Before you buy
How a workstation matting kit works
Interlocking deck tiles plus the edging to close the perimeter, laid on the floor at one work position. Ten minutes, no tools, no adhesive.
A workstation matting kit is a productised floor. Instead of buying loose tiles, working out how many you need, then discovering that the edges need closing and buying edging separately, you buy one box that contains the whole finished position.
What is in the box
Interlocking M5 deck tiles at 25mm thick, and bevelled edging pieces to close every open edge of the finished deck. Nothing else, because nothing else is needed.
The tiles click together on their own edges. The edging pushes onto the outside of the finished deck and gives you a shallow ramp from the floor up onto the surface, so nothing is a trip edge and a hand trolley can cross it.
Laying it
- Sweep the floor. That is the whole of the preparation.
- Lay the tiles out in the pattern the kit comes in and push the joints together by hand. They locate positively, so you will feel them seat.
- Push the bevelled edging onto every edge that is not against a wall or a machine base.
- Stand on it.
No adhesive, no fixings, no drilling into a floor you may not own. If you move the bench, you move the deck.
Why it goes on the floor, and why that keeps getting confused
There is a completely separate product called bench matting. It is a thin sheet that goes on the bench surface, under whatever you are working on. Some of it is ESD rated, and it is bought for exactly the same reasons people buy ESD floor decks, which is why the two constantly get mixed up.
These kits are not that. They lie on the floor and they are 25mm thick, because their job is what happens to the person, not what happens to the work. If you came here looking for something to put on the bench top, this is not the right product and we would rather say so now.
Why 25mm matters
Thickness is the number that does the work. A deck deflects under your weight and returns as you shift, which keeps the small stabilising muscles in the feet, calves and hips moving rather than letting you lock out. That micro-movement is the mechanism, and there is more of it available in 25mm of rubber than in 12mm.
It is worth knowing that most interlocking matting sold in the UK is 12mm, 16mm or 19mm. That is not a criticism of it, it is a statement about what you are comparing when you compare prices.
What it does not do
- It is not a fix for a job that needs a seat, a platform or a different bench height. If the position is wrong, matting will not make it right.
- It is not a ramp for a powered pallet truck or a forklift. Foot traffic and hand trolleys, yes. Wheeled plant, ring us first.
- It is not a substitute for keeping the floor clean, and on a wet or oily floor the variant matters more than the thickness.
Questions people ask
- Is a workstation matting kit the same as bench matting?
- No. Bench matting is a thin sheet that lies on the bench surface, under the work. A workstation matting kit is a 25mm deck that lies on the floor, under the person. They are different products doing different jobs and the names get confused constantly.
- How long does a kit take to lay?
- About ten minutes. The tiles interlock by hand, the bevelled edging clips to the open edges, and nothing is fixed to the floor.
- Does it need adhesive or fixings?
- No. The kit holds position on its own weight, from 15 kg for the smallest up to 41 kg for the largest. Not fixing it down is deliberate: you can lift it to sweep underneath and put it straight back.
- What if one tile gets damaged?
- You swap the tile. That is the practical advantage of a tiled deck over a one-piece mat, where damage in one corner means replacing the whole thing.