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Garage floor mats are sometimes an overlooked option when it comes to protecting or enhancing your garage floor today. With so many other garage flooring options available in the market now, people often forget about the practicality, good looks, and the benefits of a good garage floor roll out mat.
The good news is that there are more garage floor mats, surface tread designs, and tougher materials to choose today than there ever has been before.
Benefits of Garage Floor Roll Out Mats
If you need to protect your concrete from the dirt and oil that your cars track in or want to hide some cracks and stains, nothing can be simpler than these. With this in mind, here are ten reasons to consider roll out garage floor mats for your garage.
- Protects your concrete from contaminants. Though this is always an obvious reason, a good mat will protect your slab better than most other garage floor coverings. They are oil, chemical, and stain resistant. They also stand up to abuse if your garage is used as a workshop. Another thing to consider is that being water resistant; mats will protect your concrete from freeze thaw damage and damage from road salts if you live in a cold winter climate.
- They absorb sound and insulate against the cold concrete. Because of their polyvinyl construction, mats do a good job of absorbing sound waves instead of bouncing them off like concrete does. This eliminates the hollow sound of your garage that many people find annoying. They also act as a barrier from the cold concrete in the winter if you use your garage as a workshop or have to venture in to do the laundry.
- Anti-slip protection. If you live in a wet climate, then you know how water or snow can collect on the floor creating a slip hazard. Many roll out garage floor mats are anti-slip and eliminate the fear of slipping and hurting yourself in such conditions.
- Hides cracks, stains, and pitting. If you have an older concrete floor that has collected its fair share of unsightly cracks and stains, then a roll out mat will hide these with ease. No floor prep is needed. Just roll out the mat and watch them disappear.
- Creates a nice clean smell. Many of the roll out mats available today have a nice clean scent. When you cover your entire garage floor with these, they have a tendency to mask some of the musty odors that emanate from a garage.
- Easy to clean. The polyvinyl construction of these mats makes for easy cleaning when it comes to dirt and spills. Oil wipes right up and dirt and grime can be collected with a dust mop or a damp household mop.
- Reduces the amount of debris tracked into your home. Due to the porous nature of concrete, it is always producing dust and collecting debris. Even if you swept your floor every day, concrete dusting can always be tracked into the house. Roll out garage mats will stop the dusting problem. Because they are so easy to clean, they will eliminate these issues and reduce the amount of dirt and debris tacked into your home.
- They are light reflective. Because of their glossy finish, mats are light reflective and will brighten up your garage during the day and when you have your overhead lights on at night.
- Good looks. Let’s not forget this one. Available in many different colors, garage floor mats can drastically improve the looks of your garage as well as the floor. A dull and boring garage can be transformed just from this alone.
- Easiest flooring system to install. They aren’t called roll out mats for nothing. You just roll them out and cut to fit with a utility knife. It really is that easy. You don’t glue them down and you can use special double sided tape on the edges if you want to butt them up tight to each other.
Roll out mats for a garage come in a variety of different colors, sizes, and tread designs. Cost will also vary depending on the thickness. Generally, the thicker mats are more durable and will last longer. They always prove to be the best value in the long run.
Beware of mats that are not made in the U.S.A. Though they may be cheaper, they are always built with inferior materials. Many of the mats made overseas do not use 100% polyvinyl either.
Instead, they will sandwich a cheap filler material between two thin layers of polyvinyl in order to save costs in material. Though they may look identical to other US made mats, their performance and durability will disappoint you.
One of the leaders in garage floor mats today is Better Life Technologies. They are American made with 100% polyvinyl and backed with a warranty.
Their G-Floor line is considered one of the best values in garage floor mats today. In fact, our favorite garage floor mat is made by G-Floor. You can read about it here.
Best place to buy garage floor mats
In most cases, the best place to buy garage floor roll out mats is from garage flooring vendors online. There are a few reasons for this.
