Timber Mats

Ekki, tropical and European hardwood bog mats

HERMEQ supplies bog mats in three hardwoods, and the ground, the exposure of the site and the length of the job usually decide between them.

Ekki timber bog mats

Ekki is the most acid resistant of the commercial timbers and the heaviest duty mat in the range. Choose Ekki timber bog mats for long contracts, exposed upland sites and roads that stay down through the wettest months, where a mat has to go from job to job for years.

Tropical hardwood bog mats

This part of the range is made from dense marine hardwoods, whose interlocked grain gives them high bending strength. Tropical hardwood bog mats suit any ground and location. They are a strong choice where mats bear on uneven formation under heavy plant and have to resist bending between high spots.

European oak and beech bog mats

Oak and beech grown in Europe are among the most widely used timbers for temporary roadways, and they leave little disturbance in the ground beneath. European hardwood bog mats come in the widest choice of depths and lengths in the range. They suit access roads and working platforms on general construction sites, where acidic ground and severe exposure are not part of the job.

Timber mats for access roads, crane pads and soft ground

Temporary access roads and haul roads

A haul road takes repeated passes of loaded vehicles, so surface wear and the movement of mats under braking and turning matter more than a single peak load. The deepest mats belong where loaded lorries brake, turn or climb, and where the road leaves hard standing and the ground changes underneath.

Crane and piling platforms

Timber crane mats laid as a platform give piling rigs and mobile cranes a level, even base to track onto and work from. A mat road laid for tracking is ground protection. The outrigger pads under a crane are a separate item, specified by the lift plan and the temporary works design for that lift, and they are never taken from the road because they happen to be on site.

Peat, bog and wind farm sites

Peat and blanket bog are often soft too deep to dig out and replace, so a mat road sits on the surface and spreads each axle over as much ground as possible. Longer, deeper mats suit these sites. Ekki is the timber for naturally acidic peat and for wind farm access routes that stay down for the whole construction programme.

Utilities and work near live services

Mats spread the axle loads of plant across a wider area, which reduces the pressure on pipes and cables buried under a route that cannot be moved. Where plant works near live electrical cables, Ekki is the timber to choose for its high electrical resistance, within the safe system of work that the network operator sets for the job.

Laying a timber mat road

The quantity follows directly from the route. Every mat in the range is 1m wide, so a road laid crossways needs one mat for each metre of route, and the mat length gives the width of the road. Mats for passing places, turning heads and any platform at the end of the run come on top of that count.

On very soft or waterlogged ground, lay a geotextile membrane first, so the mats do not press into the soil and mud does not pump up between them.

The mats are heavy. They are offloaded from the lorry and placed with plant, such as an excavator with suitable chains or a telehandler with forks, and never handled into position by hand. Lay from firm ground outwards, placing each mat from the one already laid. Butt every mat tight against the last across the route, so that wheels and tracks do not catch an edge or drop into a gap.