When and where to use bog mats

“Do I need bog mats?” is one of our most frequently asked questions from customers, and the answer is that if you think you might need bog mats, then you probably do.

The good thing about timber mats is that they’re easy to position, easy to move to a new position, and versatile for use as everything from ground protection mats, to crane platforms, to temporary roadways.

Because of this, many of our customers choose to invest in some of our timber mats for sale, so that they have a stock of them set aside for all purposes in the future.

As for the question of exactly when and where to use bog mats, the short answer is that you can use them almost anywhere at any time to give you a more solid or stable platform to work on.

Our most durable bog mats will give you years of service life under normal conditions, or alternatively we have less durable timber mats that can be used in the kind of conditions that are likely to leave them unfit for future use anyway.

Where are bog mats needed?

Some specific examples of when and where to use bog mats include:

• Tidal areas where the ground surface is constantly shifting e.g. sand or mud banks.
• Waterlogged ground like river estuaries, wetlands and swamps to improve stability.
• Land with low particle density or known subsidence issues to prevent sinking.

Ground protection mats

In addition to this, ground protection mats can be used when you know or suspect that there is a void beneath the surface and want to prevent equipment from breaking through.

And crane platforms can be put together in order to spread the weight of heavy lifting vehicles above, reducing the pressure on any one point on the ground. This can be taken even further using outrigger pads to spread the weight, lower the centre of gravity and improve overall stability during lifting operations.

It’s unusual to find a situation where using bog mats is specifically undesirable – they’re easy and quick to use, and don’t add to your insurance risk, but can massively improve safety and speed up operations on wet or unstable land.