Sometimes, having a nice garage floor isn’t enough to keep us from tinkering with ways to improve its functionality. After all, it’s in our nature to find ways to make things better or easier. This is where specialty garage mats can help. Besides your traditional garage floor mats, there’s an entire market dedicated to unique mats that make dealing with the garage floor more tolerable.
What is a specialty mat, you ask? Specialty mats are mats designed to perform a specific task. Even if you haven’t finished your garage floor yet, some of these mats are still designed to make your garage more user-friendly. That’s why we decided to showcase 5 of our favorites that you can use in the garage to help make things easier.
As an Amazon Associate All Garage Floors earns from qualifying purchases.
Anti-Fatigue mats
First on our list are anti-fatigue mats. These are wonderful additions to a garage floor that will make standing in front of your workbench, shop equipment, or even laundry machines much easier on the feet and legs.
Anti-fatigue mats are available in a variety of materials, colors, and designs based on how you plan to use them. They can withstand water, welding, chemicals, and oils, depending on your needs. Most people don’t realize how well they work until they use them for the first time.
If you spend time a lot of time standing in your garage or workshop while working on projects, then these need to be at the top of your priority list
You can learn more about these mats and how they work in our own review of the top anti-fatigue mats for garage floors and workshops.
Parking mat Aid
Next is the handy parking mat guide. These are highly effective parking aids that ensure you park your car in the same spot every time.
If you need to park your vehicle in a tight space that doesn’t allow much room without bumping into bicycles, benches, or lawn mowers, this specialty mat may be extremely useful.
At only 21.5” x 11”, these small mats feature two raised bumps that the front tire of your vehicle fits between. Driving over the first small bump lets you know you are in the right spot. The second bump warns you not to proceed any further. This lets you park in the same spot every time.
These mats adhere to the surface of your floor with industrial-grade sticky tape and do not move. This can eliminate that tennis ball you may have hanging from a string that you walk into every time your car is out of the garage!
Amazon is a great source for these mats. You can find current pricing here.
Oil drip mats
Oil drip mats are a specialty mat that everyone should have in their garage or workshop if they own a leaky vehicle or work with equipment on wheels that tends to leak fluids. They look much nicer than cardboard, oil pans, or dingy old carpet pieces placed on the garage floor.
These mats are inexpensive and can prevent oil stains on bare concrete or cleanup on garage floor coatings. They are also great for protecting the floor from spills when changing your oil or other fluids, as well as preventing you from having to clean up a slick, messy floor. Many are washable, and they come in a variety of sizes to suit your needs.
You can read up on the various oil drip mats available and review our favorites here.
Containment mats
Garage floor containment mats are the winter weather saviors for keeping snow, ice melt, road salts, and other nasties off your garage floor.
Available in a variety of sizes, these specialty mats feature raised edges that trap water and snow that your vehicles track into the garage. With the rear of the mat placed near the garage door, you can use a push broom or squeegee to push the water and snow off the mat and onto the driveway.
These work wonderfully at keeping your garage floor dry. This helps you avoid slip-and-fall accidents in the garage on wet or icy floors. They will also prevent pitting and spalling caused by road salts and deicing fluids that get deposited on bare concrete.
You can learn more about the benefits of these specialty mats and review our picks for the best containment mats here.
Kneeling mats
Lastly, we have the portable knee mat. If you haven’t seen these then you’ve been missing out.Admittedly, these are not just a mat for the garage or workshop, but we felt compelled to include them as well.
These are great for kneeling or even sitting on the garage floor when working on projects or vehicles. You will be surprised how comfortable it is to use one of these.
Our favorite is the Ergodyne Proflex 380. This specialty mat comes in 4 sizes to suit your needs. This is the same one that I have in my garage, and it gets a workout all the time.
You can purchase them here at Amazon.
The Egodyne Proflex mat is constructed of 1” thick closed-cell foam with a handle grip. They are excellent for plopping down on the ground when you have to kneel while working.
The foam is resistant to petroleum and is static-free. You can hang them on the side of your toolbox, workbench, or on the wall for quick access. They really come in handy for multiple projects, both in and out of your garage.
We’ve included a link to a larger selection of kneeling mats that you can find here at Amazon as well.
Is a specialty mat for you?
Specialty mats can make a big difference in how your garage floor or workshop functions. You don’t need a nice-looking garage floor in order to appreciate its benefits. They really do make things easier for you and can help prevent damage or staining to the floor. They can even be good for your body.
While they may not necessarily improve the looks of your floor, we are fairly confident that you could put at least one of these specialty mats to good use and be glad you did.
I had no idea anyone made a lighted garage mat. My son would love one of these since he is always working on his cars at night and complaining about how hard it is to light up the underside and still have 2 free hands.