When buying a treadmill, there are actually plenty of items to consider beyond merely deciding on the workout machine of your dreams that fits your budget. You must also carefully consider the environment you place this heavy investment in...and on.
You may or may not be considering just placing your treadmill directly on top of your carpet or laminate surface in your home without a ton of concern, but before you do that there are some things that you should consider before doing this.
With that, here are 7 tips for you to think about before placing your treadmill on your carpet or laminate at home.
Yes, you can put a treadmill on carpet. Treadmills over 500 pounds might damage the carpet due to the weight and use. It is recommended to put a treadmill mat under your treadmill to protect your carpet and keep dust from entering the motor.
7 Tips Before You Put Your Treadmill on Carpet or Laminate
1. Consider Getting a Treadmill Mat
Buying a home treadmill does not just offer extra risk for your treadmill, but also for your home itself, it is very possible that you want to grab a simple rubber mat designed to protect your treadmill, and the surface underneath your treadmill as well.
These rubber mats are often pretty cheap and easy to get, and they could save you some repair money down the line by protecting your treadmill and your carpet or laminate surface.
- DURABILITY: This heavy-duty, durable and waterproof exercise mat prolongs the life of your equipment by helping prevent floor and carpet dust from entering belts and mechanical parts
- HEAVY DUTY MATERIAL: Made with high density PVC foam material for greater durability and comfort. Absorbs vibration to protect your fitness equipment and floor surfaces from scratches.
Although they do not solve all of the problems, one of these under your treadmill should help you avoid quite a few issues that arise from just owning a home treadmill.
Here is the list of our favorite mats for all different flooring.
2. Regularly Clean Underneath your Treadmill
Even if you have a mat for your treadmill, there will still be a large collection of dust accumulating underneath your machine. This can lead to dust building up on your treadmill belt, and then in your motor soon after. A quick run with the dust buster should easily do the trick.
When dust accumulates on your belt and motor, it will decrease the performance and often lower the lifespan of these parts.
All of this can be avoided if you make sure to clean up the dust that builds up under and around your treadmill often, and then it never hurts to check up on your belt and motor from time to time as well.
Cleaning up underneath will also help keep dust from getting shot around your room while the treadmill is in use. It keeps your treadmill living longer, and the air you breathe cleaner, so taking the time to clean is a small price to pay for all the upside!
-You may be interested in: 19 Treadmill Safety Tips to Keep You Injury Free
3. Plan Out Your Placement!
As hard as you may try, treadmills will move ever so slightly when you use them over and over again. These small shifts can lead to scratches or dents on the floor beneath it and also put the items around your treadmill in peril.
Fortunately, if you put your treadmill in a safe place then this can decrease the risks by quite a lot.
When planning the placement of your treadmill, make sure it has 2-3 feet of space all around it. That should be plenty of room to make sure it will not interfere with the rest of the items in the room.
Furthermore, owning a mat once again provides the advantage of protecting your floor from the possible scratches or rips, as well as slowing down the subtle shifting that your treadmill will do while in use.
4. Place Your Treadmill on a Carpet or Floor That You Care Less About
I think it’s safe to say that we all have those places in our home that we just care a little less about than others. This is where you should plan to place your treadmill.
In the end, slight wear and tear on your floors are going to be inevitable when owning a treadmill in your home. Although it is possible to decrease the risks with items like a mat, you will still probably see some semblance of wear.
This is why many people choose to place their treadmill in the garage, because it is a pretty low risk area and it will matter just a little bit less if you see scratches on the floor. There are pros/cons to keeping it in the garage.
The garage is just one example spot, but there are going to be better places to put your treadmills than others within your home, so consider this while planning out your workout area.
5. Have a Plan For Damages
In the end, there may end up being some minor floor scratches or carpet tears from your treadmill use. Once again, a rubber treadmill mat can definitely help prevent most of this, but with the lack of one you may need to have a plan on how to fix these.
Believe it or not, there are actually some great (and cheap) putties out there on the market that can make it look like the scratches were never there to begin with.
The process is actually pretty simple once you have some putty that matches your laminate floor color. Simply wipe the scratch area with a dry paper towel.
Apply the repair putty on top of the scratch and be sure it reaches down into the groove. Finally just run a plastic putty knife over the area and smooth the putty into the scratch. The putty we recommend is below.
- RICH SET CONTENTS: A set of wooden fillers includes 12 unique colors of resin repair fillers. Provide a no-fuss solution for wood furniture stain & scratch repair !NOTE: The wooden furniture repair kit is a touch-up set. It could make the scratch or scuffs by blending the color to match the furniture to make it less noticeable. They could also be used for repairing small dents or cracks, please dry it with a hair dryer and air dry it for 2-3 days(away from water).
- DIVERSE COMPLETE COLORS: There are 12 unique colors: white, black, oak padauk, black walnut, yellow sanalwood, teak, grey, lvory, amber yellow, orginal wood, wood white. You can match the colors as you need, don’t need to worry about can’t find the right color to match your furniture.
The directions may be slightly different depending on the putty you are using, but that is the general gist of it.
Carpet repairs may be slightly more difficult, but you can pretty easily find small carpet squares online that match your carpet and apply them yourself with pretty minimal effort!
6. Clean Your Belt Often
If you are going to have your treadmill placed directly on top of your carpet or laminate (or any surface for that matter), then you should make it a habit of cleaning both sides of your treadmill belt fairly often.
Think of cleaning your treadmill belt like having good personal hygiene. It’s healthy to clean yourself, so why wouldn’t it also be important to clean your treadmill.
Having a clean belt will help optimize the treadmill’s performance, power output, and lifespan.
- Microfiber Duster features a fluffy microfiber head which covers a large cleaning surface, traps and hold things like a magnet instead of pushing it around. Make your housework easier, make the world neater!
- This soft fiber brush is ideal to pick up unwanted things without scratching or damaging any surfaces or using any chemicals.
Cleaning the top side of your treadmill is super easy. Just make sure your machine is unplugged, clean up around your treadmill first, then wipe off all of the dust on the top of your belt with a moist rag and/or anti-static duster.
To clean the under-side of your treadmill belt, just carefully rotate the belt manually and follow the same steps from above.7. Consider a Sturdy Treadmill
If you don’t plan on getting a treadmill mat and would rather invest all of your money in a treadmill itself, then consider spending just a little bit more to get a stronger and sturdier treadmill with a solid frame.
Having a stronger frame makes the treadmill less likely to vibrate, shift while in use, and cause impact damage to your floor.
This should honestly solve many of the damage issues that could come with placing a treadmill on your carpet or laminate floor.
When a sturdy treadmill is combined with a quality rubber mat, then all you’re really going to need to worry about is cleaning and general maintenance.
So it’s at least worth the time to do a little research on some stronger treadmills with more quality frames and impact absorption.
7 Tips Before You Put Your Treadmill on Carpet or Laminate Wrap- Up
These are just some of the many things you can do to ensure a quality space for your treadmill inside of your home.
There are plenty of other areas to consider while buying a treadmill if you are looking for affordable models, the best treadmill mats, or the best way to store a treadmill in an apartment.
Although this may all seem a little extra, it could definitely save you some time and money down the line, so never be afraid to do a little more up-front work to ensure greater success down the line.
Hi, Jeremy Here,
I am the the guy behind Train for a 5K. On this site, I share everything that learned along my running journey. The content I create is the running training I wish I had before we started this journey. About Me.
Last update on 2023-01-09 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API