The finished product

[Matt Ohlendorf]

Well here it is. i was going to go cheap plywood and carpet but i took my wife and she saw the rubber mats and said i should go a little better. and she said why not buy one good piece of thick wood and not two crap pieces? so, here is what im using for DL now.
oh, thanks for all the input on making one of these!
matt
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p45/Jehote/a2.jpg

[Spencer Olson]

Looks great, nice work.

[Corey DuCharme]

Looks sharp.

If those mats are the foam rubber interlocking ones you can purchase at home improvement stores, they will break down very fast. How about sandwiching the mats between the plywood, and then putting a sturdy carpet on the top piece of plywood to keep it from slivering and flaking off as OSB always does?

Another option is to drop forty more dollars into it and get a stall mat from a farm supply store for the top layer. I would still sandwich the light foam rubber mats in between the plywood though. I promise you will not be satisfied with how they hold up to heavy use like deads.

[Joshua Davis]

I agree, those soft foam mats will slice open as soon as you drop a heavy deadlift with metal plates.

Put them (the interlocking mats) under the platform and put a stable mat on top. Stable mats are much firmer anyway, so they won't give under your feet when you start a heavy pull.

[Chris Hickson]

that looks real good :KD: