Say No to Greasy Floors With the Best Garage Floor Mats
Unlike the flooring inside your home, your garage is generally exposed to a lot more grimy stuff that can be a nightmare to clean up. Prime examples include muddy tires on rainy days and grease and gas stains from leaks and spills — unless you add a protective layer between your car and the floor, you’ll often find yourself scrubbing your heart out to maintain a clean garage.
Garage floor mats offer a simple solution, as they’re washable, reusable, and super easy to use. Make sure to find one that’s large enough to cover the most active parts of your garage — once it’s laid out, only the mat will get dirty, preventing gunk from ever reaching the floor in the first place. Sounds great, right? Luckily for you, we’ve already scoured the internet to find the top garage floor mats you can buy in 2023. Let’s begin!
Finding Your Next Garage Floor Mat: A Buyer’s Guide
Having covered our top picks when it comes to garage floor mats, it’s now time to go over the tiny details that’ll help you make the right purchase — this includes paying attention to things like durability, material composition, washability, reusability, and type.
Here’s everything you should keep in mind while shopping for a high-quality garage floor mat in 2023:
Material
First, we have the material. You can tell a lot about a garage floor mat simply by looking at what it’s made of. That’s because the material determines whether you have a highly absorbent mat or simply a moisture-resistant one on which fluids will slide right off. Both options can be incredibly useful depending on your needs and preferences.
There are various garage floor mats available that are made out of materials like absorbent fibers or polyvinyl. PVC-coated scrim fabrics can also make great mats thanks to PVC’s excellent versatility.
Absorbent mats are made out of fabric and can soak up a lot of liquids and lubricants between washes. This makes them the ideal pick for garages that see many spills and leaks throughout the day, but remember to clean these out regularly — they can only hold so much liquid before they will start to trickle out onto your garage floor.
Polyvinyl, on the other hand, is great at collecting all the debris that your vehicles track in, preventing it from ever reaching the ground thanks to its raised edges.
Type
Material composition aside, garage floor mats can also differ in type.
Distinctions in type can be made by looking at the mat’s oil-absorbing and/or water-absorbing capacity. As mentioned above, these mats are ideal for garages that typically see lots of spills and fluid leaks. For snow-covered cars and extreme winters, however, you’ll need a sturdy containment mat.
Some garages even have carpet mats for their functionality, multi-purpose use, and high aesthetic value.
Overall, garage floor mats are super diverse, with each kind serving a unique set of needs. If you live somewhere that sees all four seasons, you might need more than one type of garage floor mat to tackle various weather conditions.
Size
Not all garage floor mats are equal in size — some are parking pads, which (as the name suggests) are large enough to cover only the area beneath your car.
Roll-out mats, on the other hand, are designed to provide a protective layer for the entire garage floor, offering complete corner-to-corner coverage. As you can guess, these mats are more expensive and present more of a hassle when it’s time to remove, wash, and dry them. At the same time, though, they’re great for protecting large garage floors.
Environment
Your environment also plays a part in determining your purchase. Extreme summer heat, for instance, calls for heat-resistant mats, as regular rubber ones might start to melt, leaving residue on the garage floor that can be even tougher to clean than grease stains.
This is just one example, so be sure to take all such weather and environmental factors into account before pressing that “Add to Cart” button — what works for 100 other customers might not work for you based on where you live and the type of challenges you face.
General Features To Look For
Aside from the key pointers discussed above, here are some general characteristics to look for when you’re in the market for a new garage floor mat, regardless of its type, size, and material:
- Slip-resistance to ensure it stays put
- Resistance to gas and chemical spills
- Materials that are easy to wipe clean or hose off
- Some cushioning to reduce leg and foot fatigue
- Textured patterns etched into construction for channeling dirt, fluids, and grease
- Some level of heft for stability and slide-resistance
- A good weight capacity
- Creeper glider support to allow for easy car repairs
Compare the Leading Garage Floor Mats of 2023
ITSOFT Garage Floor Mat
– Best Overall
The ITSOFT Garage Floor Mat is a star when it comes to absorbing grimy liquids like engine oil, lubricants, gear fluid, and gas spills. It acts as an impenetrable layer over the garage floor to protect it against tough stains, and all the gunk it collects will come straight out with a single wash — all you need to do is soap it off and hang it dry. Like most garage floor mats, this one is sensitive to bleaching, but the good news is that it won’t require any bleach in the first place.
