Dura Lock Rubber Tiles

I do recommend the Dura Lock Rubber Tiles from Rubber Flooring Inc. (RFI). Even though I did not order a sample, between their website and those of their competitors, I was able to obtain a good perspective on the product. Having evaluated a half-dozen online companies, RFI had the most reasonable price and availability for my budget. Please read on for further details on my experience with order/delivery, product usage, assembly, and best practice suggestions. ORDER & DELIVERY Ordered forty-five 3/4″ Dura Lock Tile tiles on Tue, 11/24 and received via LTL freight on Tue, 12/15. Your personal experience may vary but my delivery guy was kind enough to offload the pallet of tiles directly into my garage. Individual tiles are easy to transport but do weigh approximately 20 pounds each. FOR CONTEXT The 3/4″ tiles were ordered to support a basement home gym project in a 12' x 16' space. The rubber tiles would be sitting on top of 1/4″ vinyl plank flooring. The flooring had to support the lifting and dropping of free weights onto the floor as well as an 800+ pound weight rack. I ordered knowing that I would have to make cuts to some of my tiles to accommodate the layout of my room. THE BUILD I could not complete my flooring until 14-days after receiving delivery of the tiles (please see the ″RUBBER SMELL″ section below for more details). After organizing the tiles in rows and stacks, it took me several hours to completely lay down all the tiles and another day for them to completely ″settle down″. The interlocking tiles all fit together nicely without any significant gaps, grooves, or humps that would pose a tripping hazard. RUBBER SMELL (i.e. off-gassing) The rubber tiles did have a very strong and heavy rubber smell. Due to inclement weather and lack of outdoor space, I had to store my rubber tiles in the basement room for my home gym. After separating all the tiles to expose as much surface material on all tiles, I had to run two fans and two air purifiers 24-hours a day for 2-weeks to help dissipate the smell. After 14-days, there is still a rubber smell but quite faint and bearable for my family and I. BEST PRACTICES This is pretty obvious but do measure the space for the tiles to ensure you order the correct number and type of tiles. If you experience strong and heavy off-gassing, I do recommend separating all the tiles and lay them out in an open area that has a strong circulation of fresh air and direct access to the sun. Do keep a box cutter (with multiple sharp blades) available and measure carefully before cutting. If making cuts to your tiles, having a T-ruler to make your measurements and guide your cuts would be helpful. A rubber mallet or just a hammer to make sure the interlocking pieces come together and lay flat was a plus for me. Keep a portable vacuum around because the tiles will produce some small crumbs during the installation process. For cleaning, I've been using S!MPL3 GR33N from my local hardware store without any issues and damage to the tiles. If your order size requires delivery of the product on a pallet, please clear enough space on your property to receive the order and/or make it easy to transport the tiles to their final destination. I hope this review helps anyone looking at purchasing and installing the Dura Lock Rubber tiles.

Looks great, works great, and easy to install! My 4 year old daughter lifted, carried, and installed the 2x2 ″puzzle pieces″. She even hammered a few in with the rubber mallet! Easy to install, looks great, and we might need extend a couple rows we love it so much!

The Good: very durable, and they actually are a full 1/2” thick. I have an 800 lb multi-functional trainer on them and a dumbbell rack with 550 lbs of dumbbells plus the weight of a heavy duty rack. No indentation or sag whatsoever. Also, the center tiles fit together seamlessly. The corner tiles are also just right. The smell was not bad at all (I installed myself in the basement). The tiles sat with the shipping company for a couple of weeks (not Rubber Flooring’s fault - the shipping company was way backed up due to a big storm) so maybe that helped them air out. I did use a fan and I kept the basement windows open during the day for a few days — they do need to off-gas some. But they didn’t have a toxic smell and the smell they did have dissipated noticeably every day. The Not-So-Good: The edge tiles have gaps where the puzzle pieces fit together. For perspective, the gym area is just under 18 feet by 16 feet. The whole center area looks perfect - no gaps anywhere. But every single one of the edge pieces has a gap where they connect to each other. None of them touch a wall, so the size of the connecting puzzle pieces relative to the size of the center pieces must be the issue. I’ve sent pictures showing how perfectly the center pieces fit together but how the edge one’s don’t. The gap between the edge pieces is in every single edge piece around the entire 18 foot by 16 foot area. I suspect the corners don’t have this problem, though, because the gap is extremely slight where they connect to the corners (making me think the issue is only with the edge piece, not the corner piece)..