What’s the Best Option for Home Gym Flooring Over Carpet?

Written by: John Scillieri
Last Updated: May 23, 2021

So, you’re ready to set up your home gym. If you’ve picked a room with laminate, tile, or hardwood flooring, you won’t have to rack your brain thinking about how you should install your gym flooring solution. Just lay down the rubber flooring, and you’re good to go.

But, what if you have a carpet that you don’t want to throw away in order to install the gym flooring? Are rubber floors still your best option for home gym flooring? If so, can you install it directly over the carpet? Read on to learn the answers to all of these questions and many other crucial aspects you should be aware of before embarking on this household project.

Best Options for Home Gym Flooring over Carpet

The popularity of home gyms is rising. Many people are drifting away from professional sports facilities to more comfortable and convenient home gym setups. Plus, the recent pandemic has significantly limited the usability and availability of most gyms worldwide.

As you can assume from the introduction, the best home gym flooring option you can conveniently install over your carpet is a rubber gym floor. These floors are affordable, easy to install, and easy to maintain. The latter is particularly important, as your home gym floor should be cheap and easy to keep clean.

Rubber sports flooring comes with a unique set of characteristics that make it the best option for home gym owners. They are very resistant to wear and tear. They also offer excellent structural stability suitable for both weightlifting and cardio exercises.

With all of the above-listed features in mind, several rubber gym flooring options stand out as the most suitable choices. These options are ideal solutions because they can serve both as temporary pop-up solutions and permanent gym flooring solutions equally well.

Here are the best solutions you can install directly over your carpet:

Rolled Rubber Solutions

If you have a large home gym area, rolled rubber flooring is the best solution. They come at a very affordable price per square foot and allow you to cover large surfaces quickly. If you’re planning on primarily doing plyometric exercises and cardio in your home gym, rolled rubber flooring is an excellent choice.

Rubber Floor Mats

Rubber floor mats are an ideal option if you want to cover separate and specific areas of your home gym. For example, if you want a solid surface for stretching or weight exercises such as deadlift and squats.

Rubber floor mats, especially larger ones, can be heavy. Moving them around on your own can be difficult. This is why they are more suitable if you don’t plan on moving them very often.

Rubber Floor Interlocking Tiles

Tiles are smaller in size and weigh significantly less per piece compared to the previous two solutions. If you’re setting up a home gym on your own, you can install this floor alone without any difficulties.

You can customize and add tiles to make a unique design for your gym’s floor, and the tiles will hold together tightly and won’t pop up even under heavy pressure. Plus, interlocking rubber tiles come with many unique advantages. The most notable ones include:

Solid connection without any adhesives necessary
Durable and tear-resistant
Excellent airflow between tiles, minimizing the chance of mold and bacteria growth
Stable but cushioning surface
Easy to install without any prior experience
Eco-friendly and sustainable

It’s also worth mentioning that rubber gym tiles are the most expensive option of all we’ve talked about on this page. Prepare to pay more per square foot than you would for other types of flooring.

That being said, interlocking rubber floor tiles are the superior option for home gym owners. They provide you with overwhelmingly positive advantages and features that make them suitable for any home workout activity.

Should The Type of Carpet Influence Your Home Gym Flooring Choice?

The type of carpet in your future home gym plays a vital role in how you’ll install the home gym floor. One thing to note is that all of the above examples are based on flat and low pile carpets. But suppose you have a soft and plush carpet. In that case, you shouldn’t install the rubber flooring directly on it.

If you’ve found yourself in such a situation, the best way to go about it would be to place a plywood layer between the soft carpet and the rubber gym flooring that will act as a subfloor. It’s an affordable solution and a valuable part of your setup, as it will protect both your body and your carpet.