dojo flooring

Oldman,

How do you clean them? Ammonia solution? Bleach?

Clean them? I currently use Pinesol. I would like to try the cleaning product Zebra sells but at $35.00 a gallon I havent been able to bring myself to buy it. Any recomendations?

Fletch and Oldman,
We have the same type of puzzle mats in my dojo, and I am in charge of cleaning them. I find that a good vacuuming once in awhile takes care of a lot. If the mats need to be mopped, I use a little Pine-Sol or similar stuff in warm to hot water, and try not to get the mats too wet.

If someone should bleed on the mat, we use Lysol disinfecting wipes, (like you get for the kitchen) to kill any bloodborne pathogens. Seems to work quite well.

Just my $.02

sunspots

The smell of pine makes me feel like a Lumberjack, and I'm O.K.

"I work all night and I sleep all day" or is it the other way around?

As damaging as this can be to the mats, you might want to consider bleach for cleaning up blood. Chlorine is one of the few chemicals proven to kill the HIV virus. Ammonia is also good for cleaning blood, but it also will degrade your matts over time. The important thing is to not leave any fluid of any kind on the mat after you clean blood.

wat would u guys rate tatami?like how good of a training area is it?

Bushi-no-ki,

Good thought. I will do some further checking into the bleach, maybe test a little out-of-the-way spot to see what it does to the mats. (I wonder if the manufacturers thought of this, and made the surfaces tougher?)

We also have a Black Belt who is working toward being an emergency medicine physician, I will consult with him about possible contaminations, how pathogens can spread, etc.

Thanks for the reminder,
Respectfully,
sunspots

P.S. Are you by chance going to the Internationals this weekend in Long Beach?

just as a reminder...don't use pinesol to clean tatami.

There is an excellent product available from medical supply houses called Tor-HB.

This will kill any contaminants, blood borne pathogens, fungus,etc.

It is inexpensive, mixes at 10:1 with water, and will not damage/leach your mats.

Also if a small area dries on your mats, it turns to powder.

Page

What will be underneath the flooring you intend to put down? Will the floor have any kind of spring-back? Any chance you're putting the flooring on/onto a platform?

Jeff

no chance of that ...just a medium size house basement so the base is concrete. for now I'm using a cheap rug with a thin eggcarton foam cushion.

You could build a sprung wooden floor on the concrete base... Also ensures that the floor is level.

OK--- and now for a word from our resident curmudgeon.....

Can I make a (brief) case for using the floor wisely? I understand that people want a floor that is comfortable to workout on. I am not a huge fan of concrete. However, neither am I fan of indoor-outdoor carpeting-- the covering of choice for people wanting to moderate the temperature and unforgiving nature of concrete. In like manner, I am a real big refresh-air person but I would not run my classes outside unless I knew every square inch of the area for about 40 feet around.

My point is this, we can talk a lot about the sort of surface one would like to workout on, but the more we delegate responsibility to the surface and less to ourselves who are using the surface the more we can expect injuries, regardless of what we are using.

I had the dubious honor of training at a Hapkido school whose matting could only be compared with a room full of queen-size mattresses. At first glance it seemed to be a breakfaller's dream come true. Then I began to realize that my footing was compromised and most especially my turns. I also noticed that the class did not practice breakfalls since no matter how you fell you were going to get a cushy landing. Short-term bennies but long term dangers in my book.

My answer is a floor with the minimum resilience to take the impact that your art will dish-out. Want a sprung floor with a 2" mat? How about just the sprung floor? How about a sprung floor with a one inch mat? How about just the 2" mat and NO sprung floor? See what I mean? The flooring needs to reduce impact, but not take it all away entirely. (IMHO).

Best Wishes,

Bruce

I agree with the points you made. I was spending too much time thinking and planning and didn't want to fall into the trap of the construction itself becomming the workout
I just went to wal-mart and got a $20 carpet $15 1/2" foam and threw it down on the concrete. 35 bucks and 35 minutes later, I was into a kata and couldn't stop thinking...how the heck am I going to hang that bag? I'm a sap for taking on engineering problems that are beyond my capabilities which often end in disaster. I trashed the bag idea and I'm making a sage-makiwara.

I don't particularly like the carpet either, so I'm using it as an opportunity to experiment this new unplesant ground with shoes. turning more than 90 degrees on carpet with sneakers on, I'm finding 'interesting'.

OK-- if you are going to take that approach, try this.

Go to the local HOME DEPOT and buy twice the area in carpet padding. Make a sandwich by putting the first layer of pad down first, then the foam, then the second layer of pad then the carpet. I saw a floor cover built up out of as many as 5 layers of padding with the carpet over it and it accepted some pretty good breakfalls. Another possibility is to find a wholesaler of closed-cell foam in your area. Its the same stuff as in those folding mats but a whole lot cheaper when bought in bulk. You can still lay the carpet over the foam but it will tend to "walk" if you don't secure it somehow. FWIW.

Best Wishes,

Bruce

I didnt know flooring was such a hot subject!
If only your partners could see you now....talking about which cleaning product to use for your precious mats, when you dont even bother to take your plates to the kitchen unless you are allowed to throw the like shuriken!
Shame on you!

washing dishes is part of my sons' training...soap on-soap off.
lol