Waterhog Carpet Tiles

Waterhog Carpet Tiles are an entrance system built in modular form. The surface is bi-level — raised nubs that scrape dirt and moisture off shoes and drop it below shoe level, where it stops getting tracked forward. The backing is 100-mil cleated SBR rubber, which is what holds the whole thing flat and in place.

What the tile format adds is scale. Entrance protection is usually sold as a mat, and a mat covers whatever area a mat covers. Tiles come 18 inches square, 12 to a case covering 27 square feet, so you cover the area the entrance actually needs.

What a Modular Entrance System Does Before Half Your Traffic Walks Around It

Here is the failure nobody notices until it is pointed out. A building puts a mat inside its main door. The door is twelve feet wide, the mat is five. People come in at an angle, cut toward the elevator, and a large share of them never set foot on it.

The mat is doing its job perfectly. It is just not in the path of most of the traffic, so most of what walks in walks straight past it and onto the finished floor beyond.

Getting soil off a shoe also takes distance, not just contact. One or two steps on a scraping surface removes a fraction of what is on a sole. It takes several strides of continuous walk-off to get the bulk of it, which a single mat length cannot physically provide.

A tile system fixes both problems at once, because you are no longer buying a mat size — you are covering an area. Run the tiles wall to wall across the entry and out as far as the traffic pattern needs, and there is no way around and no shortage of distance.

Why a Bi-Level Surface Over Cleated Rubber, and Why This One

Bi-level means the surface works on two planes. Reinforced rubber nubs stand up through the fabric and do the scraping, and the space between them is where the debris goes. Once it drops below the level a shoe touches, it stops being picked back up and carried inside.

Those nubs do a second job. They hold the surrounding fibers upright under traffic, so the pile does not crush flat in the highest-use strip. Crushed pile is what kills an entrance surface — once it flattens, the scraping action goes with it.

The fabric is solution-dyed PET at 30 ounces per square yard, so color is locked into the fiber rather than applied to it. It resists staining, dries quickly, and will not fade or rot — which matters at an entrance more than anywhere else in a building, since that is the surface that gets wet.

The backing is 100-mil universal cleated SBR rubber, bringing overall tile thickness to 1/4 inch. Cleated means it grips both hard floors and carpet, so the tiles lie flat rather than creeping under traffic. The tiles are certified high-traction by the National Floor Safety Institute, which is a tested slip-resistance rating rather than a marketing claim.

The modular format also changes what happens when something goes wrong. A worn or damaged tile lifts out and gets replaced on its own, so a burn mark or a torn corner is a single 18 inch square rather than a reason to pull the whole entrance.

There is a recycled-content story here that holds up to scrutiny. The PET fabric is made from at least 90% recycled content reclaimed from plastic, and the rubber backing contains 20% recycled rubber from car tires.

Where It Belongs, and Where It Is Not the Right Tile

This belongs at entrances, and specifically at wide or busy ones. Main building doors, storefronts, lobby entries, school and office front doors, and vestibules where traffic arrives from several directions at once. Anywhere the entry is too wide for a mat to cover honestly.

It also suits large-format applications a mat cannot address — long entry corridors, transitional areas between an exterior door and an interior floor, or a whole vestibule floor treated as one continuous walk-off surface. The tiles can be installed inside or outside, so a covered entry approach and the vestibule behind it can run the same surface without a change of product at the threshold.

The tiles work in surface or recessed installations. Recessed is worth considering on new construction or a renovation with a mat well, since it brings the entrance flush with the surrounding floor and removes the edge entirely.

What this is not is a field tile. A rubber-backed scraping surface is the wrong thing to run through an open office or a conference room, and at 1/4 inch it is a different height than most interior tiles. Its role is to protect what comes after it, which is how the full range of carpet tiles is organized — entrance construction first, interior floor behind it.

Three Things to Check Before You Spec It

First, measure the door and watch the traffic, not the entry mat you already have. Note how wide the opening is and which directions people actually travel once inside. That walking pattern, not the doorway dimension, tells you how much area the tiles need to cover, and at 27 square feet per case the arithmetic is straightforward once you know the area.

Second, decide surface or recessed early, and plan the edge either way. Recessed installation needs a mat well of the right depth, which is a construction decision rather than a flooring one. Surface installation works anywhere but leaves a perimeter, and vinyl nosing is available to finish that border — worth deciding on before the order rather than after the tiles are down.

Third, order the adhesive with the tiles. Installation requires a solvent-free adhesive, supplied separately, and confirming that at order time avoids a crew arriving with tiles and nothing to bond them with. While you are at it, confirm the 1/4 inch overall height against the adjoining floor so the transition is designed rather than discovered.

Why Mats Inc.

Entrance protection is the one flooring decision where the common mistake is buying too little rather than the wrong thing. We have been specifying entrance systems since 1964, and the question we ask first is how wide your doors are and where people go once they are through them. Send us the opening dimensions and a description of the traffic and we will work out how much area actually needs covering.