Roll out mats typically are hard to find in a store. They are heavy and do not display easily. Also, the stores that do carry these mats have them rolled up and stored. The longer they have been rolled up the harder it can be to get the edges to lay flat. If they have been rolled up long enough, then the edges stay permanently curled.
Amazon is one of our favorite places to shop. They ship the mats right to your door and they have excellent return policies.
Shop here for Amazon prices
Another excellent source for a variety of garage floor mats is Garage Flooring LLC. They have a 110% price match guarantee and they ship for free as well. On top of that, their customer service is excellent and they back up their sales with a 30 day money back guarantee.
Shop here for Prices from Garage Flooring LLC
If you want a no-nonsense garage floor covering that gives some of the best protection to your concrete, then a roll out garage mat system is definitely something to consider. They are arguably one of the less expensive options in terms of decorative garage flooring that you can purchase.
Plus, they are very easy to install and they will enhance the look of your home and increase the functionality of your garage in less than a day.
Great information! Helped me convince my husband that it was something we needed to do with our garage.
First off, this is a great site with tons of valuable information. Thank you so much for making it available. I purchased and installed these rollout mats for a garage in a previous home. They are great with one huge exception, hot tire pickup. It took some time but eventually there were permanent tires marks on the mats which detracted from the overall appearance considerably. When I bought my new home I decided to leave these behind and am now scheduled for an epoxy floor installation.
Hello John. We are happy to hear the mats worked well for you. Yes, tire marks on polyvinyl mats can develop over time and are almost impossible to remove. The key is to try and stay on top of any marks that may develop. The darker colored mats show these marks much less. Enjoy your new epoxy flooring system!
So – would moisture underneath potentially be made worse because of the mat?
We are contemplating using our garage as a gym and covering it with rubber flooring like Regupol or puzzle mats or something. Do I put an epoxy layer underneath? Something industrial with a high 15lb+ MVE?
Hello TKN. If you have moisture issues then a mat is only going to make it worse. Water will collect under the mat since it will not be able to evaporate. You will soon develop mold and mildew under the mats which isn’t good. Our first recommendation would be to treat the concrete with a densifier in order to reduce if not stop the moisture problem.
First, thanks to everyone on this site.. the information you provide is awesome.
How do these mats stand up to jack stands? I like working on my own cars… everything from il changes to engine swaps. Will have a 4,000 lb car on a set of jack stands damage a mat flooring system? Do they make a base jack stands can rest of that won’t slip and and protect the mat?
Hello Dan. Jack stands work great with these mats as long as you don’t use the ones with the thin 90 degree angle iron legs with no foot plate. All you need is a very small and flat foot plate and it will have no affect on the mat. We have an article about jack stands that gives some good examples.
Can you jack a car on the mat and not damage it.
Hi Linda. Yes, you jack up cars without damage to the mat.
I just discovered this site. Thanks for information! I moved into a new home and the previous owner had put tar that you paint your asphalt driveway with. The stuff is coming off in chunks where my car runs over it but is stuck tight around the edges. Would I need to get all the tar product off the floor before I installed the mats? I would love to use epoxy but I know I cant remove all that product to get the epoxy to stick. Thanks for any help you can provide.
Hello Misty. As long as you get as much off that you can you should be fine as long as you are using a vinyl mats. The mat may stick somewhat to the surface, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Thanks for the reply. I am so glad I found something that will work. The water is a problem and this will be great.
My garage gets a lot of sunlight throughout the day. Will the polyvinyl mats fade or deteriorate over time and if so, do the lighter color mats fair better?
Keith
Hi Keith. No, the quality american made 100% polyvinyl mats will not fade or deteriorate. We recommend G-Floor for the best protection and durability.
We installed the G rubber flooring in our garage…will the salt from the roads during winter damage the flooring? What should we clean the salt off with…solution?
Hi Linda. No, the salt will not damage it. Just rinsing with water typically removes the salt. However, if it’s a bit encrusted or a residue is left behind, a mild soap solution with a scrub brush will do the trick.