Machines on bare concrete or on flooring?

[Afo3]

How many of you have machines on bare concrete floors? Any issues with it?

Moving into new house at end of month with 1200 sq ft garage and a large basement and trying to make some decisions on flooring. I'd love to go with nice looking rolled flooring for the whole garage but it seems like a waste of money for space I'm mainly going to just house machines in. But obviously ever gym I've ever been in keeps their machines on some sort of padded flooring surface even though it must add a lot to their build out costs given the prices I'm seeing for flooring.

In the basement where I'm thinking of putting the rack/ DB/ cardio stuff and other smaller things (curl rack, RH etc) I'm a little more inclined to splurge for some nice commercial rolled flooring but even there thinking I'll start with stall mats for a few months just to make sure there aren't any hidden issues or problems with using the basement for this.

[Duplicitous]

There's no issue with it aside from the machines moving a little bit if you bump them. I went the stall mat route, but if I could go back I would have picked up some used Regupol (which I see a couple times per year on FB Marketplace).

[Afo3]

After more investigation I found that CFF sells Regupol Aktiv 8mm flooring in the nice, light grey color for <$4/ square foot. This is by far the best pricing I've found for a major commercial flooring brand in a color that isn't basically black with 10-20% colored specs. That doesn't seem like a horrible premium over stall mats at about $1.6/ sq foot.

[MajorTendonitis]

After getting used to the feel of standing on 1/2” rubber , I could never go back to bare concrete or a thin piece of carpet like I had before.
I would do it at any cost . Mine looks like puzzle mat ,and it is , but it’s heavy duty water jet cut 1/2” rubber mats .
I would pay the extra money and get the version with the coloured specs if I could afford to do it again.
https://www.rubberflooringinc.com/in...bber-tile.html
In your case if you’d like to save money , the buy those horse stall mats , and add more as money permits

[murphyreedus]

I went from bare concrete to all stall mats back to bare concrete, and then was given some rolled flooring remnants that I finally put down a couple weeks ago. Concrete is fine, but even my 800 pounds empty Ultra Pro rack will slide backward over time from reracks. It also sucks doing anything (rehab stuff, low row) directly on a concrete floor. Stall mats do the job and are very cheap, but they also can slide over time if not anchored in some way, and they never, ever, ever look clean.

[EricAtl]

Depending upon your access getting the stall mats into the basement may be a pia. Also no matter what you do they tend to smell. Go rolled rubber if possible. You won’t regret it.

[murphyreedus]

Depending upon your access getting the stall mats into the basement may be a pia.

They're really easy to carry rolled up tight with a ratchet strap.

[gym62richard]

I went from bare concrete to all stall mats back to bare concrete, and then was given some rolled flooring remnants that I finally put down a couple weeks ago. Concrete is fine, but even my 800 pounds empty Ultra Pro rack will slide backward over time from reracks. It also sucks doing anything (rehab stuff, low row) directly on a concrete floor. Stall mats do the job and are very cheap, but they also can slide over time if not anchored in some way, and they never, ever, ever look clean.

Agreed,my stall mats never looked clean, movement of the mats and expansion, contraction of the joints was also an issue. Installing rolled rubber was one of my better decisions.

Lifting on concrete is fine, but as already stated equipment does tend to slide around a little, also if the concrete is at all uneven then you might have to shim the machine to get it stable, particularly on machines with4 points of connection to the floor.
I think rubber is more forgiving and weight machines tend to settle a little into the surface and are less likely to require shimming.

[Markype]

MajorTendonitis I love your homegym... I also have a homegym with a lot of machines, for exemple a bench, a squat rack, other machines like pec fly, pull up bars. I've found some nices reviews on bete musclee they have nice topics on musculation accessories and machines see matériel musculation

[OldButGame]

They're really easy to carry rolled up tight with a ratchet strap.

I used to get the bigger 4' by 6' stall mats,,,(3/4 in. thick) but they were such a pain to move I finally started getting 'half' size matts, 1/2 in, 3'x4',....lots easier to move etc. and have been just as good as the bigger matts.

[TomGallopavo]

I used black caulk on the joints of my stall mats and they butt up against the wall. I actually like the smell and agree they are never clean.

[rpark]

Besides preference, the only real issue I’ve seen is that I have one machine and one bench that sit in an area that’s not perfectly flat..... so there can be some wobble.... but the leg press was an easy fix with a furniture shim.

But it would be easiest to install flooring before moving...... and a PITA if you already have equipment setup.