In the garage after shoveling my neighbor's driveway, I noticed a white coating on the floor. It was salt left when the snowmelt from her car evaporated. If that gets wet, it's going to eat her garage floor. Will garage mats protect that floor? Are they worth it?
Garage mats are worth the investment. In fact, they have the highest return on investment of any garage floor covering. Mats prevent ice, salt, snow, water, oil, and grease damage to the garage floor. The better question might be, “Which garage mat should I get?”
While it's fun to get all racecar pit stop with PVC floor tile, mats are an inexpensive way to prevent concrete damage. Snow, rain, and ice leave moisture which, when combined with salt, can cause spalling and pitting in concrete floors. Garage floor mats protect the floor from moisture and materials that can permanently damage and stain the concrete.
Takeaway
Mats are a cheap investment with a huge payoff. Keeping ice, sand, dirt, and salt off the floor protects the floor from spalling, pitting, and stains. After you read this article, if you need more info, see our other mat post: Garage Floor Mat Materials — Choosing the Best Mat Material for Your Needs
What is the Best Garage Floor Mat?
The best garage floor mat is an oil mat, a parking mat, a containment mat, or a rollout floor. The mat that will work best for you depends on:
- budget
- aesthetic
- protection desired (oil, snowmelt, sand, salt…)
Answer a few questions to decide which garage mat you want.
- Do you want to cover under the car or the whole garage floor?
Oil, parking, and containment mats protect the area under the car. Rollout mats can protect anywhere from under the car to the entire garage floor. - Does snow melt off your car onto the floor?
Carpeted mats protect from oil but do not do a great job of protecting from moisture. Plastic mats hold moisture without it sinking into the fiber the way it does with carpet. Containment mats have edges to hold in the water that accumulates when the ice and snow melt. - Do you have a maximum budget for your garage mat?
From cheapest to most expensive (in general) are oil mats, parking mats, containment mats, and then rollout mats, with exceptions. Very large parking mats might cost more than containment mats, for example. Very small rollout mats can be cheaper than containment mats. - Can you deal with the weight and trimming of a rollout mat?
If you are covering a parking bay with a rollout mat, you won't need much time, talent, or tools. However, if you are using a rollout mat to cover the floor and possibly the garage steps, you will need a T-square and a knife. Rollout mats can be heavy and awkward but are easy to install so long as you are comfortable with the weight and using a few tools.
Do Garage Floor Mats Work?
Garage floor mats work to protect the concrete from oil, snow, ice, salt, sand, and dirt. Carpet mats are better at protecting from oil spills than from moisture. Containment mats prevent melting snow from pouring into the garage. Rollout vinyl mats are beautiful and do the best job of protecting the garage floor.
Why Use a Garage Floor Oil Mat?
An oil mat is a small carpet you put under an oil drip. These mats are usually rubber-backed carpets but are sometimes waterproof plastic. You can place an oil drip mat on other floor coverings such as tiles, epoxy, or paint.
As oil mats are usually carpets, they're only partially successful at protecting the floor from snow and ice melt. They do protect the floor from salt and sand. Clean particulates with a vacuum. Clean oil and gunk with a degreaser and a power washer.
Oil mats are functional and not exceptionally pretty, but they do prevent garage floor staining. Carpets tend to hold up to studded snow tires but will move under that kind of torque.
Why Use a Garage Floor Containment Mat?
Garage floor containment mats hold onto the snowmelt, ice, sludge, and salt your car brings into the garage. They protect the garage floor from the materials that cause concrete spalling and pitting. If your garage floor has damage from water and salt, see our article: How Do You Fix Garage Floor Spalling and Pitting?
The containment works on concrete, or you can put it over other flooring. A containment mat can sit atop paint, epoxy, tiles, or carpet.
Containment mats are good at capturing snowmelt.
Containment mats are usually thinner plastic and damage more easily than vinyl and carpet mats.
Turning a studded snow tire on a containment mat can rip the material.
Containment mats are functional and don't add anything to the beauty of the garage. Containment mat warranties are usually for one year and do not cover studded snow tire tears.
Why Use a Garage Floor Parking Mat?
A garage floor-parking mat protects the floor from moisture, salt, and dirt. Vinyl and rubber do better at moisture protection than carpet. Parking mats are larger and heavier than oil mats, so move around less.
However, you can easily put double-sided tape under either to keep it from moving. Parking mats work on top of tile, epoxy, and paint.
Parking mats are rubber, or carpet on a rubber backing.
