Phone: (250) 385-3743
E-mail: theropedoctor@yahoo.com
Frequently Asked Questions
Please feel free to email me questions about my products that you would like to see me try to answer here. No guarantee that I will be able to but I will see what I can do. Thanks
Q: How do I
clean my mat?
Q: Are the mats meant for indoor or outdoor use?
Q: What happens if my doormats get wet?
Q: How long
do my mats last?
Q: Where do I get my designs? Are they Celtic knots?
Q: What kind of rope do I use? Is it Hemp rope?
Q: How do I clean my mat?
A: This depends how dirty your mat gets and how clean you want to
get it. Hanging your mat over a railing and beating it with a
baseball bat or broom handle will remove most of the larger dirt
particles. Hose the mat down to remove mud etc... For ground in dirt
you can soak your mat in cool water to loosen the dirt then scrub it with a stiff
bristle brush. Manila rope is treated with a protect mineral oil.
The rope manufacturer recommends using only mild soaps to avoid removing the
protective mineral oils.
Q: Are the mats meant for indoor or
outdoor use?
A: I use my mats indoors right out of the elements, outdoors
directly in the elements and everywhere in between. For best results, I recommend using my mats
on a covered porch. Especially one that get a little bit of sun. If you use
my mats right out in the weather, they will turn grey like cedar in about a year
or two. If you do decide to use my mats right out in the elements, they
should be in a spot that gets a bit of sun to allow it to dry from
time to time. I also
recommend flipping the mat once in a while to allow the underside to
dry as well as spread the wear and weathering
to both sides of the mat. If you are going to
use my mats right out in the weather, I would like to caution you
about using them on a wooden deck. The wood and rope can keep each other wet. A rubber mat
between the rope and wood may be a solution to this problem. The
following images show both the top and bottom sides of two mats that
are both about 3 years old. The mat on
the left has been on a covered porch that gets a bit of morning Sun.
The mat on the right has been on concrete out in the weather. It is
in a spot that gets quite a bit of Sun. It is under a bit of an
overhang which is why it is more of a brown colour on the over hung
part and light grey on the side that is completely out in the
weather. Click images for higher resolution.
Sheltered and Unsheltered Outdoor Mat Comparison (Top Side)
Sheltered and Unsheltered Outdoor Mat Comparison (Bottom)
I always caution people about using my mats indoors. My biggest
concern is that as you wipe your shoes on the mat, the mat removes
the dirt. The dirty trickles thru the holes in the
mats and sits under the mat. As the mat shifts, the dirt/sand can work like sand paper and dull the finish on some flooring. The
mineral oil that protects the rope can also transfer and stain some
flooring like linoleum. I have several indoor mats. They are on a
very old fir floor so I have not been able to tell if they are doing
much harm.
Q: What happens if my doormats get wet?
A: I tie my mats loose and open at first because Manila rope swells
and thicken when it gets wet for the first time. Because of the
nature of 3 strand manila rope being twisted, the rope also twists
tighter causing the rope to contract making it shorter in length as
it swells. All of this swelling and contracting causes the mats to
tighten and shrink in overall size as well as closes all of the
holes. I have not yet figured out a system for being able to
calculate how much the mats will shrink. It seems as though, the
fancier/more open the design, the more the mat will shrink. Manila rope gets very stiff when it gets wet, especially when
it gets wet for the first time. You can feel the rope getting stiff
within about the first minute of getting wet. Manila rope doormats
do not really get "sloshie" when they are wet. The water just runs
right off of them but the core of the rope can stay wet for quite a
while. As the rope swells for the first time, there is a tendency
for the corners of the mats to curl up a bit. This curling causes
some people concern but shouldn't. The corners will lie flat
after the rope is done swelling. You can hammer the corner flat
while the rope is still stiff or wait until the rope is dry and
simply push them flat. The corners should not curl up the second
time the mat gets wet. Manila rope will still get stiff every time
it gets wet but less and less stiff every time it dries and gets
wet. After many years of heavy soaking and drying the rope will
eventually stop getting quite so stiff at all. Manila rope gets
darker in colour when it is wet but get lighter in colour then new
manila rope when it dries. You do not have to soak your mats if you
do not want to tighten it but if it gets wet it will tighten. If you
use your mat in a covered area or indoors, the swelling becomes
optional. To completely swell your mat you have to soak in for at
least 2 hour but I usually soak them for 6-12 hours just to be sure.
You can also do a partial swell by dunking you mat for about 1-2
minutes to tighten it just a bit. I recommend placing your mat in
the Sun or some other warm dry spot to dry before putting it to use.
The following images show one of my circular mats before and after
being soaked. I consider this one of my simpler designs. This mat
started with about a 42" diameter and shrank to about 39".
Unsoaked Circular Mat
Soaked Circular Mat
Q: How long do my mats last?
