an absolute ton and is really awkward to manoeuvre. In my old stable I used to sweep the mats clean, wash them in a solution of FieldGuard Gloop and leave them to dry during the day - before making up a 'pee-patch' in a back corner each night. Then I switched to a deep litter bed (on top of the mats), and had been maintaining that system until I had to move stables yesterday.

Now forced to unearth my mats again, I'm wondering if I should seal them with silicon sealant in the new stable. Just leave the outside edges free? I assume I could use a Stanley Knife to cut the seal if I needed to move them again later on?

The new stable has a great floor, and a slope at the front of the door running to the drain. Should make washing out the box regularly fairly straight forward.
 
Have used staw on rubber mats and found it ok, even with a poorly draining floor but we had straw that was 'bitty' so soaked up a lot of the wee. If the floor drains well you will be laughing, otherwise maybe use a little Megazorb under the straw before laying the bed.
 
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I tend to hook my pitchfork under the edge of the matting and nearly go over the top of it!

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LOL - me too! Was mucking out with a straw fork last night because the other had broken.... wouldn't like to say how many times it got stuck in between the mats and sent me flying. The air was blue
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I use straw with my horse so I thought the same thing and put mats in. we were told the stable were 12'by12', so the mats would fit perfectly. but theyre not that size, and the mats dont fit as well as they should. the only thing I find is that: if you have a really wet horse the stable smells more than normal because the wee gets under the mats. Ive decided to take mine out of the stable, and I think it willl be fine as long as she has a decent bed.
 
I recommend NOT sealing.

I was at a yard for 6 years and after a few years we had sealed mats fitted. Getting them up was a) a nightmare and b) the ground sweated and heaved, plus wee still got underneath where there were puncture marks etc - this meant I couldn't clean underneath because of the seal! I moved yards and paid £350 to have two stables refitted with my old mats. 9 weeks later I needed to move and had to take the mats up myself.

Quattro mucked me around as usual so I just moved my mats to new yard and piled them up. That weekend, my husband cut them all in so that they are fitted and look professional, but not sealed. I don't want to spend £350 including VAT to refit them if a) I might move yards again (unlikely), b) I might get a bigger stable at some point, c) there is little point as my Aquamax bed goes between the mats to stop leaking and also is so absorbant, no wee generally gets to the mats. I deep litter my straw so, although I get leakage, it is really not an issue. I will be lifting them no more than once a year - they smell more when lifted; otherwise they are fine!

I put nothing underneath my mats, but obviously the Aquamax bed with the Aquamax between each mat, is wonderful. I love my mats, but would not pay so much money to have them fitted again when really all it includes is some black, tough glue that can become punctured as I have found!

All you need to do is, once a year, lift the mats and get someone to shove a hose under them. Not too difficult!
 
I use the rubber matting and love them, so do my horses, I think........
One of my stables has the matting with the bobbles on, its terrible to work with as it is so difficult to brush/clean. The others that don't have much of a pattern on them are brilliant!
Anita
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One of my stables has the matting with the bobbles on, its terrible to work with as it is so difficult to brush/clean.

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YES! These are the same ones I've got. Last time I put them bobble side up, but from reading another post today on the same subject - I might try laying them groove side up this time. Mind you, my trailer floor has grooved matting and the pooh gets stuck in the grooves and is really hard to sweep out. Expect I'll have the same trouble in my stable then. Can't seem to win which ever way I lay them. Ho hum.

If I were going to seal them, I'd do it myself. Just lay the mats in place and then seal the cracks between them with a silicon sealant. I was figuring it would be easy to just use a sharp craft knife to cut the silicon when I wanted to take them up and it would be cheap enough to re-do regularly if necessary.

Am just wondering if bathroom silicon would stick though. I know how rubbish the stuff is simply sticking to the edge of the bath!
 
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One of my stables has the matting with the bobbles on, its terrible to work with as it is so difficult to brush/clean.

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If I were going to seal them, I'd do it myself. Just lay the mats in place and then seal the cracks between them with a silicon sealant. I was figuring it would be easy to just use a sharp craft knife to cut the silicon when I wanted to take them up and it would be cheap enough to re-do regularly if necessary.

Am just wondering if bathroom silicon would stick though. I know how rubbish the stuff is simply sticking to the edge of the bath!

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You have to use very very very strong silicone for it to be worthwhile sealing them. They use a thick, heavy, tough black glue and they do that for a reason - bathroom silicone will not last and will probably rot away with the wee!! If you are going to do it yourself then you a) need to know what you are doing and b) need to do it properly, with a proper glue.

Re the taking them up being easy. Huh! You think!?! Have you actually every had to take up mats which have been properly sealed and bonded? And have you been faced with having to scrape concrete to within an inch of its life because your YO doesn't want any left on the stable floor? Cutting the seal and lifting the mats is the easy bit... it's leaving the stable in an acceptable state that's the problem. The 2nd time I did it was not so bad because they had only been down 9 weeks; but I had some down for a few years and the mess was unbelievable! It took days of scraping, using different chemicals and also a blow torch, to get the mess up, and even then there was loads left. It is not a job to be taken lightly, and that is why I paid £350 to hve 2 stables done for me, even though my husband would be more than capable if it was as easy as using bathroom silicone.

Good luck but I would heavily recommend NOT getting them sealed. Not worth the faff in my opinion and from my experience.
 
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Good luck but I would heavily recommend NOT getting them sealed. Not worth the faff in my opinion and from my experience.

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Sorted! Thanks. I won't bother then.
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Must admit, not had trouble in my last stable laying them straight onto the concrete floor. I'm taking them up tomorrow or Sunday. Not looking forward to it cos they are going to be minging and it's too cold to wash them before I shift them since YO wont want yard flooded with water from the hose in case it freezes. Hopefully OH will be up to helping!
 
THANKS!
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My mats have been down for 18 months and are covered in 80+ bales of deep littered shavings. Last night I filled an entire 12' x 5' trailer and STILL have 3/4 of the stable to empty.

I've been using the bioenzyme bedding system where you establish a bed and then keep it at least 20" deep and never take any out. Can you imagine mucking that lot out!!!! 18 months worth of mucking out all in one go. I'm knackered.

Aaaaargh.... just keep muttering to myself how convenient it HAD been all those months.
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We have rubber mats but they are not sealed. We don't put anything underneath them but do put a thin layer of shavings on top then a huge straw bed on top of that. The shavings catch the wee. Without them I don't think it would anywhere near as good with just straw and mats as straw isn't absorbent in its' own right really.
 
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