When purchasing rubber roll flooring, the runner mat usually arrives in long lengths of 50 or more feet in length. Your space, however, may not be fifty feet long, so what can you do to make sure that your roll rubber mat fit your unique space? There are two solutions for this dilemma. Some firms, including this store, offer custom cut length rolls. That means rolls are cut to your specified dimensions. This reduces wastage, eliminates labor on your part, and offers you rolls that are ready to be installed out of the box. Although this option is more expensive, it does make sense to those who are not the “Do it Yourself” types. For a more affordable solution, full rolls are available for sale at a discount. You the installer can cut your own rubberized flooring in a simple, DIY process. In this video, Mr. Elasticity and one of our warehouse staff give several tips on how to cut rubber flooring while demonstrating each step clearly. Though the video is whimsical, it is exactly how we have cut a roll rubber mat so take the comedy with a grain of salt. Before cutting make sure that you gather your tools together.
Materials needed
- Gloves
- measuring tape
- straight edge guide
- utility knife
- cup of soapy water
Once you have assembled all your tools, you are ready to start cutting your custom length runner mat. For any steps needing further clarification, refer to the video for a step by step demonstration to work alongside your project.
Steps
- Measure your unique space so that you know how many feet you will need of the rubberized flooring. This cannot be underestimated. If you measure wrong, regardless of how well you cut your rolls, your installation with suffer.
- Tidy up your area to make sure that your flooring lay down smoothly without any bumps or imperfections. Remove any furniture or objects to ensure that you have an accurate measurement of the entire space.
- Lay out your runner mat. Remember that the subsurface that the rubber rests on can possibly get damaged from the utility knife. It may be a good idea to cut your rubber outside on concrete instead of any indoor spaces. Just make sure that you keep in mind the correct length of rubber flooring that you need. Or place a thin cardboard box underneath the roll where the cut is expected.
- Safety first! Pull on your gloves to protect yourself from any accidental cuts. Utility knives are unbelievable sharp. One wrong move and you cold lose a finger.
- Place your straight edge guide where you want to cut the rubberized flooring. To ensure that you have a clean cut across the whole mat, make sure that the straight edge goes the entire way across.
- Rubber has a naturally high coefficient of friction, which means that it is more difficult to slice away cleanly. It grabs the knife! To reduce the amount of grip that the rubber has on your utility knife, just dip your knife into a cup of soapy water. After this the blade will be able to glide smoother across the rubber. WARNING: This actually makes cutting yourself even more possible, since the knife can slip and cause and injury.
- Depending on what type of rubber you have purchased, you may need to just score your initial cut. To score your cut means that you cannot reach through to the bottom just yet and need to run your knife through the top layer of the rubber. Just cut as much as you can cleanly with the same pressure throughout the width of the rubber. Once you have done your initial cut, continue running your knife along this cut until you have reached the bottom. For each cut, make sure to run the whole way through rather than stopping and slicing shallow cuts in one section multiple times. This will ensure a cleaner cut.
- Lift the roll rubber mat away from each other and check your clean, custom cut.
- Repeat this process for the remaining rolls until you have the correct amount of rubber roll sheets for your space. This process can also be used to cut the rubber sheets to fit corners and angles.
For any custom flooring spaces, one of the more affordable solutions is to order rubber rolls in bulk. This is usually because there is a price break for ordering an entire roll rather than order a custom length, but it is always important to check with a sales representative. Now that you have learned how to cut rubber flooring, simply measure out your space and proceed to custom cut your own rolls of rubber. With a quick and easy process, you have saved time and money while installing affordable, durable flooring.