Make a Wooden Floor Mat

I LOVE this wood floor mat.
I live in a very windy town…..
I am forever chasing my welcome mat down.
I don’t think I’ll have that problem anymore with this
heavy duty wooden mat. 

I followed this step by step guide from Lowe’s
 
HERE 
For the most part this tutorial was pretty easy to follow….


Here’s what I used:

This wood was inexpensive and did the job…
But there are also many other types of wood to choose.
Pine, Poplar, Cedar, Maple and Hickory just to name a few and prices from $1.50 up to $5.00 for a 1"x2".

You will need six 2ft rods….
They can be purchased in 2ft sections or save a little bit of money and buy two 6ft rods and cut them with a hacksaw. 
It was actually very easy to cut them..
I purchased the wood and rods at Menards for less than $10.
The paint and hex nuts I had on hand.

I used a compound miter saw and set a stop block at 9". That saves a ton of time so you don’t have to measure each piece.
I cut all 5 boards into 9 inch pieces. 
That's 10 pieces from each 8ft board for a total of 50 pieces.
For the mat size I made, you will only need 38 pieces
but you want a few extras for mistakes.

It took less than a 1/2hr to make my cuts.

The most important part and maybe the hardest part of this project is making sure all your holes are aligned.
I turned 6 at a time on their sides
and taped each of the ends together.

I marked an inch from each end and
then drew a straight line across.

Then I marked a center dot on each piece. 
There might be a better way to align the holes but this is what worked for me….
Be sure to check out Lowe's Tutorial for more tips.

I used a drill press with a 5/16" bit 
and drilled holes in each end.

Almost perfect!
Since the hole is slightly larger than the rod, 
this allows room for error.

AND this is why you cut extras….
just a ‘few’ mistakes and bad wood.

I laid out all the good pieces and 
everything lined up


I didn’t sand or prime….
I just gave each piece 2 coats of paint.

I bought two 6ft rods. 
I marked them at 2ft and 4ft then cut them with a hack saw. 
This was surprising easy…..

After arguing with the hubby that this was gonna be IMPOSSIBLE….
I proved myself wrong after a few swipes with the saw
and it snapped right in half!

Then the fun part of threading the wood with the rod and putting your wood mat together….I found tapping the rod with a hammer at stubborn areas helped.
I just used a hex nut at the end of each rod because that’s what I had on hand but I will be replacing them with stop nuts when I get a chance to purchase some…..

I will also give the mat a few coats of poly to protect it from the weather...
Well that’s how I made this cute little wood mat in a couple of hours for less than $10!  


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