Playground

It is no surprise that after such a long, cold winter we are all eager to get out into the warm sunshine and top up our vitamin D levels. Warmer weather and longer daylight hours means more opportunity for fresh air and exercise and can also mean more playtime fun for children, especially in outdoor play areas.

Playgrounds can be fun and exciting places, helping to build dexterity, strength, physical coordination and balance, as well as providing recreation and enjoyment for your children and being a great place for them to meet and make new friends.

Children are, however, very active and inventive and can often use the playground equipment in ways which were not necessarily intended by the playground equipment manufacturers and designers. Unfortunately, more children playing outside often means more playground-related injuries.

Every year thousands of children are treated in hospital as a result of various playground accidents, ranging from the more minor injuries such as bumps, bruises, cuts and grazes, to more serious fractures, dislocations, amputations and even life-threatening internal injuries and concussions.  It is no surprise therefore, that the highest number of injuries are caused by falls.  Children often fall because they jump or slip from climbing frames, monkey bars, chin-up bars, overhead ladders, slides, swings, seesaws, jungle gyms, spring riders, playhouses, merry-go-rounds, carousels, or just simply because they trip over when running around.

Rubber Playground mats range in many sizes and colours

Why Rubber Mats Are Important?

A proper, safe and shock absorbent playground surface is therefore one of the most important factors in reducing the likelihood of severe injuries associated with playground falls.

Rubber safety matting is the perfect solution and can greatly improve the safety of the recreation area. It is highly shock absorbent, non-slip, durable, non-toxic and can significantly soften the impact of your child’s fall. It is stable and waterproof, yet breathable so that it doesn’t retain water and get mouldy or slippery. The smooth, quick-drying surface helps water to evaporate quickly, preventing muddy puddles. The inter-locking tiles provide a more stable and uniform surface than wood chips, bark mulch or sand. They therefore allow the best access for people with wheelchairs and push-chairs or buggys/strollers.

They are easy to maintain, can be used all year round and are available in several different UV resistant colours making it more attractive and interesting for children. Litter and harmful objects such as pieces of glass, metal, or even sharp stones can often hide in loose fill products like wood chippings, bark mulch, gravel or sand, also causing further injury. They can also be difficult to find and extract once they have become mixed up.

A rubber matting surface is ideal because it is smooth and solid, allowing your child to run around freely without being impeded and does not allow foreign objects to hide or penetrate it. Playground rubber matting is safe, fun, durable and really could save a trip to the hospital and your child’s life.

Rubber grass matting - Suitable for all outdoor areas

Rubber Grass Matting

We would like to present our new range of rubber grass mats perfect for outdoor activity areas and walkways.

These mats have multipurpose function and can be used for a wide range of applications. Not only do they provide effective fall protection, but there ring structure allows for grass to grow straight through. This is perfect if you want to maintain the appearance of your grass.

Rubber ring grass mats

As well as conventional playground protection, these mats are also very effective for outdoor walking areas. Their flexible rubber structure is able to  form particularly well around uneven surfaces enabling them to stay effective even in the roughest conditions.

The mats also have a non-slip surface to prevent against falls in wet or damp conditions, and the underside has small nobbles which help ensure stability during use.

Customised Sizes Available

These mats come available in a wide range of colours, sizes and designs, and you now have the option to select the exact size you require by using our custom size selection tool. For awkward spaces, or long  trickey walkways, this custom option is ideal and helps make life a whole lot easier.

Rubber grass mat for playground

The strong durable rubber structure of these mats provides a shock absorbent surface which helps prevent injury upon impact. For this reason we believe that these mats are definitely worth considering for all out door activity areas.

Click here to view our range of rubber grass mats.

Choose from a number of designs printed in variety of colours. From abstract art, to old fashion country living, you can be sure to find a suitable option for you. Regardless of space, you can now select from a number of sizes, making them ideal for both doorways, and large entrances.