A: There are way too many variables to consider, to be able to give
an exact number of years. Because my mats are made with natural
plant fibre rope, they are very dynamic. They will age differently
in different environment. As of 2011, I have only been working with
Manila rope for about 8 years now. My single oldest mat is about 8
years old and still going. My mat has been on concrete directly out
in the elements its entire life. It spent the first 3.5 years of
it's life in Tofino BC (coastal temperate rainforest, very very wet
climate). When my mat was about 1.5 years old, I threw it in the
bath tub with just about every house hold cleaner to see what would
happen. Bleach, shampoo, dish soap, comet, Cupid, Blitzen etc... The
results of this bleach bath was the removal of the protective
mineral oil the new rope was treated with. Even without the
protective mineral oil, the mat endured the following conditions.
Unprotected, my mat spent the next 2 years in Ucluelet BC under the
same wet coast conditions. At some point in it's two year stay in
Ucluelet I had pressure washed the mat on several separate occasions
just to see what would happen. I turned the pressure washer on full
blast and held it about 1" away from the mat in one spot for about
15-20 minutes expecting to cut thru the rope. To my surprise, I was
unable to cut the rope with the pressure washer. In fact, I can not
even see where it was, on the mat, that I held the pressure washer.
It did not even leave a noticeable mark. One of the most notable
difference between this mats Tofino and Ucluelet locations was that
in Ucluelet it was close to the very wet grass and so the underside
of the mats became home to many worms and bug type creatures. At
five years of age we moved our mat to Victoria BC. For the first 6
months, the mat sat on 2-3" of moss at the bottom of a concrete
basement staircase on the north side of an apartment. Besides a
little surface discolouring, this did not seem to affect the mat
much at all. It's last move was to it's current location, also in
Victoria BC. Upon arriving at it's new location, I buried the mat
under 3-4" of freshly composted soil for about 2 months. I figured
that this was sure to destroy the mat. I was wrong again. I hosed
the mat off and besides being more of a brown colour from the soil
it is in pretty must the same condition as before I buried it. Next
I threw the mat in front of my garden where it has been sitting for
the last 2-2.5 years. On top of all of this, this mat has been
buried in snow and frozen 1-2 times a year anywhere from 1 day to 1
week at a time over the last 8 years. I have also brought and still
bring this mat to a lot of markets and trade shows that I attend. It
has seen a lot of heavier the normal traffic over the years. Quite
often I bring this mat to the market with me and many people say
that they like the 8 year old, heavily abused mat, better then the
new mats. So after 8 years of heavy abuse, my mat is just now
starting to wear a bit thin. I should have no problem getting a few
more good years out of it. I can see that some of the surface
strands will probably start to snap in the not too distance future.
Do my mats last forever? To this I will definitely have to say no.
Under "normal" conditions you should have no trouble getting a good
10 years out of a mat. I am not the first or last person to make
manila rope doormats. I have talked to quite a few people over the
years that have made manila rope doormats themselves or attained one
by some other means. I hear an average of a 15-25 year lifespan.
Mind you, these mats were probably used under better conditions than
my old mat. The following picture are of my 8 year old mat. These
pictures were taken in September of 2010. Click images for higher
resolution.
Top Side View of My 8 Year Old Mat
Close Up of Top Side View of My 8 Year Old Mat
Bottom Side View of My 8 Year Old Mat
(Note that I used to lash the
ends on the underside of the mats. Therefore my mats used to be one
sided. I used to do the lashing with Sisal twine which turns black
after a few years of weathering. I now splice the ends in such a way
that you can not really see the ends on either side. My mats are now
two sided/reversible. I no longer use any Sisal twine on my mats)
Close Up of Bottom Side View of My 8 Year Old Mat
Q: Where do I get my designs? Are they
Celtic knots?
A: Some of the designs are traditional nautical and/or Celtic
designs but most are my own original designs in which I use
traditional elements such as heart, crosses, loops etc... My own
original designs are actually a little less intricate then most
traditional Celtic designs. Traditional Celtic designs have a lot of
sharp corners and/or points. I have had to open up and round off the
traditional designs to soften the sharp turns in order for them to
lay as a flat mats.
Q: What kind of rope do I use? Is it Hemp rope?
A: I use Manila rope. Manila rope is cordage made from natural plant
fibre. The fibre comes from the Abaca (Musa Textilis) which is a
relative of the plantain banana. This plant does
not produce an edible fruit. It is grown
for its fibre. It is sometime referred to as fibre banana. The Abaca
is native the Philippines (hence Manila being the capital city of
the Philippines) where it has been cultivated since the 16th
century. Manila rope is sometimes referred to as Manila hemp but it
is not to be confused with the Cannabis Sativa (marijuana related)
hemp rope. I can and have made mats with different thicknesses,
colours and kind of rope but manila rope is the only rope that I
stock. All other ropes would have to be custom ordered.
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