How to Use Rubber Stall Mats for Roofing

Measure your roof. Measure along the length and width of your roof on each face, and multiply those two measurements together to get the area of your roof. Measure the length and width of your rubber mats and multiply them together to get the individual surface area of the mat to see if it will fit right over the surface area of the roof. Keep in mind that you should have overlap of about half of the surface cover on the mats, so make sure that you only count the surface area of the mats that isn't overlapping. Once you know how much surface area your rubber mats will be covering, just divide the total surface area of the roof by your mat coverage to find out how many mats you're going to need.

Draw a diagram of your roof that's to scale. Include all pipes and obstructions that you'll have to deal with. Draw in the mats, how you expect them to lay, and what arrangement you're going to want them in. For instance, if you have a small, simple roof, you might be able to cover it with one or two stall mats and call it a day. A larger roof might require the mats to be put on like shingles, nailed in from the bottom of the roof with each layer acting like snake scales to cover the one below it. The latter scenario will be more common than the former.

Put down a layer of felt paper over the bare roof. This paper acts as a base and adds an extra layer of protection. Nail it down smoothly over the exposed roof.

Nail a row of rubber stall mats along the bottom slope of the roof, with no more than 1/2 inch of the mat overhanging the edge of the roof. When the first row is complete, move up and put on a second row. Make sure the second row overlaps the first row by roughly half the length of the mat, and that the edge of one mat rests in roughly the middle of the mat below it. It should look similar to a brick pattern in a wall. This overlapping method will allow water, snow and other debris to slide down the roof.

Continue adding rows until you reach the peak of the roof. Once you reach the peak and all sides of the roof have been shingled with the stall mats, add a layer of stall mats across the top of the peak so that it overlaps the next lowest row of stall mats on the roof. You now have a complete first layer.