Choosing the Top Garage Floor Mats: A Comprehensive Buyer's Guide

Adding garage floor mats to your garage can help to extend the life of your flooring. These mats can reduce damage from vehicles, chemical spillage, and many other common sources of damage. They can also help keep treated floors looking great longer, and unfinished floors from cracking or chipping over time.

The caveat? You must invest in high-quality floor mats for your garage. This does not always mean buying the most expensive mats on the market, but rather the best quality available at your price point.

Here is your no-fail guide to buying the best garage floor mats for your budget:

 

How Will You Use Your Mat?

What is the purpose of your garage floor mats? This is the first question you should ask when choosing mats for your garage. It will guide your purchasing decisions by helping you determine the style and quality of mats you should buy.

For most homeowners, containment mats are the best solution for the garage. These mats are waterproof and function as a catchall for dirt, water, and anything else that might fall off your car after being outside. The mat is designed to catch these things and contain them, so you don’t track them out of the garage or damage your flooring with them.

 

Watertight Seals and Holding Capacity

Choosing a containment mat means that you will be looking for two key features when shopping.

The first is watertight seals. While all containment mats should have these, lower-quality models might not be as water-resistant as others. Mats are made of waterproof PVC, but poor-quality seams and a lack of sealing can compromise this.

Containment mats should ideally be heat treated and sealed to prevent water from soaking into the mat itself, or from escaping through gaps in seams. This keeps everything inside the mat until you empty or drain it.

Draining should not be necessary daily. A good containment garage floor mat will hold gallons of water at a time. This will allow you to wait at least a few days between draining. This is especially helpful in the winter, when melted snow might collect in your mat but the weather outside makes draining the mat uncomfortable and inconvenient.

 

Raised Edges and Floor Grips

The raised edges of a good-quality containment mat should not surprise you. These edges are shallow enough that you can easily drive your car up over them and into the lower center of the mat. They should be tall enough to capture and contain the water or mud inside, though. This is important to provide lasting containment of water that will not leak into the rest of the garage.

These mats should also have grips to keep them in place. This is important since you will regularly be driving your vehicle over the mat. The floor grips will keep the mat in place so that it does not spill or move across the floor.

 

Easy Application and Removal

Lastly, a good garage floor mat should be easy to use. This does not just mean it is easy to clean. It should also be easy to apply to your floor and easily removed when the mat is not needed.

Good garage floor mats should take nothing more than heat to apply to a clean, dry floor. This should be as simple as using a standard hairdryer to make the mat adhere to the floor. It should also be easy to remove and store when not in use. This will make these mats more practical – and an even better investment.