How to fit a recessed Doormat in my floorboards

[matthew29]

Hi

I have a large hole in my hallway floorboards right behind the froontdoor where I'm assuming a recessed doormat used to be installed. At the moment the hole is covered by an unsuitable and flexible piece of wood and I have no room between the floor and the bottom pf the door to lay a loose mat.

I would like to replace this arrangement with a proper recessed doormat and would like to know the best way of doing this.

There is quite a large space underneat the floorboards so I obviously need a safe and secure means of doing this that will not flex or fail.

Thanks for your advice
Matthew

 

[Nigel Watts]

I had one of these in my hall, which I hated, so I filled it in. I moved the mat into my porch outside.

The base should ideally be supported on the joists, and the solution rather depends on where these are in relation to the recess, and which way they run. In my house the joists run from front to back. The heights of the two joists running under the recessed area were cut back a bit and supported a board.

If the joists dont run under the hole you may need to add some further substructure

 

[plumbers mate]

Those mat wells were real dirt traps and needed hoovering empty quite often.
I like the idea and would love mine back but hoovering? Me?

 

[chuckey]

If the dirt did not end in the carpet well, where would it have ended up?
The thought of notching the joists does not appeal to me, how about making the top of the joists the level of the bottom of the mat well? i.e. fit battens with their top 18mm down from the top of the joist. Slip in pieces of 18mm chipboard between the joists and fix all loose ends and sides with Csk 40mm X4mm screws at 3" centres, put a piece of lino in to hide the unusual effect in the botom of the well. The other thing to consider, is to fit a square bead to protect the end grain of cut floorboards.
Frank