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I just recently purchased a used pit that has been out in the elements for about 2 years. It was under some bleachers at a football stadium, so although it did not receive direct hits from rain etc, it did manage to still get wet and soak up a lot of dust as well as the foam deteriorating slightly. Every time you land on the mats, a cloud of dust (perhaps foam dust?) flies up and engulfs you.

Question:

How can I get the dust and loose particles out of the pit mats? It's completely unusable at this time.

if it is just dust and pollen then leave it uncovered while it rains one night and then let it dry. But if the foam is deterioration there is not so much you can do with that except maybe replacing the 2 inch foam cover on the top with a new piece of foam, and maybe that will help keep it at bay.

It's definitely mat dust from the foam deteriorating. Quick fix... get some sheets and lay them on top of the sections, then put the top cover over them. That should shield it from coming through when you land.

LHSpolevault wrote:It's definitely mat dust from the foam deteriorating. Quick fix... get some sheets and lay them on top of the sections, then put the top cover over them. That should shield it from coming through when you land.

What he said. If the sheets aren't cutting it, try plastic tarps. That should alleviate your problem.

Sheets noted. Should I still try the rain and dry method?

Tory wrote:Sheets noted. Should I still try the rain and dry method?

No, that will only make it worse. The more it gets wet and dries, the more the foam deteriorates and breaks into little pieces.

I don't know where the pit is located, BUT you can try some Tyvek house wrap cut to the same size as your foam in the top cover.
Since it's a house wrap it would stop the passage of foam particles through the top of the pad. Most pads have a zipper on the rear for access.

You would need a human squirrel to crawl in a place it though . . .

You could also get new 1" foam and replace or insert above the existing foam if its not chunked out too bad.

I may just try both sheets and Tyvek house wrap. Doubling up may be better in the long run.

take a gas powered leaf blower to the mats - that will help eliminate dust in the short time until you can put a more lasting fix on these mats