Loop Door Mat – From £29.99                 Bisrto Doormat – From £29.99              Sampietrini Doormat – From £29.99

The best thing about these mats is the fact that they are designed to keep your floors clean and safe. With a rubber backing, and a thick high twist nylon surface, these mats stay firmly in place and ensure that dirt and wet is kept far away from your floors. These mats are also part of our “Use & Wash” range and are suitable for machine washing. This ensures that the bright bold design of these mats shines through 24-7.

Click here to browse our wide range of design floor mats

Magnum Range From £19.99

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As we all know a kitchen can become quite a busy place, slipping and tripping is always a hazard. To help prevent this, these runners are fitted with a non-slip nitrile backing which helps keep the mats firmly in place while in use.

Primavera Range From £12.99

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So with winter fast approaching, why not consider a runner to add some warmth to those cold kitchen floors? Click Here to View our Range of Kitchen Runners

Step 1 – Which one?

First you need to distinguish the difference between the mats available. The most common of which, are chair mats for carpet floors, and chair mats for hard floors. The difference being, carpet chair mats are fitted with small studs that are able to grip to the carpet and allow for stability. Hard floor chair mats are completely smooth. This helps them create friction and therefore reduces any movement.

Step 2 – Materials

You should now know what type of mat you require. Next step is to determine what style of mat you require. Chair mats are available in a variety of materials, effecting price, quality, and transparency. Whether you’re choosing a mat top keep with the aesthetic of your room, or whether you’re looking for durability, or even both. It’s important to know what you want. The most common materials available are Polycarbonate, PET, and Polypropylene, all with their own unique qualities. If you’re looking for an ultra-modern feel, chair mats are now available in Bamboo. Bamboo being one of the most durable organic materials known to man, it makes an excellent material for chair mats!

PC – Polycarbonate:

Polycarbonate is a very durable material with a high impact-resistance. Polycarbonate is one of the strongest and most durable plastics available on the market. The structural properties of polycarbonate give it a very high temperature resistance and a high transparency ratio. In many cases, it is known to have better light transmission than glass. Unlike most plastics, polycarbonate can undergo massive deformations and without cracking or breaking. All these properties combined, you have an overall effective chair mat! This type of mat is also available in black for a more modern look.

PP – Polypropylene:

Polypropylene is typically characterised as very strong and durable. One of the most commonly used plastics; it provides long-lasting efficiency, and guaranteed results. Due to the process involved in the manufacturing of this material, chair mats tend to be of reduce translucency, leaving you with a frosted opaque finish. This is due to the applied pigments in the manufacturing. Although frosted, polypropylene serves as a great material in the production of chair mats. These properties give the mat a very high impact resistance, and also ensure that not bending or discolouration occurs.

ECO – PET:

Polyethylene terephthalate, better known as PET is a material most commonly derived from recycled materials. This is a great solution for the environment, as it enables the re use of such common products like drinks bottles and containers to be recycled and reused. PET chair mats provide an excellent solution to a very common problem, at the same time giving you a long lasting durable product. The recycling process of PET gives the mat a slightly frosted finish, giving reduced translucency.

Bamboo:

A typical Bamboo has a tensile strength of 28,000 square inch, compared to 23,000 for that of steel. This makes it by fare one of the strongest materials in the world when it comes to tension structure. This is a great solution to help the environment: It’s as smooth as silk, and as tough as steel. Bamboo is a truly sustainable harvested grass that regenerates at least 8 times faster than most hardwood. This, coupled with a luxurious finish, make Bamboo chair mats a suitable option for most homes and offices.

Step 3 – Size

Once you’ve absorbed the information, the next step is to choose an appropriate size. All our mats are advertised in (cm). We advise that you choose a size that allows for the best movement possible. For office tables with little leg room, a chair mat with lip is also available. This is designed to be placed partially under the table to avoid any inconvenience. A selection of chair mats can also be cut to custom sizes up to 3 metres long.

Chair mats can also be implemented for various offer applications including, for use under high chairs, for use near or around floors that experience high levels if traffic, they can even be used under furniture to protect floors from damage.

