7 Advantages of Composite Mats

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Select Mat provides every type of construction mat for your job site, including timber mats, crane mats, and CLT. However, our most popular product is composite mats. Composites entered the construction industry around 20 years ago, and they’ve been growing in notoriety ever since. This is due to their many advantages over wood, including flexibility, smoothness, and durability. It’s no wonder that when our customers learn about the advantages of composite for temporary road mats, they often choose them over wood.

The Advantages of Composite Mats

There are numerous reasons to buy or rent composites for your construction sites.

#1 Lighter Weight

Composite mats are significantly lighter than wood mats. Not only does this make them easier to maneuver on the job site, it also reduces your freight costs.

#2 Durable

One of the biggest advantages of composite mats over wood is their durability. Wood doesn’t hold up against extreme weather like composite material. It also splinters, rots, and absorbs contaminates from the land, making it more dangerous to handle. In contrast, composite mats hold up very well against extreme weather conditions and are easy to clean after their use.

#3 Easy to Configure

The lighter weight of the composite can make installation quicker. Not only that, but composite mats are flexible – they bend to the shape of the terrain. This makes them ideal for creating a track on uneven ground. It’s much easier to work with than inflexible CLT or laminated mats.

#4 Reusable

Because they’re so durable and easy to clean, composite mats have a high percentage of recovery from a job site. They can last a long time and be used over and over again.

#5 No Rotting or Absorption

Wood doesn’t like moisture, and moisture is pretty common on a job site. Additionally, wood is prone to absorb toxic contaminants from your job site. Composite matting doesn’t come with these problems, making it better for environmental protection.

#6 Smooth to Drive Across

Composite mats can be very smooth to drive on compared to wood. We once had a customer share with us that he and his wife went walking on the composites every evening after the crew retired for the day because they felt so pleasant. Their thinness also makes it easier and less bumpy for vehicles to enter onto the mat.

#7 Aesthetically Pleasing

Private ranches and farms don’t want to look at an ugly work site. However, they tend to love the cleaner look of composite matting. One of our customers even joked with us about wanting to steal them off the job site because he wanted them to be a permanent addition to his land.

Note: Not Ideal For Air Bridges

While there are many composite mat advantages, they aren’t always the best mat for the job. One area where wood mats are clearly the better choice is air bridges. The flexibility of a composite mat means that it’s not ideal to gap over pipelines. They will flex in the gap and therefore not support the vehicle. Therefore the thickness, strength and length of 12″ wood mats make them a great option for creating an air bridge over your pipes.

About Select Mat

Select Mat is a national provider of construction mats. We handle every step of the temporary matting process – from rental or purchase to installation and removal. Our biggest advantage is our fast installation, which we ensure by providing a personal onsite project manager for every project exceeding 1,000 mats. We also focus on giving quick quotes.

Faster Installation – Onsite Project Managers

Select Mat is unique among access mat installers for providing a personalized project manager for faster installation. This takes customer service to another level in the temporary road mat industry. Your project manager will come to your site and provide an accurate assessment of your matting needs and costs. Once your needs and costs are clearly defined, they will oversee the installation and removal process, saving you valuable time in getting started and wrapping up.

Fast Quotes

We work very hard to give quotes as quickly as possible. If we can’t provide a quote without seeing your site, we’ll let you know.

Access Mat Products

Select Mat offers all of the following access mat and construction site solutions to buy or rent:

  • Composite mats
  • Laminated mats
  • CLT mats
  • Timber mats
  • Crane mats
  • Wood Poles
  • Pipeline Skids
  • Pipeline Cones

Get a Quick Quote

Click below to fill out a quote form or call Select Mat at 833-203-1515 to get started.

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