How To Measure

Measuring Basics for a Great Fit

The measurements you send to ExactMats® Home are automatically entered into our production system, so here are a few tips to ensure your order is as accurate as possible.  Follow these simple instructions, and you should be able to nail it!

Measuring Rectangular Spaces

For simplicity’s sake, we’re going to refer to any four-sided shape, with two sets of parallel sides and four 90-degree corners as a rectangle, so a perfect square would also fall into this category.

As you might expect, most of the items we create for drawers, shelves and so on are four-sided.  While we like to think that our cabinetry is perfectly made and every space it perfectly symmetrical, that’s not always the case which can affect the fit.

When measuring any surface that appears to be a rectangle there are occasionally small imperfections in the dimensions.  For instance, when cabinets and drawers are built there can be slight bowing of a side or slight variations in the length of two opposite side of the unit making the shape slightly irregular.  But, there’s any easy way to adjust for that!

How to make sure you get the measurements right!

1. First, always measure the surface length and width at two sets of opposing points. This will help ensure you detect any possible differences in a shape if the space is not exactly symmetrical.
   
   
2. For measurements of enclosed spaces like cabinet shelves or a drawer, in the event you find that one measurement in a dimension (i.e., length or width) is different from the second (And if it is, it will likely be very slight), always use the shorter dimension to create the respective length or width of the rectangle.

When measuring liners (enclosed spaces) we recommend your reducing each dimension by 1/8” (both length and width) to ensure an easy drop-in fit.

Save Yourself Some Time

Here’s another helpful hint: Any single shelf in any given cabinet or drawer stack is often the same size as the others.  If you find that to be the case after measuring a couple of cabinets or vertical drawer stacks, you may find that you only need to measure one shelf or drawer in each stack. How do you like them apples!

 

Selecting the Right Material

ExactMats® Home currently offers two different clear material styles/finishes.  

The major considerations for selecting the right material are pretty simple:

• Where will you be using it?
• How will you be using it?
• How do you want it to look?

In general:

• Riverstone is our most popular style for shelf and drawer liners. It is clear and strong, yet it allows the underlying surface color or grain to show through. The subtle pebble-like grain also increases its friction to reduce the likelihood of items sliding on it, and it does help camouflage slight imperfections in the underlying surface.

• Crystal is most popular for uses where 100% glass-like clarity is desired and there is a limited likelihood of scratching, like on entertainment centers or other showcase pieces.  While it cannot duplicate the look of glass, it does approximate it

Both materials have the same chemical composition, strength, and sound dampening qualities.  While vinyl is not hard like glass, it is far more forgiving than glass would be should someone knock over something fragile.

Choosing Your Corners

The flexible nature of ExactMats® Home products is such that they can be trimmed in a variety of ways, to each client’s liking.  Here are our recommendations on what you may want to consider for corner cuts.

While you may request other corner trims, common choices are:

• 1/8” Curve is our standard trim, particularly for drawer or shelf liners, and is how we will produce the item if you do not specify a corner-cut preference.  This trim style will leave a little gap in the corners and will provide a very small “lift” corner for easier removal in tighter spaces.
• 90-degree “hard” corners which are appropriate for any 90-degree corner, whether in a drawer, on a table or otherwise.

Filling out the Order Organizer form

Each order form has several columns that make it easy for you to place your order. Below is an explanation of each column.  

1. Label:  This column will automatically assign a letter or combination of letters to each item you describe.  This identifier will be used to identify exactly where each specific item belongs, making installation much faster.  In the event you have multiple pieces of the same size and location (i.e., dish cabinet), you needn’t enter each piece separately. Just enter the number of items your want in that size under “Quantity” and we will create your order accordingly.
   
   
2. Room:  Just as it sounds, you would enter the room (e.g., kitchen, bedroom, etc.)  This will help you in sorting the items by room prior to installing.  To make ordering easier, when you enter your first room (say “kitchen”) our software will continue to default to “kitchen” for each subsequent item unless you change the room description.  Note: If you’re only working in one room, this area needn’t be completed.
   
   
3. Location:  This column allows you to indicate what exact location within the specified room the item will be placed.  In combination with the part description, you will know exactly what drawer, cabinet or otherwise the item is intended for within the room you’ve assigned.
   
   
4. Finish:  Use this column to indicate the type of material to be used.
   
   
5. Corners: Corner trim will automatically default to a 1/8” micro-rounded corner for a more finished look. If you prefer 90-degree sharp corners, simply indicate your choice.
   
   
6. Long Edge (Length) / Short Edge (Width):  This space is used in to determine precisely what dimensions and sizes the cutting machines will produce for each item entry.
   
   
7. Quantity:  In this column, you’ll enter the number of pieces needed in the dimensions you describe.  As mentioned above, if you have three shelves within the same cabinet, which are the same size, you simply enter the dimensions once and the corresponding quantity.