For carpet Floors – Pile depth test

• When choosing a chair mat for carpets floors, it is important that you know the pile depth. This will ensure you choose the product that is most suitable. It will also help increase the life of your mat, and of the carpet.
  

  Carpet chair mat - pin test

• All carpet chair mats are designs with studs to help hold the mat firmly in place. Although stud length only varies slightly, it is import to note that overall thickness of mats differs depending on material and size. Usually the stronger a material is consider
  ed, the thinner the mat.
• If you don’t use the mats for their intended purpose, this will cause CRACKING. For example; if you were to use an ECO carpet mat on a high pile carpet, this would most likely result in small cracks. This is due to the mat being unable to absorb the pressure applied by the castors as it rolls on the thick carpet. Although flexible, ECO mats are adverse to small amounts of deformation and bending, resulting in cracks.
• The pin test: One very effective way of measuring your carpets pile depth is to use a pin. Place the pin in the carpet gently until you feel the bottom. It is important to force the pin, as this may result in a negative measurement. Once removed, hold your fingers where the carpet ends, then measure the length in (mm). This is your pile length.
• Now that we know the depth of our carpet, we need to choose an appropriate mat.

Rubber Tyre Mountian

We are a consumer nation, and everything we use and consume has to end up somewhere. Most things nowadays can be recycled. Things such as glass, paper and cardboard, no problem, the list goes on. But unfortunately there are many thing we use such as electrical goods and rubber products that we find hard to recycle. Mainly because of the time and money that has to be spent processing them. In the past, most of these products have ended up in landfills and are left for the next generations to deal with. I know, it’s one of the sad facts of this economy. But there is hope. In the last 10 years or so, more studies and experiments are going in to the reuses and recycling of such products.

One of the more interesting aspects of this new voyage into a recycling age is the recycling of rubber products, especially rubber tires. Rubber is a natural product obtained from the milky white fluid called latex, found in many plants. Synthetic rubbers are produced from unsaturated hydrocarbons. For almost millennia, the native South Americans were using rubber to produce a number of water-resistant products. In the 18th century  European manufacturers began to use rubber successfully on a commercial basis when, in1823, British inventor and chemist Charles Macintosh established a plant in Glasgow for the manufacture of waterproof and rainproof clothes with which his name has become famous.

Then came another major breakthrough. In the mid-19th century a process was developed called vulcanization.  This process gave increased strength, elasticity, and resistance to changes in temperature. It also makes rubber impermeable to gases and resistant to heat, electricity, chemical action and abrasion.

So what now? Where left with a highly robust, imperishable material that could potentially cause problems for the future, but this need not be the case. Since the invention of the rubber tire, man has always had problems with disposing of them, in most cases they end up in mass graveyards, stockpiles of rubber tires further than the eye can see. Tire stockpiles create a massive health and safety risk. They pose a huge threat and most often Tire Fires can occur, burning for months, creating substantial pollution in the air and ground. Eventually various methods where introduced that would most defiantly cut the disposal of rubber, some more efficient than others. But these methods consisted mainly of reusing rubber, not actually recycling or reprocessing it. So as good as it was, it didn’t actually solve the problem.

More tires where still being manufactured. So now you’ve got to think “what is going to happen to all this rubber” The answer is simple, we have to recycle it. Instead of creating more rubber, why not use the rubber that we already have. Processes such as crumbing rubber, now enable it to be used for new rubber products or even plastic products. It’s such a process that is used to create reinforced high density rubber flooring. A prime example of what can be done with recycled rubber. So take note, there is hope for the future with knowing there is an almost simple solution to what might seem like one of the greatest problems facing future generations.

There is a new website available that can take the ordinary door mat and make it into something a little more special and unique.  Imagine being able to upload your own artwork, have it made into a door mat and delivered to your door (for free to mainland UK!).  The possibilities are endless – business logos, monogramed for your home’s front door, fun picture mats for your child’s room and anything else you can think of.  Mymat.co.uk can literally do anything you want!

Mymat.co.uk provides an online tool to allow you do quickly and easily design your own custom door mat.  Simply select the mat’s size, colour, upload a photo, add text and fun icons.  If your artistic mind can think it up, you can put it on a door mat.