With this garage floor mat laid out, you’ll be able to get to work without having to worry about a few inevitable spills here and there. The mat’s waterproof, moisture-wicking, and non-slip characteristics can take care of fluids like a boss — making it the top choice on our list.
- Can be cut to any size
- Very easy to clean
- Double-layered design for durability and longevity
- Susceptible to rips and tears over time
AutoFloorGuard Garage Floor Mat
– For Heavy-Duty Use
If you’re looking for a thick, sturdy layer of protection, the Autofloorguard Garage Floor Mat fits the bill pretty well. It’s designed for heavy-duty use, and it can stand up to rain, ice, mud, and snow with no problem. The design of this garage floor mat features slightly enhanced edges for improved containment, making sure all that unwanted stuff stays on the mat and off your floor.
This garage floor mat has watertight, heat-sealed seams for enhanced functionality and durability, and its thermal welding is just one of the reasons why it’s so tough. The company believes in the quality of its product as well, which is why it backs up this garage floor mat with a one-year warranty.
- Sturdy, well-built design for rough use
- Features stay-put corners
- Backed by a year-long warranty
- May develop leaks over the years
Armor All Garage Floor Mat
– Lightweight
The Armor All Garage Floor Mat is a solid choice for almost anyone with an average-sized garage. It comes with double-sided tape to help you easily secure the mat to the floor (which already puts it ahead of most competitors in the ease-of-use department), and not only that, but you can also freely cut this garage floor mat as necessary to fit around corners or stairs without having to worry about its corners fraying.
This American-made garage floor mat has excellent slip resistance (thanks in part to its double-sided tape) and highly absorbent fabric. As far as cleaning is concerned, an occasional vacuuming session will be enough to keep most debris off the mat, while grease and other grimy build-ups will slide right off with a quick hosing or power washing. This garage floor mat is also made out of 50% recycled fibers, so using it doesn’t just save your garage floor, but the planet as well!
- Easy installation thanks to double-sided tape
- Durable, American-made design
- Relatively easy to maintain
- Could be thicker
IncStores Garage Floor Mat
– Most Color Choices
Unlike the fabric-based mats we’ve looked at so far, the IncStores Garage Floor Mat is made out of moisture-resistant vinyl. That means it doesn’t absorb anything — rather, it simply contains it and keeps it off your garage floor. Cleaning this mat, as you can imagine, is as easy as letting all the collected oil and grease run off with a slight tilt before giving it a good once-over with a mop.
This garage floor mat comes in ribbed, coin, and diamond patterns, and you’ll be able to choose between black, silver, and stainless steel finishes. The lattermost option makes the mat look like it’s genuinely made out of stainless steel, which can make it a great option for vintage garages.
- Available in several designs
- Very easy to clean
- Built to last with ultra-durable vinyl material
- Some pieces may be poorly cut
TruContain Garage Floor Mat
– Ideal for Snow
The TruContain Garage Floor Mat is a great choice for anyone looking to get through winter without tracking snow, mud, or any of that murky ice water onto their garage floor. We feel your pain, but believe us when we say that this fabric-based mat can be the solution to all your woes — it can do a phenomenal job of collecting debris and keeping it off the floor, saving you countless hours of scrubbing and cleaning.
With heat-welded edges that are approximately 1.25 inches thick, no melted snow or ice will be able to creep over and dirty up your garage floor. While this PVC-made garage floor mat is pretty thin, nothing seems to get through it, helping this product stay true to its name for many seasons.
- Quick and easy to install
- Thin and lightweight
- Available in multiple sizes
- Wrinkly, unappealing appearance
People Also Asked
A: You can easily clean your garage floor mat by either using a pressure washer or simply hosing it down with some dishwasher fluid to get rid of any greasy build-up.
A: There’s no right answer for the ideal garage floor mat thickness, as recommendations will vary depending on certain conditions. An average thickness range, however, rests at around 0.2 to 0.6 inches.
A: Containment mats can prevent mud, water, snow, lubricants, and grease from coming into contact with the floor, which could otherwise potentially leave permanent marks. By containing all water inside, containment garage floor mats also make your garage safer to walk around in by helping to prevent slippery wet floors.
