Large, heavy, and of limited manoeuvrability. Crane access can be a challenge on even the most stable of work sites due to these attributes. Timbermat’s heavy duty outrigger pads have been created using responsibly-sourced timber to help overcome these obstacles, ensuring your site is always accessible.
Hire or buy outrigger mats
We carry a wide range of outrigger mats, ensuring that no matter what you’re trying to achieve, we will be able to supply the perfect product for your project.
Crane access requirements are different for every project, meaning that it may be financially prudent to hire your access mats rather than buying in some cases. If so, our team will be happy to help you out and ensure you always have the correct access mats.
Whether you’re looking to hire or buy, our team will work closely with you to ensure that you get exactly what you need. To get in touch, simply call us on 08000 12 1231 or fill out the contact form on the right.
Learn More About Our Crane Access Mats
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25 Years Experience
All Sizes Available
Why crane outrigger pads are important.
Lifting operations carry several significant risks:
- Risk of damage to ground or outrigger penetrating a hidden underground void.
- Risk of damage to materials or personnel if crane shifts unexpectedly during lifting.
- Risk of toppling if centre of gravity moves laterally beyond furthest point of ground contact.
Crane outrigger pads mitigate all these risks. They protect the ground against damage while creating a safe, solid platform for lifting work.
Importantly, outrigger pads dissipate downward pressure forces over a larger surface area, to prevent puncturing and in extreme incidents, toppling of the crane vehicle
A qualified engineer must check the capability of the mat chosen and ground conditions in all instances to guarantee a safe lift operation.
Steel or timber outrigger pads?
In comparison with alternatives like steel pads, timber versions offer several advantages:
- Constructed from sustainable, responsibly sourced materials.
- Natural timber mats can be used on environmentally sensitive job sites.
- Value derived from use rather than intrinsic materials, so little to no theft risk.
- Good flexibility and densely woven hardwood timber grain helps to absorb forces.
- Range of thicknesses allows for substantial temporary roadways and crane platforms.
We have outrigger pads capable of carrying many tons of load per mat – and as the load is always likely to be spread over multiple mats at any one time, the combined effective strength can be even higher than the rated max load per individual mat.
What size outrigger pads is available?
The ideal size of outrigger pad for your needs depends on what you are trying to achieve and on the weight of your crane vehicle or other lifting equipment.
For example, access mats used to build temporary roadways to transport vehicles and machinery onto the site may only need to cope with the weight of the crane itself and only for a short period of time as it passes along its way.
In comparison, if you use timber mats to build an actual lifting platform and a staging area for construction supplies and materials too, the access mats you use should be rated for the total combined weight of the crane, stored materials and any items being lifted off of the ground too.
Our hardwood timber mats come in thicknesses starting from 70 mm but it is likely that for heavy lifting projects, you will need heavy-duty crane access mats closer to our 200-300 mm end of the range.
We also have two standard surface area sizes, either 1m x 3m or 1m x 5m. The smaller sizes are typically used for outrigger pads and narrow pathways, while our largest, thickest hardwood timber mats naturally have the greatest strength per mat – but again, when used in bulk, the weight of your crane may be carried by many individual mats at any one time, helping to spread the load.
Should I buy or hire outrigger pads?
As mentioned above, wood access mats have little intrinsic value, so the theft risk and the cost of insurance can be much lower than when using equivalent steel crane mats – so you may wish to buy crane access mats of your own if you have suitable storage space.
Our heavy-duty mats are available in tropical hardwood timbers including Ekki, one of the strongest, most durable tropical hardwoods on the planet, so you should expect many years of service.
However, if you prefer to hire mats as and when you need them, we always aim to hold sufficient stock for typical orders and work with sustainable timber merchants so that we can obtain extra supplies if you have an unusually large bulk order to place.
Learn more
If you would like to speak to a member of our team about outrigger pads, from getting lifting vehicles on to your site safely, to overcoming the environmental challenges you face once you get there, we would be happy to help with any enquiries.
You can contact us using our online form to give us all of the details of your query in writing, and this helps us to make sure we, in turn, give you the best-tailored guidance for your specific situation, including recommending certain sizes or types of access mats if appropriate.
Or for an informal discussion about your upcoming project and what you are looking for from Timbermat, you can call us on 08000 12 12 31 and a member of our expert timber team will go through what you are facing and the best mats for the job.