Tile size	18 in. x 18 in.
Tiles per case	12
Coverage per case	27 sq. ft.
Case weight	29 lbs.
Overall thickness	1/4 in.
Construction	Bi-level with reinforced rubber nubs
Surface material	Solution-dyed PET (polyethylene terephthalate)
Surface weight	30 oz/yd²
Backing	SBR rubber, universal cleated, 100-mil
Patterns	Diamond, diagonal, geometric
Colors	Seven: Black Smoke, Chestnut Brown, Grey Ash, Indigo, Khaki, Maroon, Southern Pine
Application	Indoor or outdoor
Installation	Surface or recessed; solvent-free adhesive required, supplied separately
Border option	Vinyl nosing, supplied separately
Traction	Certified high-traction (NFSI)
Recycled content	Surface at least 90% recycled PET; backing 20% recycled rubber
Warranty	1-year limited (Mats Inc.)

Frequently Asked Questions

What does bi-level mean, and why does it beat a flat surface?

Answered by Dustin Thompson, Owner & CEO

Bi-level means the surface operates on two heights. Reinforced rubber nubs project up through the fabric and scrape the sole of the shoe, and the recessed space between them collects what comes off. Once debris is below the level a shoe reaches, it stays there instead of being picked up again on the next pass.

A flat surface has nowhere to put anything. It holds soil at the same height the shoe contacts, so a good portion gets redistributed with every step across it and eventually walked onto your floor. The nubs also hold the surrounding fibers upright under traffic, which keeps the pile from crushing flat and losing its scraping action.

How well does it hold up in constant entrance traffic?

Answered by Dustin Thompson, Owner & CEO

The construction is aimed squarely at that. A 30 ounce per square yard PET surface over a 100-mil cleated rubber backing is a substantial build, and the reinforced nubs are specifically there to extend performance life by stopping the pile from crushing under the heaviest footfall.

PET also handles what entrances actually face. It is solution dyed, so color runs through the fiber rather than sitting on it, and it resists staining, sheds water quickly, and will not fade or rot. And because the system is modular, a tile that does eventually give out is replaced on its own rather than triggering a whole new entrance. Vacuum regularly, daily in the busiest areas, and let it dry fully before it goes back into service. Waterhog Carpet Tiles carry a 1-year limited warranty from Mats Inc.

How much area do we need to cover, and how does it install?

Answered by Dustin Thompson, Owner & CEO

Cover the full width of the opening, then run it inward far enough that people take several strides on it. Tiles are 18 inches square and ship 12 to a case covering 27 square feet at 29 pounds, so once you know the area the count works itself out. The most common mistake is treating an entrance as a doormat-sized problem.

Installation goes surface or recessed, and either way it is a bonded installation — a solvent-free adhesive is required and is supplied separately, so order it alongside the tiles. Surface installation needs a flat, dry subfloor and leaves a perimeter, which vinyl nosing can finish. Recessed drops the system into a mat well and brings it flush with the surrounding floor. Confirm the 1/4 inch height against the adjoining floor before ordering either way.

What do the three patterns actually look like?

Answered by Jinna Hopson, Vice President of Marketing

Diamond is the most familiar and the most forgiving — a repeating diamond grid that reads as texture and hides soil well between cleanings. Diagonal runs on the angle, which draws the eye forward into the building and works nicely where the entry leads somewhere specific.

Geometric is the most contemporary of the three and holds its own in a designed lobby rather than looking like protective equipment. All three are working surfaces first, so none of them will disappear into a room, but the pattern choice genuinely changes how deliberate the entrance looks.

How do we pick a color that works with the floor behind it?

Answered by Jinna Hopson, Vice President of Marketing

Seven colors gives you real room: Black Smoke, Grey Ash and Indigo on the cooler side, Chestnut Brown and Khaki running warm, plus Maroon and Southern Pine when the entrance should carry some depth. The useful instinct is to go darker than your interior floor rather than matching it, since this is the surface holding everything that came in off the street.

Beyond that, treat it as the transition rather than a match. An entrance that relates to your interior palette without copying it reads as intentional, and it keeps the eye moving into the space instead of stopping at a seam where two nearly-identical tones meet.

Can we get a logo or custom artwork in the entrance?

Answered by Jinna Hopson, Vice President of Marketing

These tiles are a stock program — three patterns, seven colors, no custom artwork built into the tile itself. That is deliberate, since the modular format is about covering an area properly rather than about branding.

The usual approach is to do both jobs in sequence. Custom branded entrance products do exist, and pairing one with a tiled walk-off area gives you the logo where people look and the coverage where the traffic actually is. Tell us your entrance dimensions and what you want to display and we will lay out how the two pieces work together.

By Dustin Thompson, Owner & CEO, Mats Inc.