A Garage Floor Mat may Save your Marriage

Lets take a look at what purposes a garage floor mat serves, along with some of the options available to you if you are interested in covering your garage floor with something other than stain, paint or epoxy.

The first purpose that probably comes to mind when you think about the function of a garage floor mat is that it protects the floor. You might ask, "why would I want to use mats in the garage to protect the floor at all? After all, it is just concrete." Well, let's think about the life of the concrete in your garage for a second. Usually it just sits there collecting a bit of dust that you sweep out from time to time. But sometimes it really takes a beating, usually around the time that you are working on a project, or teaching a kid how to ride a bike or unicycle. During those times your garage floor is subject to damage from slops and spills, as well as chips and dings from dropped items. So, you see, there actually is a reason to have a garage floor mat or two.

As an avid do-it-yourselfer, I am constantly doing something out in the garage. I always try to be careful and not spill things. A couple of months ago, before I installed my garage floor mats, I was working on replacing the windshield in my truck. Unfortunately, my helpers weren't as aware as I was about getting things on the floor. Just as we were about done applying the sticky black adhesive, some of it dropped on the floor. Then matters took a turn for the worse when somebody very near and dear to me, who shall remain unnamed, but who's name rhymes with life, accidentally stepped in it and spread it around with every step. Once I noticed it was all over the place, I had to scrub it out of the concrete with some WD40 and a scrubber. Had I had a garage floor mat in place I wouldn't have had to deal with this mess at all. Accidents are going to happen even if you do have mats down. I am happy to report that my wife and I are still married, and no permanent damage was done. It would have just been nice to have a mat in place. I am really glad to have them now.

You can get a garage floor mat in a variety of styles, colors, materials, and configurations. Probably the one I've seen that I like the most is the vinyl kind that comes rolled in various widths and lengths. These are extremely simple to lay down and offer not only protection from possible damage to your concrete from drops and spills, but also give some sound dampening, and some cushioning under foot. The surface of these vary as to pattern. Coin, levant, ribbed, and tread patterns give you a nice selection to choose from.

Another type of garage floor mat is an interlocking rubber tile type. These are pretty cool and come in five different colors. This makes layout patterns a lot more fun than the rolled vinyl ones offer. Easy to install, you just lay them out how you want them and snap them together. And, it is easy to replace a section should you ever have to.

No matter what you end up using as matting in your garage, you'll benefit from the attractiveness and function that a garage floor mat offers, and you'll wonder how you ever lived without it.