BalanceFrom Exercise Mat Tiles - 24 SqFt, 1/2" Thick

We recently transformed our basement into a play area for the kids. Concrete is cold and uninviting so we got these mats for the floor. I saw some in Home Depot but they were more expensive and not to mention a lot thinner. My wife told me to check out Amazon instead and that’s where I came across these. You get more bang for your buck and they’re thicker.We got several packs in blue and it definitely livens things up. It’s very easy to set up, you just fit all the pieces together. There were a few corners that had to be trimmed but that wasn’t a big deal at all. We got the entire floor done in less than 30 minutes.All in all, a very good product. It does get dirty though and since our son likes sitting and playing on the floor, we make an effort to clean the mats regularly. We usually start by vacuuming the area, then we use a cleaner. We have a mop with a microfiber pad and that works great at accumulating all the gunk. The head swivels too so we can easily clean the corners and edges. It depends on our schedule but we usually mop it with cleaner every 2-3 days. Sometimes, if there’s just a small mess we’ll use plain water.Pros:1) The foam mats don’t have any noticeable smell even when you take it out of the packaging. It was something that we were worried about at first but now it seems like that was unnecessary.2) You can trim the mats easily with a pair of scissors. That’s what we did near the door since it needed a gap in order to close. You can probably also use a utility knife or something similar…the foam material isn’t that hard to cut through at all.3) I kind of mentioned this earlier but these mats are much more affordable than what you can find in stores. We spent less than $50 for the basement area and that’s a deal.4) They serve as a great insulator. Our son likes to run around and jump and these mats do a great job of absorbing it all. I’m so glad I didn’t go with the thinner ones from Home Depot.5) We didn’t do this but you can easily create a checkered pattern if you purchase the mat in two colors.6) The foam mats are very soft and comfortable to walk and play on.Cons:1) The mats kind of get slippery if you’re wearing socks so we always tell our son to take them off before playing. Better safe than be sorry…2) You have to play with the foam pieces a bit to line them up exactly the way you want for edges.3) Sometimes the pieces will come apart when our son is running up and down. He actually fell down once beacuse of that but luckily he took it with stride. Now we always make sure to watch him when he’s playing.4) There was a layer of dust/debris on the foam mats out of the packaging so we had to wipe them all down with a bit of water and soap before putting them together. I would recommend that you do the same.