A Comfortable and Easy Floor Covering

In our Roadtrek 190 Popular there is carpeting in the front of the cabin where the driver and passenger seats are and there is carpeting under the area that is made up as a bed. If you make the beds up as twins, then you step down on some very nice carpeting. If you make the bed ups as a King then when you step off the end of the bed toward the bathroom and the kitchen area, you are stepping onto a hard, fiberglass floor that gets cold in the winter and sometimes cold in the summer with the air conditioner going over night when stepped on with bare feet.

There is a reason why the carpet is not carried into this middle area. It is because the shower drain is there in the floor. You also want an easy to clean floor around the toilet and also where you are standing when cooking, not to mention coming in with wet feet when it is raining outside. We knew that it would be nice to put something down in that area but we were not sure what that would be. It had to be removable when using the shower, comfortable to walk on, and provide some insulation to the floor to keep it warmer. About a year ago we found just what we were looking for.

We were in Sears in the tool department and I saw a mat that is intended to be used to ease standing in a workshop. It is called the Craftsman Anti-fatigue Workshop Mat and it comes in your choice of red or black. Some of you have already seen this mat in some of the photos I have used to illustrate articles here on the site. We decided on the black color mat. This mat is made of a thick and heavy rubber-like material with a "diamond" pattern on the top. The mat fits almost exactly in the space that is uncovered in the Roadtrek 190. It will fit smaller, of course, in the 210 but should cover much of the area you would want to cover. It is comfortable to walk on - it has a bit of a sponge push back on your foot when you step on it. In the winter, the mat keeps the cold off your bare feet. If you are taking a shower, you just roll up the mat and put it on the side. If the mat gets dirty, you just roll it up, carry it outside, wave the dirt off it, and if necessary, clean it with a hose. Here is what the mat looks like in our Roadtrek -

Looking from the front to the back - the area uncovered in the back is under the mattress when the bed is made.

Looking from the back to the front.

The mat falls about seven or eight inches short of the carpet in the front.

Looking in from the side entrance door.

It is easy to recognize this mat in the store as it has this label on it that is part of the mat and does not come off. This part of the mat is barely noticed by the aisle bathroom door.

 
With the mat in place we also wanted something that we could put out right at the entrance for when it is raining. A door mat would not fit and would slide on the smooth floor. So what do you put on a floor that is slippery when wet - a bath mat.

We bought this mat in a home closeout store and it was inexpensive, durable and has rubber suction cups on the bottom. These mats are common and should be easy to find. It is soft rubber and can be laid where you see it in the photo above, or pulled more toward the step and let about an inch of the mat fold over. It is perfect to walk in with wet feet and with the third seat right there, you can just sit and take off your wet shoes and leave them on the mat to dry.

The mat rolls up easily and we just store it under the back of the passenger seat. It does not move from that spot when we are driving. It also does not interfere with the seat swiveling or moving forward or back. Any bath mat would do the same thing but be sure to get one that has the suction cups on the bottom. When we were shopping for this I discovered that not all of them do.

The Craftsman Anti-Fatigue Workshop Mat sells in Sears for $39.99. It does occasionally go on sale. As I recall it was on sale when we purchased it and it was less than $30. When you buy the mat, let it air out and unroll before you put it in the Roadtrek. It did have a rubber odor at first that was gone in a few days - and then we brought into the Roadtrek. It needed no cutting to fit in the width of the aisle and covers all that is necessary side to side. When it first goes down, the ends do tend to roll, but a few hot days in the van flattened it right out.

As usual, I am not paid by Sears or connected to them in any way. This was just something that worked so well that it is something to share with you!