Anyone use stall mats for kennel flooring? - Page 1

I was looking at using stall mats for my new kennels that I am building instead of concrete and wanted to know if anyone else uses them and what your opinions are about using them. The mats that I am looking at are 4'x6' and weigh 100lbs each. I plan to build a plywood base and then use the mats over the wood. Any opinions? Thanks!

Even in horse stalls, they move. If you use them in a kennel, urine will leak though them and rot the wood - they do shift - I know a few people wiht them. We also used them in a training room, and they shift slightly and food drops in the cracks...I would put them over a good gravel and sand base like in a stall before I would put them over wood...

I don't use them, but I think they are a great alternative to bouncing on a hard concrete surface. Other than the issue with urine (if placed on wood) and moving around if not carefully fitted to the stall, the only drawback that I have observed/read is that the surface of this black rubber panel becomes super hot when exposed to the sun. I agree with Kougar as far as the placement over gravel in order to allow the uring to drain away. I plan to use something like these mats in the shaded area of the new kennel that I plan to build after I move. They would be on the wooden floor in front of the shelters but would be much more of a place to relax rather than run/jump. For the runs I will still use medium-size smooth gravel that can be cleaned with a rake. I know that companies such as McMaster-Carr (Mcmaster.com) sell fibreglas grating material that would be an excellent floor material to support these rubber mats. This grating can be custom-cut and placed immediately over flooring joists, but it is quite expensive. Just some of my ideas for the new kennel barn and individual runs. It is not yet built. Bob-) Bob-O

Kougar do you have the interlocking mats? I was going to use the interlocking mats. They are sealed very tight and I figured with all the weight of the mats interlocked together they wouldn't shift from the dogs opposed to a 700lb horse. Concrete is my othet alternative but it's pricey for the amount I would need.

I don't personally have them in kennels....quite a few friends have them in horse stalls and they are the flooring surface at an AKC club where I train obedience...I haven't seen interlocking mats of that weight, only lighter weight ones...

I use them. I have 10x10 kennels for each dog. So I put two matts in each kennel. The dogs pace along the front. I put one matt long across the front =6ft and one next to it short =4ft which =10ft. this makes for a very nice tight fit for the matts. I had one kennel that had only one matt in it for a while and yes "even thought they are 100lbs" the dogs would get hold of it and move it around the kennel. 2 matts accross the front fit perfect.. As for cleaning under them I have a power washer that does a good job. 2 times a month I will pick them put and put straight bleach under them and then clean up. they work great.

Over wood floors as stated above you would have problems with rotting and urine saturating the wood floor. Options are tile- ceramic type over concrete board. The other option, what I did was seal the wood then I used linoleum. I ran it up the walls from the floor so there was no place for liquid to seap through. With my destructive dogs I then plexi glassed the walls so they could not damage the linoleum, learned the hard way. With the linoleum flooring if they have an accident on the inside runs then I can pick it up and mop it out. My outside runs I tried the plastic kennel flooring on two runs but am going to pull it up as the poo gets in the grooves and is impossible to clean up. Going to what I used on the other two runs and my 3 big play areas that is pea gravel. Easy cleanup with a shovel and a rake, hose it down, can be disenfected using bleach with a hand sprayer or a biodegradeable product. Works fantastic.

My kennels have 2 areas, a den area and an exercise area(seperated by a wall through a doggie door). I use the stall mats in the den area(7 X 7). If they urinate in the areas at all it is in the exercise area and not on the mats, so I don't have that cleaning problem. I have them laid directly on the concrete, and they lay on the stall mats instead of the bare concrete. Works for me. Stephen

EDD the you gave me a good idea to just put tile over the wood to help with urine and rotting wood and then add the rubber mats. Thanks!

In our horse stalls and dog kennels, we have mats over a heavy packed layer of gravel. Good drainage and holding up well. We got the heaviest mats. The kennel gets disinfected every few days which works well.