A question for the hive-mind: how to clean puzzle mats?

[draconis]

O great hive-mind, I have a question...

With my new dojo (SQUEE! sorry... I'm okay now...)

Anyway...

With my new dojo, I have inherited a bunch of 1/4" rubber "puzzle mats" -- the interlocking 2' square rubber mats. Some of them are in sore need of cleaning. Does anyone have recommendations for how to do this?

Thanks in advance!

Comments

[rhi]

Baking soda with water, then vinegar? Or, you know, a pressure washer?

[draconis]

unfortunately, a pressure washer means renting one, which means spending money, which I'm trying to keep to a minimum at this stage.

[raine]

I use a lemon-based cleaner on my yoga mat; maybe something along those lines?

[draconis]

Any particular kind? And what do you do with it?

This is also a bit more than just swiping it off after someone's been sweating on it. Some of them have some white-ish patches on them that I'm not really sure what that means, but I don't see where it's a good thing. :-/

[alysswolf]

If you want to go with that "fresh piney scent" try hot water with a little bit of Pinesol then rinse.

I suspect that some Dawn mixed with hot water would do just as well without the piney odor.

[draconis]

Hm. Okay.

::pictures not getting all of the Dawn off the the mats, then people starting to sweat on them... and voila! A gigantic bubble bath! ROFL::

Note to self -- if you use this approach, rinse well! LOL

[mzlizzy.livejournal.com]

I've never cleaned anything like that, but I'd try using Dawn dish washing detergent. They use it for cleaning animals after oil spills, so it should be able to take the dirt and stuff off without harming them.

[warclaw.livejournal.com]

Have any friends with a restaurant grade dishwasher?

Otherwise, I'd take them down to the local self-wash car wash and pressure wash the buggers, followed by a quick dip in a dilute bleach solution.

[xianghua.livejournal.com]

The only way I've ever found to clean them en masse is a car wash. (We use those at the dog training center I occasionally teach at, and short of elbow grease and washing 'em one at a time in a tub... yeah. Car wash.)

[jcbdragon.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I may try the car wash option. But if so, we'll have to do them in sections -- too many of them to fit into any vehicles we have access to in a single trip.

[themouseketeer.livejournal.com]

One other option to add to the general ideas. FLYlady does some fab cleaning tools that may well scrub the mats without lifting any of the rubber off them.

http://www.flylady.net/pages/FlyShop.asp

I am thinking of the Rubba Scrubba, or even the Rubba Sweepa (basically a Rubba Scrubba on a stick!) I ordered one, plus some Purple Rags, and instantly ordered another, plus six more Purple Rags.

They are unbelievably good. I would get the Rubba Sweepa, link all the mats together, get up a good soapy solution and SCRUB the blighters with the Rubba Sweepa.