About 10 years ago, I picked up this floor mat for the door to the garage at Kohl's for basically free. I had a $10 off coupon (back when that was a thing) and the mat was $9.99. I had to buy one small clearance gift wrap bag to make the purchase $10 or over. I spent 25 cents on the gift wrap bag at the time. Anyway, we've now had this mat at our door to the garage for 10 years. It has served us very well.
Recently, however, the backside rubberized surface began to deteriorate, making the mat slide around on the vinyl floor. It's become something of a hazard for all of us. I've washed the backing, tried to brush off deteriorated bits, and air-dried to no avail. The mat still slipped around.
After some research to determine the best way to restore a non-slip surface, I decided on some Mohawk Rug Griper tape. I compared prices around the internet and found it at Target for less than other retailers (including Amazon). I added a roll ($7.69) to an order I was already placing. In the meantime, I cleaned both the floor and the back of the rug one more time.
When I opened the roll of Rug Gripper and peeled the backing off of a corner, I was really unsure if this would work. It didn't feel sticky enough to adhere to the rug back. I cut 3 strips and tried to apply them to the back side of the rug, as the instructions advised, only to have the tape keep peeling off. I finally just decided to place the tape onto the floor, matching up to where I had intended it to be on the rug. I pressed the rug down firmly, and just like that our slip-and-slide rug remained in one space no matter how I tried to walk, hop, skip, or jump on it.
Anyway, a "repaired" rug backing saved me the cost of buying a new door mat. It's unlikely that I'll get another $10 off coupon to a store that sells inexpensive floor mats or rugs. I could perhaps buy a second hand one at Value Village or Goodwill for $6 to $8. But those would also be older and would lose their non-slip backing at some point int time. It's more likely I would spend $20 or more for a new entry mat. So for $7.69 plus tax, my rug now stays in place again. And I have some rug gripper tape leftover to use on another rug at some point.
I am trying to solve a variety of household problems this month. This is so satisfying. They're all small problems, but very satisfying nonetheless.
Are there small household problems that you've been working on lately? What have you tried and what has worked?
We have these gripper strips under a couple of rugs in our house. They are supposedly a one time use, but after we washed our kitchen runner, they were still sticky enough to hold the rug in place afterwards.
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