Patio Mat Anchoring

If we're on concrete we don't bother with the rug. It's for use when on sand or dirt. We never use it on grass either, just kills the grass for the next person to deal with.

fj12ryder wrote:
If we're on concrete we don't bother with the rug. It's for use when on sand or dirt. We never use it on grass either, just kills the grass for the next person to deal with.

We are very strict about no mats anywhere on the grass. You are absolutely right, even a couple of days will kill the grass. And that applies to all mats, even those that are supposedly safe for the grass because in our experience they aren't.

If I'm on concrete I don't bother to put out my mat but I do put One of These out in front of the door,they catch everything.
I never put out a mat when there is grass, it will kill it pretty fast.

Not good at all and the next camper has a mess.

Normally we have no mat unless muddy area or the pine tree debris is bad. Concrete we usually dont bother but we were in a site on Memorial day that was a muddy swampy mess. Puttin the mat out helped a heck of a lot with trackin mud in the trailer... WE put a cooler on one corner, grill on another, another corner was tucked under one tire and the third corner was stuck in the mud off the side of the concrete... We still had a good time tho lol..

I use gutter spikes they are long are about 6 inches long and are normally used to attach rain gutters to houses. I slip a fender washer on them and drive them flush with the carpet.
B.O.

B.O. Plenty wrote:
I use gutter spikes they are long are about 6 inches long and are normally used to attach rain gutters to houses. I slip a fender washer on them and drive them flush with the carpet.
B.O.

On a concrete site? :h

We have doors on both sides of our 5er and use mats (almost) all the time. If we are truly stepping down on grass, we don't use mats. But if stepping down on gravel or dirt, almost always do.

Our situation for doors on both sides are handled, as you can see in the photos below. We don't use any kind of stakes or anchors, we just simply put heavy objects on top of the mats. The corners may blow up sometimes, and sometimes in the morning, they are blown over, but never blown "away".

This week-end we are at Mississawana State Recreation in Indiana and the weather is about as perfect as it can get. No high winds predicted or anything. So, the mats are not held down right now, except with the door steps.

Back Side: Mat held in place by the door steps. If windy, I'll place rocks or logs on the corners to hold them down. Doesn't matter, dirt or concrete, they are never staked down.

This is the campsite we are at right now at the moment:





Front side of the camper. This week-end is an exception. We have great shade, so I left the picnic tables in the grass. Normally, the picnic table is on one of the mats to hold it down.



This was last week-end, same campground, different spot. Door steps hold one mat, picnic table holds the other. They don't blow away!



We've been to only one private campground that did not permits mats in all our years of camping. I suppose that's because we do almost exclusively State Parks with an occasional overnight at KOA's or Good Sam parks.

Most of the time when we use a mat, I anchor the corners with painted plastic coffee cans filled with water. The two outer corner cans have an 'X' cut in the lids that holds a solar light to avoid night time tripping.

Dutch_12078 wrote:
Most of the time when we use a mat, I anchor the corners with painted plastic coffee cans filled with water. The two outer corner cans have an 'X' cut in the lids that holds a solar light to avoid night time tripping.

That's a great idea Dutch!

We camp often in OBX North Carolina and gets pretty windy. I bring empty 5 gallon buckets with lids. After we set out our mats I fill the buckets with water and put the lids on. After they are filled and sealed I place them on the corners of the mats. This has worked well and mats stay put. When we leave I just empty the buckets, stack them inside each other and they are ready for the next trip. They also double as a small table next to our chairs when set up.