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Aluminum entrance mats are engineered to keep your facility clean and safe by reducing dirt and debris from entering your establishment. Ronick Matting Systems distributes and refurbishes aluminum entrance mats for an array of businesses, including hotels.
Replacing the carpet inserts for an existing entrance mat for a hotel in a suburb of Minneapolis, MN.
Hotel Entrance Mat Details
The mat selected for the hotel installation was the BaseTread 200, due to its convenient roll-up design, dirt trapping capabilities and its ability to handle heavy wheel loads of up to 750 lbs.
This 18-floor luxury hotel is in a busy location that has 225 guestrooms and over 9,000 square feet of meeting and event space (6 event rooms and 9 breakout rooms with the largest space being able to accommodate up to 420 people per function). It also has a full-service restaurant onsite, that is open to the public. On average this property sees over 2,500 customers per week with foot and wheeled traffic: including luggage and hotel carts.
The BaseTread 200 aluminum entrance mat was first installed at this hotel in 2014; the client opted to have the inserts replaced 10 years later in 2024, due to a hotel remodel. The initial entrance mat color was brown, and the newly selected mat inserts have gray/black tones to fit the updated hotel aesthetic.
Estimated Installation and Insert Replacement Time: 8 Hours with 2 people. It is recommended to replace the inserts/ conduct maintenance on the entrance mats when the hotel is not at maximum occupancy and during off-peak hours.
Cleaning:
Carpet Replacement:
Replacing Carpet Screws:
The insert replacement process begins by rolling up and removing this existing (brown) entrance mat. For this project only half of the mat was removed at a time, in order to keep the entrance open for hotel guests. The sliding doors were turned off and caution tape and signage was used to direct pedestrian traffic.
The recess well was cleaned with a broom and scrapers to remove dirt and debris below the mat surface. The concrete was inspected for any damage of pitting/spalling.
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The existing mat was then transported to an offsite location where the current brown carpet inserts were removed. The rivets on the mat were broken with a chisel and hammer on the ends and the carpet inserts were slid out of the channel by hand.
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Once all of the existing (brown) carpet inserts were removed, the empty rails were then cleaned with a pressure washer to remove salt/dirt residue.
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The new (gray) carpet inserts were slid into the rails off of a roll. [Material needed for this project was 1,672 lineal feet – we recommend ordering an additional 3% of carpet material over what is needed for the project to allow 1-2” of excess carpet on the ends for ease of pulling the carpet insert material through the rails. So for this project 1,672 LF +50 LF (3% excess) =1,722 LF of the new carpet insert material was ordered to replace the carpet inserts for this entrance mat.]
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Once the new inserts were in place, they were secured with rivets or self-tapping screws (for this project self-tapping screws were utilized). The excess material was cut off with a razer blade, so the carpet was flush with the end of the rails. The carpet ends were then heat set to create a clean edge.
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The updated mats with the new gray inserts were taken back to the hotel and installed onsite.
The entire process was then repeated for the second half of the mat that was still at the hotel.
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The new carpet inserts for this apartment complex were selected to maximize slip resistance. The selected entrance mat insert color for this site was 90% black, 10% gray to camouflage accumulated dirt/debris/salt that is tracked in from outside elements and to match the buildings updated remodel.
MonoTuft Heavy duty carpet inserts are a mixture of nylon and polypropylene, with monofilament fibers. They have a vigorous brush action that removes debris from the soles of shoes and absorbs moisture concurrently. Perforations in this mat system allowed dirt, debris, and moisture to collect in the recess below for future cleaning.
20 pounds of dirt was retained annually in the recess below. The timeline between mat cleanings was 1 year, before the carpet inserts were replaced.
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Refurbishing an aluminum entrance mat is a cost-effective alternative to purchasing a new entrance matting system outright. For this hotel the entrance mat was still operating at peak performance with its regular care and maintenance, and the inserts were only replaced for design. However, if the entrance mat is matted down, worn bare, covered with a traffic pattern of dirt and ice melt residue that is incapable of being cleaned; and not effectively retaining dirt and debris, replacing the inserts would allow the mat to operate like new.
Materials and labor needed to refurbish your existing recessed mat will typically cost about half the price of a new aluminum mat.
The Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) states that having an entrance mat minimizes the amount of debris trailed into an establishment by 75% - 90% for a mat 15-25 ft in size. The International Sanitary Supply Association (ISSA) estimates savings of about $600 in maintenance costs for every pound of dirt and debris barred from entering a building.
1 entrance mat + 2,500 customers weekly = 20 lbs. of dirt collected annually.
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