What's the best door mat for patio doors to the garden?

catt_2

We have double patio doors opening outwards from the lounge to the garden.

We are just in the process of installing wood parquet flooring to the lounge. It has a polyurathane varnished surface. We want try to protect this floor from grit and dirt being carried in underfoot from the patio. This simplest solution seems to me to place a mat inside.

To be effective the mat would need to be the width of both doors, that's 1.5m so I was thinking of a hall runner of natural matting fibre, maybe something like jute or coir.

I've seen some mats are rubber-backed, making them non-slip but any map could still leave marks on the wooden parquet underneath.

It occurred to me that I could leave a gap in the parquet for the map to sit inside and this might look more professional and save me about 1 m2 of parquet as well.

Has anyone got any ideas or done something similar? Also what type of mat would stop the most dirt? We are unlikely to use the doors if it's a wet day as we have other access.

Doozergirl

I've often done what you want to do and fit the matting instead of flooring by the door. The only answer is, if you don't want any grit marks, to take your shoes off directly after wiping them

The matting is handy and does look neat but you can't wash it and bits till get everywhere and the mat itself sheds. I've just bought washable mats for this house as I'm thinking they soak up a bit more wet than matting does and I can wash them so they don't look manky, but still, the best answer is to take shoes off.

silvercar

We put the mat outside the door and tell people to leave their shoes outside if they think they are still not clean.

stebiz

catt wrote: »

Has anyone got any ideas or done something similar? Also what type of mat would stop the most dirt?

I find my OH is really good as door mat.:p;)

Stebiz

catt_2

Thanks for your suggestions....I don't want a mat that sheds fibres but it will be too big for machine washing I think...

economiser

I think in the long run show removal on entry is the only answer. I always remove my shoes when entering someone else's house anyway and notice more and more visitors to my home are doing this without being asked.

Penny_Farthing_2

Turtle mats every time. They go in the washing machine and I tumble dry mine on a low heat. They are quite thin though so you may be best not leaving a 'cut out' in the floor.