And just to bring even more peace of mind for purchasing a mat that you have designed yourself, they offer a 2 year warranty and colour fastness guarantee!  The mats are also machine washable!

A personalised door mat for your home or business will bring a unique look to an otherwise ordinary entryway!  They also make excellent gifts for family or friends to create a unique welcome to their homes.

We at Floor Mats UK know the true value and importance of branding and take it very seriously…. that’s why we are offering our small business customers the chance to enhance their branding by taking part in our logo mat prize-draw. Not only will winners receive a free logo mat worth up to 200 pounds (up to a max. size of 2m x 1m) featuring their very own company logo, but they will also appear in our blog and receive free advertising via a link to their website.

To enter the competition, simply submit a jpeg / png of your company’s current logo to us in an email by August 15, 2011. Please include your name, the company name and website, and any URL you would like to be linked to in case you win.

Further information on the contest is available here.
Further information on our logo mats range is available here.

A new class of professional carpet cleaners have emerged which avoids the use of dangerous and polluting chemicals. Getting exposed to chemical cleaning products can lead to health hazards like kidney and liver problems.

Benefits of using green carpet cleansers

Children crawl, play, and nap on the carpets and even pets rest on them. Youngsters relax on it while watching movies and studying. We are often bothered about the fact that whether our carpets are clean, but we never give it a thought that the carpet cleaning product that we are using can be more hazardous than the dirty carpet. You should clean your carpet in a more eco-friendly way by utilizing products placed in the closet your kitchen. Some of the tips for making carpet cleaners at home are discussed here.

Cleaning your carpet with baking soda

Making use of baking soda to absorb the odor is an environmental friendly of refreshing the carpet. One just needs to spray baking soda over the carpet area and let it stay there for the whole night. Vacuum the carpet next morning and see the results. It is the easiest and most affordable way to make your carpet dirt free, without making use of any harsh chemicals.

Vinegar for cleaning the carpet

For removing a non-oily stain from your carpet, mix a table spoon of vinegar with liquid detergent and mix the solution in lukewarm water. Spread the solution onto the carpet with the help of a towel, so that it penetrates deep into the pores and loosen the dirt. You can also mix some white vinegar and half cup of Borax with one-quarter of salt into a spray bottle. Spray it on the stained area and leave the carpet overnight. Use a bristle brush to rub the tainted area and it will disappear.

A dish washing soap can cleanse the carpet

A simple dish washing soap can be used by carpet cleaners to cleanse it in a green way. Mix the soap with lukewarm water and spray it on the carpet. Scrub it with a piece of cloth and then vacuum it to see the sanitized carpet.

If you are seeking professional help for getting your carpet dirt free, you ought to ask them that weather they are using plant-based or chemical-based cleaners. Also ask whether they have the right system to treat their waste water, as chemical cleaners can pollute groundwater sources, if not disposed carefully.

Ingredients like soap, vinegar and soda are safe for kids and pets. The carpet cleaning products that you buy from the market spread toxic fumes in the environment of your home, thus contaminating the very air that you breathe. Hence, eco-friendly carpet cleaning is the need of the hour and should be imbibed by every householder.

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About the Author:

Author has been associated with removalist in Sydney from a long time. Presently with his vast experience, He is helping people in choosing the best service provider for them for their safe and hassle free move.

We are celebrating the launch of our new logo mat range! Enter our competition for a chance of winning a free floor mat personalised with your logo.

Logo mats are a great marketing opportunity. Take advantage and improve your company’s profile by entering now!

The prize is a free logo mat up to 100cm x 200cm in size, worth up to £200. The winner will also benefit from publicity on our website, blog and Facebook page.

Entering is easy. Simply send us your logo and contact details. That’s all you need to do!

The competition is open to all individuals and small and medium sized businesses in the UK (under 500 employees). After the closing date on 15/08/2011 we will open a public vote on Facebook to select the best logo.

Any questions? Post your query here or email us.