They are strong enough to withstand studded snow tires and do not easily rip, even at the seams. They're not pretty but they do prevent floor stains.
Warranties are usually for one year.
Why Use a Garage Floor Rollout Mat?
A rollout mat is a 4 ft. to 25 ft. piece of flexible vinyl that is anywhere from 4 ft. to 8 ft. wide.
It arrives on a roll that you deploy by simply unrolling into place.
Rollout mats are the heaviest and most attractive of the garage floor mats.
They are usually very thick and offer protection against salt, sand, oil, gasoline, chemicals, snowmelt, and dirt.
A studded snow tire doesn't affect a quality rollout vinyl mat. You can deploy a rollout over epoxy or paint. They are unlikely to break under any normal garage scenario. Warranties are usually between 5 years and a “lifetime.”
How to Keep Oil off the Garage Floor
While you can get an “oil mat” to keep oil off the floor, parking, containment, and rollout mats also protect the floor from oil. Oil mats can be as small as the area under the hood, so they are less expensive than alternatives.
Oil and gasoline won't eat away at the concrete, but they will stain it.
How to Keep and Salt and Sand off the Garage Floor
Sand makes it easier to drive on ice and snow. Sand creates a dusty mess. Salt causes ice to melt. It mixes with snow kicked up under your car during travel. When the salt and snow melt meet on the floor, they eat away at the concrete.
Any carpeted or plastic garage mat will protect the floor from salt and chemicals. Plastic is easier to clean because it doesn't absorb water and salt into fibers as carpet does.
A carpet protects the floor from sand, salt, and oil. It protects the floor from some chemicals. It does not protect the floor from moisture, which actually builds up on the concrete and under the rubber.
Vinyl protects the floor from sand, salt, oil, and chemicals. Depending on the thickness and makeup of the plastic, it can protect from gasoline and moisture.
How Do I Keep My Garage Floor Dry in the Winter?
Vinyl (plastic) mats are much better at protecting the floor from moisture than carpeted mats. Carpet fibers hold onto moisture. Concrete also holds onto moisture.
There will be moisture under rubber-backed carpets which you can avoid using vinyl-based mats. Carpeted oil mats and carpeted parking mats offer the least protection from moisture.
Containment and rollout mats do the best at protecting the floor from moisture. A containment mat has raised sides to hold onto the water that fell as snow from the car. To get rid of this water, you need to move the car and then broom the water into the driveway.
Vinyl rollout mats have the largest coverage of all the mat types. They also tend to be the thickest and most protective material.
Carpet and plastic have vastly different protection properties.
- Oil spill mats can be either rubber-backed fiber carpets or waterproof plastic
- Parking mats are also carpets or plastic
- Containment mats are waterproof plastic
- Rollout mats are thick waterproof plastic
What Size Garage Floor Mat You Should Get
Oil spill mats, parking mats, and containment mats protect the area under the car. They are for protecting just a small part of the garage that is under the car.
Rollout mats can be as small as half a parking spot and as large as a garage bay. R
Rollout mats can protect under the car, the parking bay, or the whole floor.
Garage mats, listed from smallest to largest:
- An “oil spill” mat is usually narrower than the car as it sits under the drive train.
- A “parking mat” is a little wider than the car, and the length is usually twice as long as the car.
- A “containment mat” is the same size as the parking mat.
- “Rollout” mats come in many sizes. They can be as small as 4 ft. W x 4 ft. D, and as large as 8 ft. W x 22 ft. D.
How to Install a Garage Mat
To install an oil mat, a parking mat, or a containment mat: sweep and clean the floor, and put down the mat.
There is nothing to it except making sure you're not putting the mat on dirt, grease, or moisture. For help cleaning grime and oil, see our article Does Kitty Litter Really Clean Oil Stains?
You might put down double-sided tape if the mat tends to move.
If you are covering the entire garage floor then you will need a utility knife, a T-square, and a measuring tape.
Higher-end rollout floor manufacturers offer seaming tapes and center strips.
I'm thinking specifically of G-Floor, which is one of the nicest rollout floor mats you can buy.
The seaming tape is a proprietary double-sided tape that sticks to the garage floor and the underside of the mats where they meet in the middle of the garage. The center strip is easier to use but sits on top of the seam.
You tuck mat ends into channels to keep the seam out of the way.
While it's very easy to rollout one of these mats, it's a bit more to get the mat into place.
Large vinyl rolls of rollout mats are heavy and awkward. If you are doing the whole garage floor, you will need some measuring and cutting skills. If you are just doing one or two parking bays, the hardest part is getting the vinyl into place.
