Anti-fatigue mats

I know what you mean about those mats Bill. My sister-in-law works in a stable and has given me a couple of those mats that I use for working on equipment outside. I’m lucky in that my fledgling shop has a wooden floor.

I see them as a mixed blessing. They are certainly more comfortable than concrete, but I roll a lot of things around in my shop, and they are kind of a pain when everything has those small wheeled casters. I have one of the horse stall mats, but most of mine are those 2×2′ squares that interlock. Anyway, it’s a love/hate thing for me. But I admit, my feet are probably happier with them than they would be without them.

I have back and feet pain from standing too long in the shop as well.
Like Fred I roll thing around and used the 2×2 squares he mentioned. Even those became cumbersome and gave up the idea of using a mat altogether.

If you have a Lowe’s close by, they sell an anti-fatigue mat by the foot. It’s thinner with a beveled edge that is a lot easier for tools to roll over. I’ve also seen the same kind of runner at restaurant supply places.

I don’t have any mats in the area I use to spray finishes and I can tell a difference when I’ve been on bare concrete for a while. Not only are my back and feet sore and tired, I feel more tired over all.

I have a Lowes in close to my house. I will go check it out

Thanks!

Here is the item at my local store:

http://www.lowes.com/pd_113171-73825-160-0700-360_0__?productId=3612682&Ntt=antifatigue&Ns=p_product_price|0&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNs%3Dp_product_price%7C0%26Ntt%3Dantifatigue%26page%3D1&facetInfo=

Looks like many of us have back , leg and foot problems and I thought I join in by listing what I have tried .
The biggest thing I found that helped is some good foot wear and cushion insoles and the best thing I ever did was putting in floor hot water heating in .

When I built my new work bench I designed a removable seat that has proven to be very handy to serve as a resting place .
A piece of carpet underlay in front of the bench also added some comfort but I am still undecided if I should expand on that solution as I am always worried about tripping .

After too many years on concrete floors I was finally able to build my retirement shop. It incorporates a lot of things I missed in my previous, more industrial style shops. For one, it has a wood floor over a three foot crawl space. That gives me happier feet, underfloor wiring and dust collection, and a cool dark place to store precious veneer.
I still have a couple of small anti-fatigue mats in places I stand a lot but I also have a really comfortable stool that I use a lot.

What are your thoughts about a descent indoor/outdoor carpet?
Seems like it would be cheaper to cover large areas. I could see it being a pain to sweep, lot of vacuuming?

This is 4’ wide and sold by the linear foot. It would be easy to move when you need to roll a machine. I have some 2′×2′ squares locked together that slide all over the place. I think I will try a 1.5’ section of this to see if I like it or not.

I still have a lot of the thinner mats from Lowe’s, but they slide too easily on these highly polished floors. Actually, everything slides too easily on these floors. I noticed my jointer has moved some and that beast weighs nearly 2000 pounds! Those mats worked pretty well in my previous shop as the floor was somewhat textured.

I don’t think carpeting will be any help. I have indoor/outdoor mats going from the shop to the office and bathroom and I have to take them outside and beat the bejeebers out of them pretty often.

I work on concrete all day and my knees and lower back hurt like heck sometimes…. Even if you stand on good mats your back and knees may hurt some. One big thing I did was buy some Gravity Defyer shoes,,,, put in the good arch supports and it truely has made a lot of diffrence…. I am on my 2nd pair now. They have springs in the heels… To be honest I thought another b.s. product but I will say for me they have made a big diffrence.

I have a stool in front of equipment that I spend much time at such as sander and drill press.