There shouldn’t be any moisture going under the plywood even if you use a wet mop to clean it (but don’t splash it on), so I think that’s perfectly fine to lay it directly on without an extra layer.

PS. I know that ripping up the carpet is ideal, however, I don’t want to damage or change anything in my apartment flooring since they’ve just renovated the flooring on my unit.

I ended up getting plywood from a friend, traded some MMA memorabilia for some plywood. Saved about $800 (kidding but did save like $150). Thank you for the help!

That’s ok, I update this periodically and see the comments on all posts.
3/8 is fine for just generally gym flooring, but if you’re going to be dropping anything I would highly recommend using an additional layer of something. I know plywood is expensive right now. The concrete at a storage place might be better than average, or you can pretend it is and see what happens.

I am setting up a home gym on my first floor at home over a carpeted floor, I intend to lay down the interlocking rubber tiles 12mm – 16mm for flooring protection. Could you please advise if it would be necessary to still have an underlay fitted and what rubber tile thickness would you recommend? 

Again, from my room measurements, I would require 39 mats, with each rubber tile weighing about 5kg, am I right to be concerned about the rubber tiles weight on my flooring? I intend to put up a free-standing home multi gym pullup bar station (includes foldable bench) and the Bowflex dumbbells 0 to 40kg selectable in the room. Room also has a 25kg foldable bed in it.

Thanks

The way you have it should work fine if it feels good. Attach the plywood pieces together. See attached image. I should add it to this article. Messy job, but I basically chopped away some layers with a hammer and chisel to create a recessed area and screwed mending plates in.

Thank you for all your tips. I purchased a raised hex bar which I will be using for deadlifts. I wish I had read this article prior to purchasing items.

I have a ceramic tile basement floor. I added three 4 x 7 layers of the “dreaded” evo puzzle mats. Then I placed a half-inch piece of plywood on top of them and a half inch rubber mat on top of that. The area is surrounded on 2 perpendicular brick walls and a cabinet on the 3rd side. So it is pretty much trapped to prevent the mats from sliding much. I don’t bounce the weights and have bumper weights. I am hoping this will be sufficient.

I thought it would be more stable to have the rubber mat on top of the wood instead of the reverse. Do you think this will work? My best lifting weight is 205 pounds and I am 150 pounds. Thank you!

Lynn

That’s kind of like having carpet under. Any kind of plush material under there is not ideal for stability. It could allow the top layer to sink under load. With 3/4″ plywood and 3/4″ rubber all connected together really well so that it’s a good solid platform, it ought to work fine for you and be better than nothing to cut noise. Update me when you’ve got it going!

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